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All ethics of intervention must recognize that there is nothing like “the morality carried by a homogeneous moral community in a given society, especially in contemporary pluralistic societies. This article proposes, firstly, that the complexity of the analysis in ethics of social interventions derives from the existence of a plurality of “moralities” (e.g. religious, institutional, professional, common sense), each of which offering guides for moral action that may conflict. This is highlighted by a political dimension to all ethics: these moralities are carried by social and ethnic groups in asymmetrical relationships of power. Any ethics of the intervention must be aware that the weight of values and moral norms subjected to the arbitration of the intervener depend less on their intrinsic value than on the power of those who promote it. It also depends on the socio-historical process of moralizing lifestyle, sometimes leading to the stigmatization of vulnerable populations and to moral crusades. One of the responsibilities of all ethics is therefore to proceed to a critical analysis of the weight granted to the various moral discourses inscribed in these relations of power within and between each morality. The same applies, in particular, to ethnic moralities and the question of respect for traditions.

Keywords: éthique, moralités, croisades morales, moralisation, traditions, ethics, moralities, moral crusades, moralization, traditions

A veritable Gordian knot of abandonment, negligence, psychological and often physical and sexual violence typifies the childhood situation of most street kids. These young people are also confronted with a violent social environment. They respond to this violence with destructive acts, or by running away. And their situation as runaways engenders an entire lifestyle, determining relationships of sustenance, pretense, mutual aid, exchange and love. For these young people, their public image and public gathering places become bases for their worldview, aesthetics and culture. To them, the solutions society offers often seem ineffectual or contradictory. In the legal sphere, these young people are caught between rights, responsibilities and prohibitions: they are sometimes treated as children in need of help, at other times as responsible adults.

The term « cagole » designates, in the Marseille language, women displaying ostentatious hyperfemininity and possessing a rude langage. Long associated with prostitution, it retains an insulting inheritance, even though it only qualifies nowadays women considered « too much » and thus perceived as vulgar. However, beyond this stereotype, the « cagolitude » can take on a feminist dimension through the freedom of clothing choices it displays and the occupation of the public space that it shows.

Keywords: agentivité féministe, beauté, cagole, contrôle des corps, stéréotypes sexués, agencia feminista, belleza, cagole, control de los cuerpos, estereotipos de género

This article argues that by unmasking the secret life of the fictional maidservant, Germinie Lacerteux, the Goncourt brothers develop and describe a nineteenth-century social imaginary of the rebellious female servant. The rebellious maidservant emerges in the nineteenth-century social imagination through an interconnected web of discourses emanating from the period's literature, faits divers, household manuals and criminology reports. By analysing Germinie Lacerteux in conjunction with nineteenth-century household manuals, this article explores how the Goncourts contributed to this interconnected web of discourses that created the nineteenth-century cultural stereotype of the rebellious female servant. In revealing the ‘true' nature of the maidservant in their novel, the Goncourts imply that the bourgeoisie must learn to see the image of the devoted servant as nothing more than a construct in the social imagination. The guardian angel whom the bourgeoisie sought to hire is a myth born out of their increasing fears surrounding the potentially dangerous stranger in their home.

Keywords: Nineteenth Century, Social Imaginary, Servants, Household manuals, The Goncourt Brothers, Rebellious, Maidservant, Revolt, Fear, dix-neuvième siècle, imaginaire social, domestiques, manuels d'éducation domestique, frères Goncourt, rebelle, servante, révolte, peur

Detective novels are generally perceived as being over-coded, including in the construction of the female character, reduced to a type or stereotype (the prostitute and the vamp, in particular). Is this also the case in the detective novels of Moussa Konaté ? This article aims to show that several character types do indeed appear in Konaté's work, but that they are the object of a strategy of appropriation of the genre in which inventiveness often prevails over the canon. Thus, these detective novels generate a plurality of female character profiles that occupy multiple functions.

This article examines the isotope of the body in relation to writing by examining the forces at work leading to the double movement of fragmentation and unification in the contemporary African novel. Writing has been shattered into a thousand pieces in reaction to a radical blow. The African novel as it has developed appears to heighten this movement towards intense fragmentation, yet it has at the same time brought about an astonishing stitching together of writing's textual tissue.

A magazine called Detective was published in Montreal between 1964 and 1968. Most copies of Detective are impossible to find, and the periodical is mostly forgotten today. Despite a title that suggested a focus on investigation and crime, Detective was characterized by various forms of sensational content, most notably those centered on sexuality. This article examines Detective in relation to the broader explosion of Quebec tabloid periodicals in the 1960s. It also speculates on the possible relationship between the Quebec version of Detective and the better-known and more enduring French periodical of the same name.