Marcel Griaule (16 May 1898 – 23 February 1956) was a French author 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 ...

known for his studies of the Dogon people of

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 ...

, and for pioneering ethnographic field studies in France. He worked together with Germaine Dieterlen and

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French Filmmaking, filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was char ...

on African subjects. His publications number over 170 books and articles for scholarly journals.

Biography

Born in Aisy-sur-Armançon, Griaule received a good education and was preparing to become an engineer and enrolled at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand when in 1917 at the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he volunteered to become a

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in the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

. In 1920 he returned to university, where he attended the lectures of Marcel Mauss and Marcel Cohen. Intrigued by anthropology, he gave up plans for a technical career. In 1927 he received a degree from the École Nationale de Langues Orientales, where he concentrated on

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and Ge'ez. Between 1928 and 1933 Griaule participated in two large-scale ethnographic expeditions—one to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and the ambitious

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Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

expedition which crossed Africa. On the latter expedition he first visited the Dogon, the ethnic group with whom he would be forever associated. In 1933 he received a diploma from the

École Pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

in religion. Throughout the 1930s Griaule and his student Germaine Dieterlen undertook several group expeditions to the Dogon area in

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. During these trips Griaule pioneered the use of aerial photography, surveying, and teamwork to study other cultures. In 1938 he produced his dissertation and received a doctorate based on his Dogon research. With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Griaule was drafted again in the French Air Force and after the war he served as the inaugural professor of the first chair of anthropology at the University of Paris - Sorbonne. He died in 1956 in Paris. Griaule is remembered for his work with the blind hunter Ogotemmeli and his elaborate exegeses of Dogon myth ( fr )—(including the Nommo) and ritual. His study of Dogon masks remains one of the fundamental works on the topic. A number of anthropologists are highly critical of his work and argue that his claims about Sirius and his elaborate accounts of cosmic eggs and mystic vibrations do not accurately reflect Dogon belief. Griaule is the father of anthropologist Geneviève Calame-Griaule (See :fr: Geneviève Calame-Griaule).

Selected works

*''Burners of men: Modern Ethiopia.'' Lippincott, 1935. (The story of an expedition into the interior of Abyssinia in the early 1930s; a time when Abyssinia was trying to fight off Mussolini. The book was awarded the 1934 Prix Gringoire.) *''Abyssinian Journey.'' 1935. (Travel account of an ethnographic and linguistic study on behalf of the French Government in the 1930s.) *''Masques dogons'', Institut d'Ethnologie, 1938 *''Jeux dogons'', Institut d'Ethnologie, 1938 *''Les Saô légendaires'', Gallimard, 1943. *''Folk art of black Africa,'' 1950. *''Signes Graphiques Soudanais'', Hermann et Cie Editeurs, 1951. *''Conversations with Ogotemmeli: An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas.'' 1965. (many reprints) , originally published in 1948 as ''Dieu d'Eau''. *with Germaine Dieterlen: ''The Pale Fox'', originally published as ''Le Renard Pâle'', Institut d'Ethnologie, 1965. *Methode de l'Etnographie, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1957. (There's Spanish translation: El Método de la Etnografía, Nova, Buenos Aires, 1969.)

References

Sources

* Isabelle Fiemeyer, ''Marcel Griaule, citoyen dogon'', Actes Sud 2004 * Laird Scranton, "Revisiting Griaule's Dogon Cosmology." ''Anthropology News'', Vol. 48, No 4 (April 2007)

External links

Tracking the Pale Fox
- documentary and notes by Luc de Heuch having Griaule as central figure.
On the Pale Fox, trail part 1 of 5 tracks of the Pale Fox in divination plots
– film series about the Dogon myth of the Earth creation {{DEFAULTSORT:Griaule, Marcel École pratique des hautes études alumni Academic staff of the University of Paris Writers on Dogon religion 1898 births 1956 deaths French military personnel of World War I French military personnel of World War II 20th-century French anthropologists People from Yonne French ethnographers

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

Sources

External links