Schooling and New Representations in Kabiyè Land from 1926 to 2004

Introduced in Kabiyè Land in 1926 and then popularised in a context of domination, the school has become the model for education and the place where new representations are disseminated. This school proceeded, firstly, by separating the child from the family, from whom it stole most of his prerogatives, and then by dividing individuals, families, communities and ethnic groups, to which it however allowed to communicate by the medium of the foreign language, French. Borrowings from French break down the Kabiyè language discourse and prevent it from transmitting the cultural values which it constitute the vehicle. The fact that Kabiyè people adopt French, which is different from Kabiyè, their mother tongue, is a sign of a gap, a cleavage. The initiation rites to which the educated are subjected deepen the breach separating them from this still illiterate multitude, whom they henceforth treat with disdain