« J'ai un corps » les enjeux missionnaires de la traduction et de l'interprétation chez Maurice Leenhardt

Naepels, Michel 

Philosophia Scientiae, L’usage anthropologique du principe de charité, Tome 6 (2002) no. 2, pp. 15-30

Résumé

In this text, I propose an exercise of interpretation on an enigmatic statement made by Bwêêyöû Ërijiyi, a Kanak of New Caledonia, and reported by Maurice Leenhardt, the ethnologist and missionary who had converted him to protestantism: “You didn’t bring the spirit to us. $[$...$]$ What you brought to us is the body.” I begin by attempting to understand the importance of this statement for M. Leenhardt, to explain why he frequently quoted it. Closely connected to Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, M. Leenhardt thought that the Kanak people were entangled in multiple “participations”, and thereby had no self awareness, nor awareness of their own body. Analysis of his theory of translation demonstrates that translation is for him the fundamental missionary act, making it possible for the evangelical message to be effective in the core of the primitive mentality. Lévy-Bruhl’s theory of “participation” thus serves to justify Leenhardt’s missionary practice, and B. Ërijiyi’s statement is taken as justifying both. By taking into consideration other Kanak statements, however, we can propose various other interpretations of what B. Ërijiyi says. The principle of charity does not seem to me to constitute a logical rule for choosing among these that can replace in-depth empirical investigation.