Libéria, machine perverse. Anthropologie politique du conflit libérien

Abstract Liberia, diabolical machinery: The political anthropology of the Liberian conflict. — The political economy of violence is yet to be written. The forgotten conflict in Liberia is a case portending others: the astonishing return of state violence with its origins, in this case, in an age-old, merciless domination involving the descendants of slaves (congos) on natives. All means can be used to fight against the state: witchcraft, masks, scarification and various signs. Diabolical sexual acts, murders and dismemberments can be committed by reducing Others to signs. Out of the drift of territories and the loss of means of mediation, diabolical machinery has been set in motion. Only bodies and weapons bear a meaning, a meaning tending to annihilation.