Savoirs écologiques des enfants : le dessin comme outil pour les ethnoécologues (Gabon, Madagascar). Les enfants ont longtemps été marginalisés dans les recherches en ethnoécologie portant sur le savoir écologique traditionnel (TEK) et les représentations de la nature. Il existe peu d'outils et de ressources pour analyser le monde des enfants en ethnoécologie. Cependant, de nombreuses questions et de nombreux thèmes, particulièrement au sujet de la production et de la transmission du TEK, concernent les enfants. Ces derniers construisent leurs propres traditions et compétences, lesquelles façonnent leurs propres productions culturelles, ainsi que celles des adultes. Le TEK des enfants devrait donc être analysé au même titre que celui des adultes dans la recherche en ethnoécologie. Les enfants sont à la fois producteurs et dépositaires du savoir écologique et des valeurs sociétales. Ils mobilisent ces dernières de manière autonome pour interagir avec leur environnement afin d’améliorer leurs conditions de vie, de mener leurs propres expériences, et de s’adapter à un monde qui change. Cet article, principalement fondé sur un terrain effectué au Gabon et à Madagascar, vise à revisiter le TEK des enfants, à analyser et à discuter l'intérêt pratique et heuristique d'un nouvel outil en ethnoécologie : les dessins d'enfants.

The fish fauna of French Guiana is one of the best described in the geographical area covering the Guiana Shield. Paradoxically, however, there is no summary document validated by ethnologists and specialized linguists that links the scientific names of the fish of this area to their vernacular names from the different language groups. In this paper, we compile the presently existing data on species and vernacular names collected over several decades in Creole, Amerindian (Kali’na, Palikur, Wayana, Wayapi and Teko), Nenges or Maroons (Boni, Ndjuka and Sranan Tongo) languages as well as French and/or specialist aquarium terms and Brazilian Portuguese. Of the 416 fish species found in French Guiana, we can assign a common name to 85% of them by considering all these languages as a group. These common names can be more or less generic, covering a greater or lesser number of species that are similar or very close in their external morphology. The fish currently without common names are mostly rare or small species of less than 5 cm. The linguistic groups with broader geographic distributions (Brazilian, Creole, French and specialist aquarium terminology) have named the most species but have also tended to give several local names to the same species. Taking into account the number of species present on the territory occupied by each linguistic group, the percentage of fish with at least one name ranges between 65 and 70% for Brazilian, French, Creole, Kali’na, Wayana and Wayanpi, suggesting a degree of completeness of the nomenclature. This is not the case for languages like Boni, Ndjuka, Palikur, Teko and Sranan Tongo, which will require new collections specifically geared towards these ethnic groups to fill the gaps.

Central African Pygmy populations are known to be the shortest human populations worldwide. Many evolutionary hypotheses have been proposed to explain this short stature: adaptation to food limitations, climate, forest density, or high mortality rates. However, such hypotheses are difficult to test given the lack of long-term surveys and demographic data. Whether the short stature observed nowadays in African Pygmy populations as compared to their Non-Pygmy neighbors is determined by genetic factors remains widely unknown. Here, we study a uniquely large new anthropometrical dataset comprising more than 1,000 individuals from 10 Central African Pygmy and neighboring Non-Pygmy populations, categorized as such based on cultural criteria rather than height. We show that climate, or forest density may not play a major role in the difference in adult stature between existing Pygmies and Non-Pygmies, without ruling out the hypothesis that such factors played an important evolutionary role in the past. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between stature and neutral genetic variation in a subset of 213 individuals and found that the Pygmy individuals' stature was significantly positively correlated with levels of genetic similarity with the Non-Pygmy gene-pool for both men and women. Overall, we show that a Pygmy individual exhibiting a high level of genetic admixture with the neighboring Non-Pygmies is likely to be taller. These results show for the first time that the major morphological difference in stature found between Central African Pygmy and Non-Pygmy populations is likely determined by genetic factors.

Les Ntomba, ethnie du groupe Mongo en RDC, occupent la foret inondee de la Cuvette centrale dans la region du lac Tumba. Le reseau hydrographique y est hypertrophie. La peche comme la chasse est regie par le bon-vouloir de genies anthropomorphes, hierarchises, territorialises, vivant en societe sur le modele humain. Bons ou mechants, les genies bilima vivent en couple et dispensent leurs creatures, poissons (pour la femme) et gibier (pour l’homme), a ceux auxquels ils veulent du bien. Les campements de peche et les peches collectives hautement productives sont regis par des maitres de peche, descendants du premier occupant. Ces derniers ont herite du pacte originel conclu avec le genie-chef du lieu. Ainsi, la relation au monde invisible est la clef de la gestion traditionnelle des ressources naturelles.

La croissance des enfants est sensible, entre autres, a la valeur nutritive du regime alimentaire, tant en qualite qu'en quantite. Dans les populations forestieres, les categories dites vulnerables, que sont les femmes enceintes et allaitantes et les enfants, sont soumises a de nombreux interdits alimentaires ayant une fonction symbolique et sociale. Ces interdits concernent un grand nombre d'especes animales, essentiellement du gibier, riches en proteines. Cet etat de fait a emu de nombreux medecins nutritionnistes des annees 50-70. En effet, il y a une trentaine d'annees, dans cette usine a proteines que represente la foret equatoriale, les interdits etaient nombreux et respectes et le rapport entre le nombre d'especes interdites et celles autorisees eleve. Cependant le sevrage etait tardif et de nombreuses especes frequentes dans le regime alimentaire n'etaient pas frappees d'interdit. Actuellement, le gibier est devenu rare suite a la pression de chasse liee a la demande des villes. Par contre, un grand nombre d'interdits ne sont plus respectes. Il en resulte que si la valeur proteique du regime alimentaire s'est deterioree, le prejudice a ete freine par l'evolution des comportements sociaux. Le prejudice nutritionnel imputable aux interdits alimentaires doit donc etre relativise par rapport au contexte global de l'alimentation, c'est-a-dire aux dynamiques ecologiques et sociales relatives aux disponibilites et aux choix alimentaires.

The relationship between migration, family structure and stress level was investigated in an anthropological study carried out in Marseilles on 60 children of Senegalese origin, 5 to 15 years old. The biological stress level was assessed through the 24h cortisol level in urine samples, standardized according to sex and age. These children lived either in nuclear families or in family structures of another type. Some children had recently experienced migration whereas others were born or had lived in France for more than 3 years. It appears that the children living in non-nuclear families, having recently migrated and encountering difficulties at school or in integration, show significantly higher cortisol levels, suggesting that they experience higher levels of stress.

The stress levels of 40 Senegalese migrant children were studied by measuring the level of cortisol, adrenalin, noradrenalin, and dopamine in their 24-hour urinary excretion. The choice and the adaptation of methods necessary for carrying out a study in the family environment rather than under hospital conditions are specified. Urinary cortisol is taken as a good indicator of a psychosocial stress over a long period. The measurement of stress hormones should be expressed in relation to age, weight, height, body surface and body mass index (BMI). The last two indexes are enough to express cortisol independently of age and body shape. However, while pediatricians tend to use body surface (calculated from Gehan and George’s formulas), seldom applying the exact formula related to age, anthropobiogists mostly prefer to use BMI. A suitable standardization of the results is needed, particularly when the objective is to measure children’s stress under “normal” conditions, that is at their family home.