ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the two forms of debt. The first is the material debt, visible and codified, which characterises peasant societies in olden days and that were actually able to observe on the terrain and spiritual debt linked in part to invisible forces but which nonetheless obeys definite laws. The second is invisible debt, inexpressible and individual, that characterizes people in transitional situations who are living under domination and particularly women who are indebted to men and who in the course of their attempts at emancipation are often trapped by guilt, which 'puts their necks in a noose'. Whereas in the case of material debt, the rules are known and accepted by all parties concerned, in that of invisible debt, the transaction is vague, its contours undefined. This strengthens the symbolic domination, as it is precisely the dominant party in the relationship who can choose whether or not to take part in women's emancipation.
