Maurice Leenhardt
Encyclopedia
Maurice Leenhardt, was a French pastor and ethnologist
specialising in the Kanak people of New Caledonia
.
.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Protestant authorities concerned themselves with the evangelisation of the Kanaks, in competition with the Marist Brothers
. Maurice Leenhardt was named pastor in 1902 in New Caledonia where he founded the "Dö nèvâ" mission in the valley of Houailou. Going beyond his role of pastor, he applied himself to understanding the mentality of this people on the road to extinction.
When he arrived in New Caledonia, Maurice Leenhardt was welcomed by these words from the mayor of Nouméa: What have you come to do here? In ten years there will be no more Kanaks. He applied himself to the fight against this slow genocide; he combatted the alcoholism that slowly ravaged the Kanak people. He translated the New Testament into the Houaïlou language with the help of his first students.
He returned to France in 1927 where he founded the Société des Océanistes and the Musée de l'Homme
, and took the chair of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
.
Following a second stay of nearly ten years in New Caledonia, he began teaching Oceanic languages at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales
in 1944.
He died in Paris
.
Leenhardt's daughter Stella married the historian of religions and theologian Henry Corbin
(1933).
Before Bronislaw Malinowski
, he practiced the ethnology advocated by Marcel Mauss
from his office in Paris. For twenty-five years he practiced participant observation
and active research, the virtues of which were not rediscovered until the 1960s.
Maurice Leenhardt was not a dogmatist and through all these contributions, he never sought followers.
He was nevertheless one of the first to consider social phenomena in their totality and to study the art, myths, and customs of the Kanak people as well as their language.
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
specialising in the Kanak people of New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
.
Life
Leenhardt was born in MontaubanMontauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Protestant authorities concerned themselves with the evangelisation of the Kanaks, in competition with the Marist Brothers
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
. Maurice Leenhardt was named pastor in 1902 in New Caledonia where he founded the "Dö nèvâ" mission in the valley of Houailou. Going beyond his role of pastor, he applied himself to understanding the mentality of this people on the road to extinction.
When he arrived in New Caledonia, Maurice Leenhardt was welcomed by these words from the mayor of Nouméa: What have you come to do here? In ten years there will be no more Kanaks. He applied himself to the fight against this slow genocide; he combatted the alcoholism that slowly ravaged the Kanak people. He translated the New Testament into the Houaïlou language with the help of his first students.
He returned to France in 1927 where he founded the Société des Océanistes and the Musée de l'Homme
Musée de l'Homme
The Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...
, and took the chair of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
Lucien Lévy-Brühl was a French scholar trained in philosophy, who made contributions to the budding fields of sociology and ethnology. His primary field of study involved primitive mentality....
at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
.
Following a second stay of nearly ten years in New Caledonia, he began teaching Oceanic languages at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales is located in Paris, France. It was founded in 1795 after the French Revolution and is now one of the country's Grands établissements with a specialization in African, Asian, East European, Oceanian languages and civilisations...
in 1944.
He died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Leenhardt's daughter Stella married the historian of religions and theologian Henry Corbin
Henry Corbin
Henry Corbin was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.Corbin was born in Paris in April 1903. As a boy he revealed the profound sensitivity to music so evident in his work...
(1933).
Contributions to Ethnology
Maurice Leenhardt's contributions to ethnology are considerable, though he did not frame them theoretically.Before Bronislaw Malinowski
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bronisław Kasper Malinowski was a Polish-born- British-naturalized anthropologist, one of the most important 20th-century anthropologists.From 1910, Malinowski studied exchange and economics at the London School of Economics under Seligman and Westermarck, analysing patterns of exchange in...
, he practiced the ethnology advocated by Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist. The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss' academic work traversed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology...
from his office in Paris. For twenty-five years he practiced participant observation
Participant observation
Participant observation is a type of research strategy. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly, cultural anthropology, but also sociology, communication studies, and social psychology...
and active research, the virtues of which were not rediscovered until the 1960s.
Maurice Leenhardt was not a dogmatist and through all these contributions, he never sought followers.
He was nevertheless one of the first to consider social phenomena in their totality and to study the art, myths, and customs of the Kanak people as well as their language.
Works
- Le Mouvement éthiopien au sud de l'Afrique (1902)
- La Grande Terre (1909, expanded edition 1922)
- Traduction du Nouveau Testament en langue houaïlou (1922)
- Notes d'ethnologie néo-calédonienne (1930)
- Documents néo-calédoniens. (1932)
- Vocabulaire et grammaire de la langue houaïlou (1935)
- Gens de la Grande Terre (1937)
- Alfred Boegner (1938)
- Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mélanésie (1946)
- L'art océanien. (1947)
- Do Kamo. La personne et le mythe dans le monde mélanésien (1947)
- Notes de sociologie religieuse sur la région de Canala (Nouvelle-Calédonie) (1958) http://www.bondy.ird.fr/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_5/b_fdi_16-17/22939.pdf
- Several papers in the Journal de la Société des Océanistes.