Mutilation sexuelle féminine et santé mentale dans À l’ombre de la cité Rimbaud, d’Halimata Fofana
Abstract
This article analyses the psychological repercussions of female genital mutilation (FGM) through the novel In the Shadow of the Rimbaud City by Halimata Fofana. By using theoretical tools drawn from the thought of Mikhail Bakhtin, the study explores how the narration of Maya, a young girl from the Malian diaspora in the Parisian suburbs, embodies the centrifugal voices of resistance against oppressive patriarchal structures. The article highlights the lasting mental consequences of FGM, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, eating disorders, and psychic dissociation. Fofana deconstructs the taboos surrounding FGM, while denouncing the community omertà and the inaction of French institutions. Literature, Francophone music, and school become for Maya spaces of resilience and expression, where she reconstructs an identity fragmented by the violence endured. This novel reveals itself to be a powerful vector of therapeutic and political transformation.
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