Jeanne Favret-Saada
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Jeanne Favret-Saada, born in 1934 in
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
, is a French
ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
.


Biography

Favret-Saada was born in the Jewish community of
Sfax Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterrane ...
in southern Tunisia. She studied philosophy in Paris, and then taught at the
University of Algiers The University of Algiers (Arabic:جامعة الجزائر – بن يوسف بن خـدة ), commonly called the Algiers 1 University, is a public research university located in Algiers, Algeria. It is the oldest and most prestigious universi ...
from 1959 to 1963. There, she studied political systems in Arab tribes and violence in
Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of th ...
. She then taught at
Nanterre University Paris Nanterre University (French: ''Université Paris Nanterre''), formerly Paris-X and commonly referred to as Nanterre, is a public research university based in Nanterre, Paris, France. It is one of the most prestigious French universities, ma ...
in Paris, and later became Research Director at l'
École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...
(in religious studies).


Research themes

She is particularly known for her work, in the 1970s, on peasant witchcraft in the
Mayenne Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ill ...
countryside. It results in a book, ''Deadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage'' (in 1977). She argues that since witchcraft resides in words, any ethnographic work of these practices require participation, and that witchcraft is one of the "''contemporary discourses on misfortune and healing''". She extends this work with Josée Contreras by studying
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
and outlining an anthropology of therapy. She continues working on this topic to this day, her last book, Anti-Witch, having been published in 2015.


See also

*
Antijudaism Anti-Judaism is the "total or partial opposition to Judaism as a religion—and the total or partial opposition to Jews as adherents of it—by persons who accept a competing system of beliefs and practices and consider certain genuine Judai ...


References

Content in this edit is partially translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at Jeanne Favret-Saada; see its history for attribution. 1934 births Living people French ethnologists Women ethnologists Academic staff of the University of Algiers 21st-century Algerian people {{ethnologist-stub