HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Claude-Hélène Perrot (13 September 1928 – 16 July 2019) was a French historian and Africanist who specialized in the history of Côte d'Ivoire. She served as a professor of contemporary African history at the
Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (), also known as Paris 1 (or Paris I) and Panthéon-Sorbonne University (or, together with Sorbonne University and Sorbonne Nouvelle University, simply as the Sorbonne), is a Public university, public rese ...
from 1983 to 1993. Perrot's main areas of research concerned the history of the
Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...
of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana before colonization, mainly the Anyi and the Eotile; the use of
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...
by historians; as well as relations between
traditional African religions The beliefs and practices of Demographics of Africa, African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral tradition, oral rath ...
and political power. She was honored as Commander,
Order of Ivory Merit The Order of Ivory Merit (''Ordre du Mérite Ivoirien'') is the second highest honorary order of the Ivory Coast created in 1970, and is intended to reward distinguished merits acquired in a public, civil, military or private function. History ...
.


Early life and education

Claude-Hélène Perrot was born in Lembach on 13 September 1928 into a
Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
family. She was the sister of François Perrot. Perrot completed a degree in history and geography at the Sorbonne in 1950, and after obtaining further training, became a
secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
teacher in
Cholet Cholet (, probably from Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a commune of western France, in the Maine-et-Loire department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous commune of Maine-et-Loire, after the prefecture, Angers. ...
and Coulommiers, from 1955 to 1961. Her interests in Africa occurred during a trip to Senegal, after which she enrolled at the
École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...
, where she studied under
Roger Bastide Roger Bastide (1 April 1898 in Nîmes – 10 April 1974 in Maisons-Laffitte) was a French sociologist and anthropologist, specialist in sociology and Brazilian literature. He was raised as a Protestant and studied philosophy in France, developing ...
and
Georges Balandier Georges Balandier (21 December 1920 – 5 October 2016) was a French sociologist, anthropologist and ethnologist noted for his research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Balandier was born in Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont. He was a professor at the Sorbonne (U ...
. She worked in the archives of the
Paris Evangelical Missionary Society The Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (in French, ''Société des missions évangéliques de Paris''), also known as the ''SMEP'' or ''Mission de Paris'', was a Protestant missionary association created in 1822. As with other Christian societie ...
and prepared a thesis on the
Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana *Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an offi ...
king
Moshoeshoe I Moshoeshoe I () ( – 11 March 1870) was the first king of Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor Tribal chief, chief of the Bamokoteli lineage, a branch of the Koena tribe, Koena (crocodile) clan. In his youth, he helped his fat ...
, which she defended at the
Faculté des lettres de Paris The Faculty of Humanities of Paris (in French: ''Faculté des Lettres de Paris''), commonly known as the ''Sorbonne'', was one of the four faculties of the University of Paris, refounded in 1896, and an independent entity from 1808 to 1896, based ...
, in 1963, and which was published in 1970 under the title ''Les Sotho et les Missionnaires européens au XIXe siècle'' ("The Sotho and European Missionaries in the 19th century").


Career

Perrot was affiliated with the School of Letters in
Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
and
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB), formerly known as Université de Cocody or Université de Cocody-Abidjan, is a public university located in the Cocody section of Abidjan and the largest in Côte d'Ivoire. With over 50,000 student ...
, until 1971. During the period of 1971 till 1973, she was with CNRS in Paris. In 1973, she was appointed lecturer at the
University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
. In 1978, she defended a state thesis, entitled ''Les Anyi-Ndenyé et le pouvoir politique aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles '' ("The Anyi-Ndenyé and political power in the 18th and 19th centuries") at
Paris Descartes University Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...
, and published under the same title in 1984. In 1983, she was elected professor at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. She retired from academia in 1993, while continuing to lead a university seminar and to travel to Côte d'Ivoire for conferences. She belonged to the Comité de vigilance face aux usages publics de l'histoire. Perrot died in Paris on 16 July 2019.


Awards

* Commander, Order of Ivory Merit


Selected works

* ''Les Sothos et les missionnaires européens'', ''Annales de l'université d'Abidjan'', série F, tome 2/1, Impr. Darantière, Dijon, 1970, p. 192. (in French) * ''Les Anyi-Ndényé et le pouvoir aux 18 et 19 siècles'', Publications de la Sorbonne, 1982. (in French) * « Les Missionnaires français et la construction d'un État. Le Lesotho au temps d'Eugène Casalis », in Daniel C. Bach (dir.), ''La France et l'Afrique du sud. Histoire, mythes et enjeux contemporains'', Karthala, 1990, pp. 111–132 (in French) * (dir.) ''Lignages et territoire en Afrique aux XVIII & XIX. Stratégies, compétition, intégration'', Khartala, 2000 ompte renduPierre Kipré, « Perrot, Claude-Hélène (dir.). — Lignages et territoire en Afrique aux XVIII & XIX. Stratégies, compétition, intégration Paris, Éditions Karthala (« Hommes et sociétés »), Paris, 2000, 222 p. », Cahiers d'études africaines, n°175, 2004, pp. 705–711 https://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/4797 (in French) * ''Les Éotilé de Côte d'Ivoire aux XVIII & XIX. Pouvoir lignager et religion'', Publications de la Sorbonne, 2008, coll. « Homme et société », p. 272, (in French)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrot, Claude-Helene 1928 births 2019 deaths 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians French Africanists Academic staff of the University of Paris University of Paris alumni People from Bas-Rhin