[The good mother: rural and urban practices related to measles in Haalpulareen women in Senegal].
Anthropologists usually describe the village as a place of tradition, and the town as a place of modernity. In order to question this opposition, a study was carried out among 100 Haalpulaaren mothers (Tukulors and Fulas), 50 from a village in the Sahelian area along the Senegal River and 50 from an underprivileged suburb of Dakar. They were asked about their representations and practices related to measles, which is the first cause of mortality under 5 years of age in the urban group, and second in rural group. Although fatality rates were equivalent in both groups and even higher among village children who had been staying in town at the time of the illness, measles seems much more feared in the village where it comes by epidemics than in town where it is endemic. Moreover, causal interpretations seem to be changed by the different environment of the city where the mechanistic explanation by winds has lost its material basis and is changed into the metaphoric and magical interpretation of wind-spirits. As for therapeutic practices, the study reveals a more traditional behaviour (judged on use of local remedies and immunization coverage) in the urban group than in the rural group. This paradoxical result can be explained by the existence of a subgroup of migrant women (seen in town more than in the village) who appear to resist to change and reinforce their traditional behaviours. Finally influence of castes seems to disappear in town, where therapeutic practices vary according to the level of integration into urban society (measured by use of the vehicular language).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008273:Magic; D008297:Male; D008457:Measles / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D012423:Rural Health; D012675:Senegal; D012931:Social Environment; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology; D014504:Urban Health
'La bonne mère:' pratiques rurales et urbaines de la rougeole chez les femmes Haalpulaaren du Sénégal.