In Elizabeth Gaskell's 1855 short story, "Half a Life-Time Ago," Susan Dixon faces a difficult choice regarding her younger brother, who has gone insane after an illness: should she try to care for him at home or commit him to the nearby Lancaster Asylum? Although fictional, Susan's situation highlights an important Victorian debate about the care of the insane and the reformation of public asylums. This debate, and the changes enacted by nineteenth-century asylum reformers as a result of the cultural conversation, brought new attention to the relationship between the mind, the body, and the will as the concept of moral management as a method of treatment for the insane gained popularity. Dr. Samuel Gaskell, Commissioner in the English Lunacy Commission, Supervisor of the Lancaster Asylum, and Elizabeth's brother-in-law, dedicated his career to implementing the tenets of moral management in the institutions within his purview. For proponents like Dr. Gaskell, the moral management method of treatment restored dignity to patients by giving them the responsibility to bring themselves--through self-discipline, labor, and the exercise of will--back to sanity and thus back into the communities from which their illness excluded them. Many who supported asylum reform regarded moral management as a revolutionary tool with the power to restore happiness and peace to individuals, families, and institutions struggling to deal humanely with insanity. Susan Dixon's exploration of the parameters of moral management as a method of treatment for her bother, however, calls its effectiveness into question. Although Susan is an exemplary moral manager and diligently attempts to re-train her brother by utilizing the principles that Dr. Gaskell used to reform Lancaster Asylum, her implementation of moral management causes the destruction of the Dixon household and the physical, social, and mental disintegration of Susan herself. As Susan and her brother demonstrate in what might be regarded as Gaskell's fictional case study of her brother-in-law's beliefs, no amount of moral management can successfully treat insanity, and insisting that such a program might be undertaken by the insane--or by others on their behalf--is woefully miscalculated.

Dans cette recherche, nous étudions la médiation entre acteurs politiques, administratifs et sociaux, pour la gestion des demandes d’asile. Nous analysons ensuite les jeux d’acteurs autour de la situation des demandeurs d’asile afghans en France, via la sociologie de la traduction.La théorie de la sociologie de la traduction nous donne un modèle explicatif de l’action, des problèmes d’organisation entre différents acteurs d’un secteur dans différentes situations. Basée sur cette théorie, notre recherche vise finalement à voir comment les acteurs des réseaux pour les demandeurs d’asile trouvent une convergence. Dans le réseau d’acteurs au sens de la sociologie de la traduction, après avoir démontré qu’il existe bien une médiation, nous en analysons la nature. Ensuite, notre recherche se développe sur la mise en relation entre les théories des représentations sociales (et interculturelles) et une enquête sociologique qui inclut des questionnaires, des entretiens et l’observation directe et participative pour mieux comprendre les enjeux communicationnels des acteurs de la demande d’asile en France, autour de la réforme depuis 2013 jusqu’à aujourd’hui. A la fin, nous analysons les enjeux communicationnels de la réforme d’asile grâce au concept d’espace public, puis nous convoquerons la théorie de la traduction pour trouver un modèle de convergence. Fort de ce cadre théorique, nous insisterons sur le rôle du ministère de l’intérieur : en tant que médiateur ou traducteur au sens de la sociologie de la traduction , celui-ci a pris en main la réforme du droit d’asile et a fait le lien entre les acteurs du réseau depuis 2013. / In this research, we study the mediation between political, administrative and social actors to manage asylums requests. Then we analyze the actions around the situation of the Afghan asylum seekers in France, via the sociology of translation.The theory of Sociology of translation gives us an explanatory model of action, problems of organization between different actors of a sector in different situations. Based on this theory, our research aims ultimately to see how actors of the networks for asylum seekers find a convergence.In the network of actors through the meaning of the sociology of translation, after demonstrating that there is a mediation, we analyze the nature. Then, our research develops on the networking between the theories of social representations (and intercultural) and a sociological survey that includes questionnaires, interviews and direct and participatory observation to understand communicational issues of actors in the context of asylum in France around reform since 2013 until today. Finally, we analyze the communication challenges of the reform of asylum through the concept of public space, then we call the theory of translation to find a convergence model. With this theoretical framework, we will emphasize the role of the Ministry of the Interior: as mediator or translator within the meaning of the sociology of translation, it took on reform of the law of asylum and made the connection between the actors of the network from 2013.