In this article, Marc Le Pape examines a variety of situations where applying the concept of culture can prove problematic. To explore how this concept is applied in a humanitarian aid context, the author asks numerous questions: During a crisis, is it appropriate for humanitarian workers to call on anthropologists in an emergency to eventually gain a better understanding of the communities involved? Who are the informants and interpreters employed by humanitarian workers for their networks and knowledge of local social dynamics? How much of a challenge is translation in the caregiver-patient relationship? Why take rumours about the medical field seriously? 

An article entitled "Médecines du corps noir" [Medicine and the black body], published on the La vie des idées website on 27 April, discusses three American history books on the origins of medicine in the United States in the context of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. Between experimentation and resistance, the history of relationships between race and health illustrates the decisive role played by African slaves.    

This article is about humanitarian exoticism and culturalist convictions: those to which members of NGOs currently adhere.