CORPS CACHÉS, VOIX ABSENTES : EXPÉRIENCE DE DIEU ET VULNÉRABILITÉ PSYCHIQUE EN CONTEXTE RELIGIEUX AFRICAIN

Nuns in sub-Saharan Africa experience a paradox where intense religious practice, while a source of resilience, also creates hidden psychological vulnerability. The proposed model 'Hidden Bodies, Absent Voices' explains how the ideal of perfection in consecrated life forces the ascetic body to mask pain as sacrifice and represses speech in the name of obedience, generating inner violence and identity fragmentation. This concealment is reinforced by African socio-cultural factors: religious patriarchy, community cohesion (Ubuntu), and the sanctification of renunciation transform clinical distress into spiritual virtue. The article advocates for a 'clinic of recognition' to restore visibility of the body, create safe spaces for exchange, and integrate acceptance of fragility into religious structures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The article proposes the conceptual model ‘Hidden Bodies, Absent Voices’ to analyse the unseen psychological vulnerability of nuns in sub-Saharan Africa, where the intensification of religious practices creates a paradox: spiritual experience, while being a source of resilience, can also lead to hidden fragility. The model articulates the subjective experience of the divine, invisible suffering, and the social dynamics of silence and stigmatisation. It demonstrates that the ideal of perfection in consecrated life neutralises the expression of the body and speech. The ascetic body is forced to mask its pain, often sublimated into sacrifice, while speech is repressed in the name of obedience, generating inner violence and identity fragmentation. This concealment is reinforced by the African socio-cultural context, where religious patriarchy, the priority given to community cohesion (Ubuntu) and the sanctification of renunciation transform clinical distress into spiritual virtue. To counter this invisibility, the article concludes by advocating for a ‘clinic of recognition.’ This would aim to restore the visibility of the body as spiritual and psychic mediation, to establish safe spaces for exchange, and to integrate the acceptance of fragility into religious structures, thereby restoring nuns to their full stature as subjects.