Kiyang-yang, a West-African Postwar Idiom of Distress

• DOI: 10.1007/s11013-010-9178-7
• Publication Date: 2010-04-26T14:05:04Z
• Authors: Joop T. de Jong; Ria Reis
• Keywords: Adult; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Male; Adolescent; Armed conflict; Kiyang-yang; 150; Black People; Idioms of distress; Health(social science); 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Witchcraft; Humans; Guinea-Bissau; Central possession religion; Guinea Bissau; Social Change; Child; Traumatic stress; Developing Countries; Social suffering; Clairvoyance; Political violence; Original Paper; Politics; Barrenness; Middle Aged; Psychophysiologic Disorders; Semantics; Idiom of distress; Psychiatry and Mental health; Africa, Western; Socioeconomic Factors; Anthropology; Female; Healing cult; Medicine, Traditional; Magic; Infertility, Female; Dissociation

In 1984, a healing cult for young barren women in southern Guinea Bissau developed into movement, Kiyang-yang, that shook society to its foundations and had national repercussions. "Idiom of distress" is used here as heuristic tool understand how Kiyang-yang was able link war post-war-related traumatic stress suffering on both individual group levels. An experience born from origin may be generalized an idiom diverse sectors could embrace range related reasons. We argue that, understood appropriated by others, there has resonance at the level symbolic language shared experiences well culturally mediated contingent emotions it communicates. also through references structural causes suffering, distress entails danger those power. It can continue exist only if etiology not exposed or social articulates eliminated. finally idioms are discrete diagnostic categories monodimensional expressions "trauma" addressed.