Maurice Delafosse

File:Nafaanra Delafosse 1904.png

Delafosse was born on 20 December 1870 in the village of Sancergues in central France. He was the son of René Françoise Célestin Delafosse and Elise Marie Bidault and had five siblings.

Delafosse is known for his contributions to West African history and African languages. He began his study of Arabic in 1890 at the École des langues orientales with the renowned orientalist, Octave Houdas. He traveled to Algeria in 1891 with the Frères armés du Sahara, a Catholic organization concerned with combating the Trans-Saharan slave trade. Shortly afterwards, he spent one year in the French military as a zouave, second class, before returning to his formal studies at the École des langues orientales. After receiving his diploma, he was appointed as an assistant to Indigenous Affairs in the new French colony of Côte d'Ivoire.{{sfn|Delafosse|1976}} For a period the future ethnologist Charles Monteil was his assistant in the Côte d'Ivoire.{{sfn|Dulucq|2009|p=169}}

Delafosse had disagreements with the French government over the administration of French Africa, and, as a result, was "more or less banned from the colonies" for a large part of his life.{{sfn|Arnaut|2000}}

He served as one of the seven members of the Temporary Slavery Commission of the League of Nations in 1924–1925.Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. USA: AltaMira Press. 103

• {{citation | last1= Hubert | first1= Lucien | last2=Delafosse | first2=Maurice | year=1894 | title=Tombouctou, son histoire, sa conquête | publisher= Guillaumin | place=Paris | url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k82762k | language=French | ref=none }}.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1894 | title=Manuel dahoméen : grammaire, chrestomathie, dictionnaire français-dahoméen et dahoméen-français | publisher=E. Leroux | place=Paris | url=https://archive.org/details/manueldahomengr00delagoog | language=French | ref=none }}.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1897 | title= Essai sur le peuple et la langue sara (bassin du Tchad) | publisher=J. André | place=Paris | url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k105878g | language=French | ref=none }}. Also available from the Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_mwm_morsyn-1 here].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1899 | title=Les Vaï: leur langue et leur système d'écriture | publisher=Masson | place=Paris | url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k77450r | language=French | ref=none }}. Also available from the Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_vai_multiple-1 here].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1901 | title= Essai de manuel pratique de la langue mandé ou mandingue : étude grammaticale du dialecte dyoula, vocabulaire français-dyoula... étude comparée des principaux dialectes mandé | publisher=E. Leroux | place=Paris | url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5440988h | language=French | ref=none }}. Also available from the Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/essaidemanuelpr01delagoog here].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1901 | title= Manuel de langue haoussa ou Chrestomathie haoussa; précédé d'un abrégé de grammaire et suivi d'un vocabulaire | publisher=J. Maisonneuve | place=Paris | url=https://archive.org/stream/ManuelDeLangueHaoussa/haoussa_delafos#page/n9/mode/2up | language=French | ref=none }}.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1904 | title= Vocabulaires comparatifs de plus de 60 langues ou dialectes parlés à la Côte d'Ivoire et dans les régions limitrophes | publisher=E. Leroux | place=Paris | url= http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30312625k | language=French | ref=none }}. Also available from the Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/vocabulairescom00delagoog here].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1908 | title= Les frontières de la Côte d'Ivoire, de la Côte d'Or, et du Soudan | place=Paris | publisher=Masson | url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95348v | ref=none }}. Also available from the [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7005077M/Les_frontières_de_la_Côte_d'Ivoire Open Library].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | year=1912 | first=Maurice |title=Haut-Sénégal-Niger: Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues; l'Histoire; les Civilizations. 3 Vols |publisher=Émile Larose |location=Paris | language=French | ref=none }}. Gallica: Volume 1, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k103554s Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues]; Volume 2, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1035644 L'Histoire]; Volume 3, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k103565h Les Civilisations].
• {{citation | editor1-last=Houdas | editor1-first= Octave | editor2-last= Delafosse | editor2-first= Maurice | year=1913 | title=Tarikh el-fettach par Mahmoūd Kāti et l'un de ses petit fils (2 Vols.)| publisher=Ernest Leroux | place=Paris | url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5439466q | ref=none }}. Volume 1 is the Arabic text, Volume 2 is a translation into French. Reprinted by [http://maisonneuve-adrien.com/description/afrique/tarikh_fettach.htm Maisonneuve] in 1964 and 1981. The French text is also [http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.CH.DOCUMENT.nuhmkati1&pgs= available] from Aluka but requires a subscription.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1916 | title= La question de Ghana et la Mission Bonnel de Mézières | journal= Annuaire et Mémoires du Comité d'Études historiques et scientifique de l'AOF | pages=40–61 | language=French | ref=none }}
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1922 | title=Les Noirs de l'Afrique | publisher=Payot | place= Paris | url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k104745q | language=French | ref=none }}. Also available from the Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/lesnoirsdelafriq00delauoft here].
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1922 | title= L'âme nègre | publisher=Payot | place= Paris | url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k84228h | language=French | ref=none }}.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1927 | title= Les nègres | publisher= Rieder | place=Paris | url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/delafosse_maurice/negres/negres.html | language=French | ref=none }}.
• {{citation | last=Delafosse | first=Maurice | year=1928 | title= La numération chez les Nègres | journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute | volume=1 | issue=3 | pages=387–390 | jstor=1155640 | language=French | ref=none | doi=10.2307/1155640 }}.

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{ cite journal | last= Arnaut | first=Karel | year=2000 | title= Review of: Amselle, Jean-Loup & Sibeud, Emmanuelle, eds. — Maurice Delafosse. Entre orientalisme et ethnographie : l'itinéraire d'un africaniste (1870-1926). Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1998 | journal=Cahiers d'Études africaines | volume=157 | pages=141–143 | url= http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/document8.html }}
• {{cite journal | last=Cohen | first= William B. | year=1978 | title=Review of: Maurice Delafosse, le Berrichon Conquis par l'Afrique by Louise Delafosse, Paris: Société Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer | journal= International Journal of African Historical Studies | volume=11 | issue=2 | pages=302–305 | jstor=217447 | doi= 10.2307/217447 }}
• {{cite book | last=Delafosse | first=Louise | year=1976 | title= Maurice Delafosse: le Berrichon conquis par l'Afrique | place=Paris | publisher= Société Française d'Histoire d'Outre-mer | isbn=978-2-85970-000-3 | language=French }} A biography by his daughter.
• {{ cite book | last=Dulucq|first=Sophie|title=Ecrire l'histoire de l'Afrique à l'époque coloniale: XIXe-XXe siècles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9s0EnwMj5YC&pg=PA169 |year=2009|publisher=Karthala Editions|language=fr|isbn=978-2-8111-0290-6 }}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{ cite book | editor1-last= Amselle | editor1-first= Jean-Loup | editor2-last= Sibeud | editor2-first= Emmanuelle | year=1998 | title= Maurice Delafosse : entre orientalisme et ethnographie : l'itinéraire d'un africaniste, 1870-1926 | publisher= Maisonneuve and Larose | place=Paris | isbn=978-2-7068-1356-6 | language=French }}
• {{cite book | last=Cohen | first=William | year=1971 | title=Rulers of Empire: the French Colonial Service in Africa | publisher=Hoover Institution Press | place=Stanford, CA | url=http://www.webafriqa.net/library/rulers_empire/contents.html | oclc=1037122758 | access-date=2011-11-21 | archive-date=2012-02-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207025051/http://www.webafriqa.net/library/rulers_empire/contents.html | url-status=dead }}
• {{ cite journal | last= Hazard | first=Benoît | year=1998 | title=Orientalisme et ethnographie chez Maurice Delafosse | journal= L'Homme | volume=38 | issue=146 | pages=265–268 | language=French | doi=10.3406/hom.1998.370469}}.
• {{cite journal | last=Michel | first=Marc |year=1975 | title=Un programme réformiste en 1919 : Maurice Delafosse et la " politique indigène " en AOF | journal=Cahiers d'études africaines | volume=15 | issue=58 | pages=313–327 | language=French | doi=10.3406/cea.1975.2600}}
• {{cite journal| last=Wooten | first=Stephen R. |year=1993 | title=Colonial Administration and the Ethnography of the Family in the French Soudan | journal=Cahiers d'études africaines | volume=33 | issue=131 | pages=419–446 | doi=10.3406/cea.1993.1507}}

{{refend}}

• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Maurice Delafosse}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120210150957/http://www.webafriqa.net/library/delafosse/index.html List of publications on WebAfrique]

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Category:1870 births

Delafoss, Maurice

Category:Linguists of Mande languages

Category:French abolitionists

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