Erwan Dianteill (born 1967) is a French sociologist and
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
, graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, holder of the aggregation in the Social Sciences, Doctor of Sociology and professor of Cultural and
Social anthropology
Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, est. 2019). He is also Senior Laureate of the
Institut Universitaire de France
The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that annually distinguishes a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...
since 2012 and Non-Resident Fellow of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
since 2017. Dianteill's work explores anthropological and sociological theories about
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
and interconnections between political and religious powers. It also includes the study of symbolic origins of domination and resistance. He is a specialist in the anthropology of African and African-American religions.
Erwan Dianteill created in 2010 the Center of Cultural and Social Anthropology (CANTHEL) component of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences – Sorbonne. Along with Francis Affergan, he also founded cArgo – International Journal for Cultural and Social Anthropology (Paris, France), in 2011.
He has twice served as Chair of the Department of Social sciences of the
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 ...
, then
University of Paris (2019)
The University of Paris (), known metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated with the cat ...
(2010–2012, 2018–2024).
He was a visiting professor at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
;
Tulane University
The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
; the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...
University of Havana
The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...
; the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
; the
University of Salento
The University of Salento (, called until 2007 ''Università degli Studi di Lecce'') is a university located in Lecce, Italy. It was founded in 1955 by Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli.
The university of Salento commenced activities in the academic ye ...
; and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
(
Divinity School
A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 2024–2025.
His book ''The Oracle and the Temple - From Medieval Geomancy to the Church of Ifa (Nigeria, Benin)'' was awarded the History of Religions Prize Pierre-Antoine Bernheim Foundation by the
Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
-
Institut de France
The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
in 2025. It is the first work on Africa to receive this prize.
Critical readings on religion
Dianteill conducts a critical reading of the history of anthropology and sociology of religions (three books co-authored with
Michael Löwy
Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...
).
Dianteill contributed to these works with a critical assessment of the contributions of
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Israël Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociolo ...
,
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...
,
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 ...
,
Michel Leiris
Julien Michel Leiris (; 20 April 1901, Paris – 30 September 1990, Saint-Hilaire, Essonne) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with Geor ...
,
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
,
Roger Caillois
Roger Caillois (; 3 March 1913 – 21 December 1978) was a French intellectual and prolific writer whose original work brought together literary criticism, sociology, poetry, ludology and philosophy by focusing on very diverse subjects such as ...
,
Lydia Cabrera
Lydia Cabrera (May 20, 1899, in Havana, Cuba – September 19, 1991, in Miami, Florida) was a Cuban independent ethnographer, writer, and literary activist. She was an authority on Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions. During her lifetime she ...
,
Lucien Goldmann
Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann.
Biography
Goldmann w ...
and
Pierre Bourdieu
Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...
to the social sciences of religion.
In the third book of their trilogy (''Le Sacré Fictif,'' 2017), Dianteill and Löwy have also shown the fertility of literary fiction to understand religion and the sacred. Dianteill analyzes in that book the fictions of Joris K. Huysmans (modern European witchcraft),
Ahmadou Kourouma
Ahmadou Kourouma (24 November 1927 – 11 December 2003) was an Ivorian novelist.
Life
The eldest son of a distinguished Malinké family, Ahmadou Kourouma was born in 1927 in Boundiali, Côte d'Ivoire. Raised by his uncle, he initially pursued ...
(modern African witchcraft),
Amos Tutuola
Amos Tutuola (; 20 June 1920 – 8 June 1997) was a Nigerian writer who wrote books based in part on Yoruba folk-tales.
Early history
Amos Olatubosun Tutuola Odegbami was born on 20 June 1920, in Wasinmi, a village just a few miles outsid ...
(the African spirit world),
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...
(religion and eroticism) and
Alison Lurie
Alison Stewart Lurie (September 3, 1926December 3, 2020) was an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1984 novel ''Foreign Affairs''. Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books ...
(American
millenarianism
Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and re ...
).
Research on African American religions
Dianteill has done researches on
Afro-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
cultures (
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
), on the evolution of autochthonous religions in
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
(
Benin
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
) and on new Christian churches. He published two books on Afrocuban religions in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Spiritual Church in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
.
His work on Cuban Santeria (''Des dieux et des signes'', 2000; ''Dioses y signos'', 2019), and in particular his very precise study of the emergence of a written tradition within this Afro-Cuban religion, is an “essential reference” in the field (Lorenzo López y Sebastián, professor at the
Universidad Complutense
The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...
). According to Roberto Motta, a specialist in African religions in Brazil, this book is a "veritable treatise on Afro-Cuban religions (...) There isn't a single Brazilian who has spent any time with
Candomblé
Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especi ...
in
Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
and
Rio
Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream".
Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to:
Places United States
* Rio, Fl ...
, or Xangô in
Recife
Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...
, who can't find himself in the people, the temples, the rituals, the initiations described here, and in Erwan Dianteill's enthusiasm. “ For Bertrand Hell, this is a ”major work“, which ”favors a singular method combining classical analysis of interviews, texts and figures with a personal religious investment“, while renewing ”the anthropological view of Afro-Cuban religions and, more broadly, of all systems of communication with the spirits ".
In addition, Dianteill is one of the few researchers to have studied the African-American spiritual churches of
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, which integrate Catholic, Protestant elements and an underlying Vaudou influence. Denis Constant-Martin, professor at
Sciences Po
Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
, writes about Dianteill 's book ''La Samaritaine Noire'' (''The Black Samaritan Woman'') : "Erwan Dianteill's remarkable investigation not only uncovers a network of atypical churches, it also provides a better understanding of the history of New Orleans, and confirms, based on other sources, the historical links between the city and the
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
region."
His interview of
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950), popularly known by his childhood nickname "Skip", is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of t ...
, on the occasion of the publication of Gates' book "
Black Church
The Black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are led by, African Americans, ...
" in France, clarifies the use and limits of
Marxist theory
Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew f ...
to explain African American religion. The same interview revisits the debate between
Melville Herskovits
Melville Jean Herskovits (September 10, 1895 – February 25, 1963) was an American anthropologist who helped to first establish African and African Diaspora studies in American academia. He is known for exploring the cultural continuity from Af ...
Africanisms
Africanisms refers to characteristics of African culture that can be traced through societal practices and institutions of the African diaspora. Throughout history, the dispersed descendants of African people, Africans have retained many forms ...
in the
Black Church
The Black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are led by, African Americans, ...
.
Research on African religions
Erwan Dianteill has been conducting a fieldwork since 2007 in
Porto-Novo
, , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
In 1863, following Bri ...
(
Benin
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
) on the transformation of the Fa/Ifá divination in a modern African city (in 2009, film of a Fa/Ifá initiation and complete recording of the myths attached to the Fa/Ifá divination signs).
He has shown the meaningful link between
Ifa
IFA or Ifa may refer to:
Organisations
Economics
* Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK
* Index Fund Advisors
* Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK
* Institute of Act ...
divination and Arab and Latin
geomancy
Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rock (geology), rocks, or sand. Its d ...
in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. One of the signs of the
Ifa
IFA or Ifa may refer to:
Organisations
Economics
* Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK
* Index Fund Advisors
* Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK
* Institute of Act ...
system is the equivalent of the Morning Star in medieval
geomancy
Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rock (geology), rocks, or sand. Its d ...
, that is the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
.
Furthermore, Dianteill has traced the history of the Church of Ifá since its founding in the early 1930s in Nigeria and Benin. This approach is supplemented by a precise ethnography of the contemporary liturgy of this religious institution, which was formed from the mythology of Ifá, taken up in a Protestant theological and ecclesial form. This investigation on the Church of Ifá questions religious syncretism between African culture and Christianity in new ways, by reformulating the categories of material acculturation and formal acculturation (
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 ...
). The book ''L'oracle et le temple'' (2024) is, according to Jacob Olupona, "the latest work on Ifa scholarship and stands as important intervention in the anthropology of religio
In addition, Dianteill was the first scholar to study extensively the Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany festival of Porto-Novo (Benin), a unique popular celebration that a Catholic missionary (Francis Aupiais) and a Vodun dignitary (Zounon Medje) initiated in 1923. He published the first book on the subject in
Gun language
Gun () is a language in the Gbe languages group. It is spoken by the Ogu people in Benin, as well as in south-western Nigeria. Gun is part of the Fon dialectal cluster within the Eastern Gbe languages; it is close to other Fon language, Fon dial ...
(''Fifanixwe xo̳gbonu to̳n / L'Epiphanie de Porto-Novo'', Porto-Novo & Paris, Editions des Lagunes, 2d ed. 2018), with a preface from the philosopher
Paulin Hountondji
Paulin Jidenu Hountondji (11 April 1942 – 2 February 2024) was a Beninese philosopher, politician and academic considered one of the most important figures in the history of African philosophy. From the 1970s onwards, he taught at the Univers ...
.
Dianteill's three books, on
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
in the 2000s (''La Samaritaine noire'', 2006) and
Porto-Novo
, , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
In 1863, following Bri ...
in the 2010s (''L'oracle et le temple'', 2024), form a trilogy of Afro-Atlantic religious anthropology. Dianteill has carried out ethnographic and historical research in these colonial and port cities, all part of the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...
and
creolization
Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ...
places for African and European civilizations. The conclusion of ''L'oracle et le temple'' gives an account of this itinerary and proposes a comparative analysis of
Afro-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
and
African religions
The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed down ...
, between
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
,
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
and
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
.
Far from looking for the historical origins of
Afro-American religions
African diaspora religions, also described as Afro-American religions, are a number of related beliefs that developed in the Americas in various areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Southern United States. They derive from traditional ...
, Dianteill looks at the process of
transculturation
Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940 to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. Transculturation encompasses more than transition from one culture to another; it does not consist me ...
and
creolization
Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ...
at work in colonial and post-colonial America as a
heuristic
A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...
model. This method leads to a better understanding of the transformations of contemporary African religions, in urban, multi-ethnic environments characterized by great religious diversity.
At the UNESCO
Erwan Dianteill is counselor for the Humanities and Social Sciences at th French National Commission of the UNESCO
He was President of the Intergovernmental Council for the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
, which includes 35 countries (2019–2021)
He was previously vice-president of the same council from 2017 until 2019, representing Western Europe and North America.
Erwan Dianteill (University of Paris, President of the MOST Intergovernmental Council) and N'Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba, Ndri Thérèse Assié Lumumba (Cornell University, President of the MOST Scientific Council) are the organizers of th Global Colloquium on Social Sciences and the COVID-19 Pandemic bringing together researchers from nineteen UNESCO member states (21-22 of October,
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
Institut Universitaire de France
The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that annually distinguishes a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...
in 2012
* Knight of the ''
Palmes Académiques Palmes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Sir Brian Palmes, English landowner and politician
* Sir Guy Palmes, English politician
* Brian Palmes MP
* Lieutenant General Francis Palmes
* Major Billie Palmes
* Captain Laurence P ...
'' ("Academic Palms") in 2016.
* Senior Laureate of the
Institut Universitaire de France
The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that annually distinguishes a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...
in 2023
* History of Religions Prize (Pierre-Antoine Bernheim Foundation) by the
Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
-
Institut de France
The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
in 2025.
Main publications (in French)
* 2024 ''The Oracle and the Temple - From Medieval Geomancy to the Church of Ifa (Nigeria, Benin)'', Geneva, Labor & Fides, 336 p.
* 2019 ''Dioses y signos'', Madrid, Ediciones de la Universidad Complutense, 2019, 465 p. (Expanded Spanish edition of ''Des dieux et des signes'', 2000). Preface: Carmen Bernand.
* 2017 ''Porto-Novo Epiphany - Texts, History, Ethnography'', Porto-Novo & Paris Editions des Lagunes , 2017 (bilingual, Gungbe and French) ; Preface: Paulin Hountondji.
* 2017 ''Fictitious sacred - Sociology and religion, literary approaches'' (with
Michael Löwy
Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...
Eshu
Èṣù is a pivotal Òrìṣà/Irúnmọlẹ̀ in the Yoruba spirituality or Yoruba religion known as ìṣẹ̀ṣe. Èṣù is a prominent primordial Divinity (a delegated Irúnmọlẹ̀ sent by the Olódùmarè) who descended from Ìkọ̀l ...
, god of Africa and the New World'' (with Michèle Chouchan), Paris, Larousse
* 2009 ''Sociology and religion III – Unusual approaches'' (with Michael Löwy), Paris, PUF, collection "Sociology today"
* 2008 (editor, with Bertrand Hell) ''The Spectacular Possession : theater and globalization'', journal Gradhiva, April 2008.
* 2006 ''The Black Samaritan Woman - African American Spiritual churches in New Orleans'', Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, collection "Cahiers de l’Homme"
* 2006 ''Sociology and religion II – Dissident approaches'' (with
Michael Löwy
Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...
), Paris, PUF, collection "Sociology today"
* 2000 ''Of Gods and signs'' (Des dieux et des signes)''- Initiation, divination and writing in Afro-Cuban religions''. Paris, Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, collection "Civilisations et sociétés"
* 1995 ''The Scholar and the Santero - Birth of the study of Afro-Cuban religions (1906-1954)''. Paris, Editions L'Harmattan / Université Paris 8, Collection "Histoire des Antilles Hispaniques",