Patrimoine culturel et identité chez les Lega de la République Démocratique du Congo. Contribution à l’anthropologie culturelle

Abstract

This Master's thesis in Anthropology is entitled "Cultural heritage and identity among the Lega of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Contribution to cultural anthropology. The problem exposed in this work is that of the progressive loss of the cultural identity of the Lega people, linked to the dynamics of their cultural heritage for the benefit of increasingly growing globalization. This problem led to the following questions: What are the links that exist between cultural heritage and cultural identity among the Lega? What are the typologies of Lega cultural heritage? What are the different practices that intervene in the safeguarding of cultural heritage among the Lega and its different functions within this socioculture? What is the situation of the cultural identity of the Lega people in the face of the relationship between their cultural heritage and the current context of globalization? The answers to these questions were subject to a double methodological procedure, namely: documentary research and field research. The first consisted of the exploitation of writings related to this work. While the second made it possible to face empirical realities, through data collection techniques such as observation, semi-structured interviews and life stories, in five (5) administrative groups of the Chiefdom de Basile and in the town of Bukavu. At the end of this double heuristic process, we arrived at the following results: cultural heritage is the foundation, expression and “mirror” of cultural identity among the Lega. It includes two major heritage typologies: tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage. This is multi-symbolic and finds meaning and meaning depending on the context and the circumstance which characterizes it. It fulfills social and associative, political, judicial, didactic, economic, therapeutic and propitiatory, cathartic, religious, ecological and architectural functions within the Lega socioculture. The latter are the reason why this socioculture has put in place a system allowing its preservation, thanks to practices such as transmission, sacralization, inheritance and conservation. Finally, under the effect of globalization, we observe not only losses or disappearances, but also continuities and innovations within the cultural heritage of the Lega people. This state of affairs results in the weakening of the cultural identity of this people on the one hand, but also allows them to support their means of subsistence. Furthermore, globalization also constitutes, to a certain extent, a boon for the preservation of Lega cultural identity, particularly through NICTs and museums.