Yves Person

Yves Person (12 October 1925 - 17 November 1982) was an influential French Africanist and historian. [1][2]

Biography

Born in 1925, Yves person received an education in history from the Sorbonne, Fula and Mandinka languages from the Ecole des Langues Orientales and ethnology from the Musée de l’Homme. Between 1948 and 1961 he served in the French Colonial administration in Dahomey, Guinea and Ivory Coast, then collected oral histories in Ivory Coast for two years to create post-independence history textbooks.[3]

He taught at the University of Dakar and the University of Montreal before finishing his career as professor of contemporary African history at the Sorbonne beginning in 1971. He was a pioneer in the use of native oral histories in academic research.[4]

Selected publications

• Person, Yves (1968–1975). Samori, Une révolution Dyula. Vol. 3 volumes. Dakar: IFAN. p. 2377 pages. A fourth volume of maps published in Paris in 1990. Monumental work of history perhaps unique in African literature.[5]

References

1. Hargreaves, John D. (1983) Obituary: Yves Person, 1925-1982, African Affairs, Apr., vol. 82, no. 327, p. 281-283
2. Lemarchand, René and Myron J Echenberg (1983) Yves Person (1925-1982) Canadian Journal of African Studies, 1983, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 5-7
3. Bat, Jean-Pierre (3 February 2016). "Une révolution Dyula : Person, historien de Samori". Liberation. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
4. "Yves Person l'Africain de Plestin". Le Telegramme. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
5. Jones D.H. (1977) Samori's Revolution Review of: Samori: Une Révolution Dyula, tome iii by Yves Person, Journal of African History, vol. 18, no. 2, p. 309-311

External links

• http://www.webmande.net/bibliotheque/yperson/index.html
• http://person.hypotheses.org/