Pour la devineresse, la divination est un « travail » (faliwi) nécessaire pour contenter les génies — et ainsi maintenir un équilibre dans sa vie personnelle —, mais aussi un moyen d’aider autrui. Elle ne peut être réduite à une technique de communication spécifique impliquant des entités invisibles. Ce qui se produit au cours des séances est plus complexe. Devineresse, consultant et génies contribuent ensemble à l’élaboration de ce propos intelligible et efficace qu’est le diagnostic divinatoire. Leur participation active et leur adhésion ne sont jamais acquises : les génies jouent-ils toujours leur rôle ? Le consultant parvient-il à s’impliquer correctement ? La devineresse réussit-elle à dépasser ses doutes ? La description d’une séance de divination va permettre la mise en avant des paroles, des gestes et du cadre matériel sur lesquels repose cette pragmatique divinatoire particulière.

Based on ethnography conducted among young men, elderly women and diviners in the Korhogo region of Ivory Coast, this thesis explores the everyday implementation of ties of interdependency, which I call relations of obligation, and how these relations contribute to the position and trajectory of such persons on the social chessboard. Most of the time they occupy a obligated position within their networks of relations of obligation. Young men remain in this situation despite their age and their aspirations to become heads of household with "obligated" persons of their own over whom they can exert authority. As a result of old age and widowhood, elderly women are faced with a reorganisation of the relations of obligation upon which they rely for their livelihood. While trying to maintain a role with respect to those who are "obligated" to them, particularly grandchildren, they are increasingly dependent on the support of others. Insofar as diviners are concerned, having to negotiate constantly both with members of their human entourage and with the entities that have elected them (ancestors, spirits), whose interests are often opposed. They find themselves having to deal with two sets of relations of obligation that are difficult to reconcile. The thesis is divided into six chapters, alternating between detailed analyses focused on one of these three groups of people, and more general analyses of social dynamics that bring relations of obligation into play: residential mobilities, formal friendship and the consequences of a relationship with an entity who pursue. Obligation, as a relational modality, opens up a novel understanding of the structuring of social relationships and of experiences of youth, old age and the condition of being elected by an invisible entity.