Hélène d'Almeida-Topor (2 October 1932 – 1 August 2020) was a French historian and university professor of contemporary history.

Biography

Her father, Abram Topor, was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

artist of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

origin who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Her brother,

Roland Topor Roland Topor (7 January 1938 – 16 April 1997) was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, who was known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewis ...

, was also an artist and a writer. Earning an

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

in history and geography in 1959, d'Almeida-Topor taught in

Porto-Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Gu ...

, Benin from 1960 to 1970. She also taught in Lomé, Togo for several years. Subsequently, she became a lecturer at

Paris-Est Créteil University The Gare de l'Est (; English: "Station of the East" or "East station"), officially Paris-Est, is one of the six large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. It is located in the 10th arrondissement, not far southeast from the Gare ...

. In 1987, d'Almeida-Topor defended a thesis titled "Histoire économique du Dahomey (1890-1920)" at Paris-Sorbonne University under the supervision of Jean Ganiage. She was a professor at the

University of Lorraine The University of Lorraine (), often abbreviated in UL, is a grand établissement created on 1 January 2012, by the merger of Henri Poincaré University, Nancy 2 University, Paul Verlaine University – Metz and the National Polytechnic Institute ...

from 1988 to 1994 before working at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne until 2003, when she became professor emeritus. Her son, Fabrice d'Almeida, would also become a historian. Hélène d'Almeida-Topor died on 1 August 2020 at the age of 87.

Publications

*''Les Amazones. Une armée de femmes dans l'Afrique précoloniale'' (1984) *''Les Transports en Afrique xixe – xxe siècle'' (1992) *''L'Afrique au xxe siècle'' (1993) *''L'Europe et l'Afrique, un siècle d'échanges économiques'' (1994) *''Histoire économique du Dahomey. 1890-1920'' (1995) *''Le travail en Afrique noire. Représentations et pratiques à l'époque contemporaine'' (2003) *''Le Goût de l'étranger, les saveurs venues d'ailleurs depuis la fin du xviiie siècle'' (2006) *''L'Afrique'' (2006) *''L'Afrique du 20e siècle à nos jours'' (2013)

Distinction

*President of the Société française d’histoire des outre-mers, Honorary President in 2011

References

20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians French educators Historians of Africa French women historians 1932 births 2020 deaths Writers from Paris French people of Portuguese descent Place of death missing 20th-century French women writers 21st-century French women writers {{France-historian-stub