L’événement et la parole

Les traditions orales (proverbes, formules, récits, etc.) contiennent des éléments qui nous permettent de déchiffrer la conception de l’histoire et du temps historique des sociétés de l’oralité, autrefois dites « sans écriture ». L’auteur a essayé de reconstruire la conception locale de l’histoire des Nzema, société akan du Ghana sud occidental, par l’analyse de proverbes et de récits historiques, en mettant en évidence que l’évaluation de la différence entre divers régimes d’historicité ne peut se faire qu’à travers l’aperception de la différence entre divers régimes rhétoriques. En langue nzema, edweke couvre le double champ sémantique de « parole », et donc « narration », et aussi d’« événement ». Il y a deux façons de parler, la première est la manière de parler aux savants et aux anciens: bu erele, battre le proverbe qui, métaphoriquement, signifie aussi dire la vérité (ka nohale), et la deuxième est la manière de parler par faits, c’est-à-dire raconter (ka edweke, dire l’événement, l’histoire). Edweke est donc la parole, au sens saussurien du terme, dans la réalité vivante du discours, mais ka edweke, raconter, n’est pas automatiquement ka nohale, dire la vérité. Dire l’expérience ou l’histoire (ka edweke) équivaut à dire la vérité (ka nohale) uniquement dans le cas des anciens et des ancêtres (les deux étant dénotés par le même mot mgbanyima). D’ailleurs ka edweke est amaamuo, la coutume, et s’inscrit dans ses procès performatifs au cours du temps, dont le contenu de vérité est donné par les ancêtres. La parole des ancêtres est donc la forme et, en même temps, le contenu du « dire » la condition nécessaire et le fondement explicite du discours sur l’histoire et sur le savoir, mais aussi le fondement de sa clé rhétorique. Par conséquent, le savoir sur le passé n’est ni statique, ni inaltérable, pour la même raison que l’histoire n’est pas réelle, comme nous la concevons en termes d’une succession d’événements au cours d’un temps linéaire.Events and Utterances: The Conception of History and Historical Time in Oral Traditions among the Nzema. – Oral traditions (proverbs, sayings, tales, etc.) contain evidence of how “societies without writing” conceive of history and historical time. Proverbs and historical accounts from among the Nzema, an Akan society in southwestern Ghana, are analyzed so as to reconstruct this people’s conception of their history.  Differences between systems of historicity can only be evaluated by apperceiving differences between rhetorical systems.  In Nzema, edweke covers the two semantic fields of “word” (and thus of “narration”) and “event”. There are two ways to talk. The first is the way to talk to elders and sages: bu erele (“beat the proverb”) metaphorically means telling the truth (ka nohale). The second way is to talk using facts and events: ka edweke. However, ka edweke is not automatically a matter of telling the truth.  Narrating an experience or an event is the equivalent of telling the truth only in the case of elders and ancestors (both called mgbanyima). Furthermore, ka edweke is part of a performance, and its true contents are given by the ancestors. The ancestors’ utterances are thus both the form and contents of “telling”, the necessary condition and explicit foundation of talk about history and knowledge. As a consequence, knowledge about the past is neither static nor inalterable, for the same reason that history is not real in the sense of a succession of events in linear time

Allou, Kouamé René. — Les Nzema. Un peuple akan de Côte d’Ivoire et du Ghana

L’Harmattan est une maison d’édition qui a le mérite d’avoir permis à beaucoup d’auteurs et de spécialistes africains de publier un nombre important d’ouvrages, dont la plupart sont de qualité remarquable. Avec Les Nzema. Un people akan de Côte d’Ivoire et du Ghana par Kouamé René Allou, L’Harmattan publie en 2013 un travail dont la valeur est douteuse, tant du côté scientifique que de celui de l’édition de l’ouvrage. Ce livre s’occupe d’une société qui a fait l’objet de recherches ethnologiq..

Open data, Science and Society: launching Oasis, the flagship initiative of the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia

The Open Data philosophy has gained considerable momentum in recent years, both in society and the scientific community. The accessibility via web of open data from the public sector has remarkably increased in the last decade, although there are substantial differences among nations (http://datacatalogs.org/). The expectation of many citizens, organizations and pressure groups (the so called “open government” movement) is that the free release of data from public administrations may help increase government transparency and accountability

Security layers and related services within the Horizon Europe NEUROPULS project

In the contemporary security landscape, the incorporation of photonics has emerged as a transformative force, unlocking a spectrum of possibilities to enhance the resilience and effectiveness of security primitives. This integration represents more than a mere technological augmentation; it signifies a paradigm shift towards innovative approaches capable of delivering security primitives with key properties for low-power systems. This not only augments the robustness of security frameworks, but also paves the way for novel strategies that adapt to the evolving challenges of the digital age. This paper discusses the security layers and related services that will be developed, modeled, and evaluated within the Horizon Europe NEUROPULS project. These layers will exploit novel implementations for security primitives based on physical unclonable functions (PUFs) using integrated photonics technology. Their objective is to provide a series of services to support the secure operation of a neuromorphic photonic accelerator for edge computing applications.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Bowel preparation for elective colorectal resection: multi-treatment machine learning analysis on 6241 cases from a prospective Italian cohort

background current evidence concerning bowel preparation before elective colorectal surgery is still controversial. this study aimed to compare the incidence of anastomotic leakage (AL), surgical site infections (SSIs), and overall morbidity (any adverse event, OM) after elective colorectal surgery using four different types of bowel preparation. methods a prospective database gathered among 78 Italian surgical centers in two prospective studies, including 6241 patients who underwent elective colorectal resection with anastomosis for malignant or benign disease, was re-analyzed through a multi-treatment machine-learning model considering no bowel preparation (NBP; No. = 3742; 60.0%) as the reference treatment arm, compared to oral antibiotics alone (oA; No. = 406; 6.5%), mechanical bowel preparation alone (MBP; No. = 1486; 23.8%), or in combination with oAB (MoABP; No. = 607; 9.7%). twenty covariates related to biometric data, surgical procedures, perioperative management, and hospital/center data potentially affecting outcomes were included and balanced into the model. the primary endpoints were AL, SSIs, and OM. all the results were reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). results compared to NBP, MBP showed significantly higher AL risk (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.23-2.71; p = .003) and OM risk (OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.10-1.72; p = .005), no significant differences for all the endpoints were recorded in the oA group, whereas MoABP showed a significantly reduced SSI risk (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.25-0.79; p = .008). conclusions MoABP significantly reduced the SSI risk after elective colorectal surgery, therefore representing a valid alternative to NBP

Abdominal drainage after elective colorectal surgery: propensity score-matched retrospective analysis of an Italian cohort

background: In italy, surgeons continue to drain the abdominal cavity in more than 50 per cent of patients after colorectal resection. the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of abdominal drain placement on early adverse events in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. methods: a database was retrospectively analysed through a 1:1 propensity score-matching model including 21 covariates. the primary endpoint was the postoperative duration of stay, and the secondary endpoints were surgical site infections, infectious morbidity rate defined as surgical site infections plus pulmonary infections plus urinary infections, anastomotic leakage, overall morbidity rate, major morbidity rate, reoperation and mortality rates. the results of multiple logistic regression analyses were presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95 per cent c.i. results: a total of 6157 patients were analysed to produce two well-balanced groups of 1802 patients: group (A), no abdominal drain(s) and group (B), abdominal drain(s). group a versus group B showed a significantly lower risk of postoperative duration of stay >6 days (OR 0.60; 95 per cent c.i. 0.51-0.70; P < 0.001). a mean postoperative duration of stay difference of 0.86 days was detected between groups. no difference was recorded between the two groups for all the other endpoints. conclusion: this study confirms that placement of abdominal drain(s) after elective colorectal surgery is associated with a non-clinically significant longer (0.86 days) postoperative duration of stay but has no impact on any other secondary outcomes, confirming that abdominal drains should not be used routinely in colorectal surgery

Poteri locali, poteri tradizionali. Decentramento, sviluppo e storia in Africa

Il volume raccoglie studi sulle politiche di decentramento e di organizzazione dei poteri tradizionali in diversi paesi africani (Ghana, Mali, Sudafrica, Uganda)The volume is a collection of studies on decengtralization and the policies on traditional powers in various African countries (Ghana, Mali, Sudafrica, Uganda

Reconsidering Ivor Wilks’s « big bang » theory of Akan history

Ivor Wilks assumes that a rapid transition from a foraging economy to a labour intensive agrarian system characterised the history of the Akan during 15th and 16th centuries in the forest area of present-day Ghana. In particular, he affirms that matriclans, and matrilineal ideology itself, arose in the 16th century. This article challenges those assumptions and claims that matriclans must have been in existence before the rise of the state in the Akan area in the 16th century. The argument is developed on the basis of a set of elements concerning oral traditions and kinship structures, and, particularly, the terminological identity of cross-cousin marriage and marriage with a slave which are both labelled under the same definition as “marriage in the house” throughout the entire Akan area

La promozione della salute e il valore del sangue. Antropologia medica e sanità pubblica

Atti del convegno "Promozione della salute e valore del sangue" tenutosi 26-27 gennaio 2010 presso il Dipartimento di Storia Culture Religioni della SapienzaProceedings of the workshop held 26-27 January 2010 at Sapienza University on Promotion of Health and the Value of Bloo