Françoise Héritier

Françoise Héritier (15 November 1933 – 15 November 2017) was a French anthropologist, ethnologist, and feminist. She was the successor to Claude Lévi-Strauss to hold the chair of anthropology at the Collège de France, and held the inaugural chair of Comparative Study of African Societies from 1983. Her work dealt mainly with the theory of alliances and on the prohibition of incest, both theories based on the notion of exchange of women. In addition to Lévi-Strauss, she was also influenced by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown.

Early life and education Françoise Héritier was born on 15 November 1933 at Veauche, a commune in the Loire department in central France. She grew up in a social background that she described as a "small and reasonable bourgeoisie that came out of the peasantry". She studied in Paris at the Lycée Racine, and later in the hypokhâgne at the Lycée Fénelon, Paris. She said that, a seminar given by Claude Lévi-Strauss at the Sorbonne University, in which he talked about the "joking relationship in Fiji", sparked her decision to study ethnology. with the Samo people. She became a specialist in African ethnology, and joined the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1967.

Theories and works Héritier was part of the structuralism movement. She is well known for her works in the theory of alliances and the prohibition of incest based on the notion of the circulation of women in the society. She brings the concepts of the "identical" and its "repulsive frustration", in the continuity of the approaches of Lévi-Strauss and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown. In her conception of the societies, she especially focuses on the concepts of "nature" and "environment".

In her book Masculin/Féminin, she noted that the distinction between the feminine and the masculine is universal and that exists everywhere; and that the male is always considered superior to the women. However, she showed in her book, Masculin/Féminin I et II, De la Violence, through numerous examples, the hierarchical thinking regarding men and women is a cultural construct—and therefore to be revisited. She called this concept "the differential valence of the sexes" (la valence différentielle des sexes) that she preferred to the concept of the masculine domination used by Pierre Bourdieu or Maurice Godelier.

Other activities In February 2005 Héritier addressed an international conference organised by several women's rights organisations and held in Paris, entitled "United against Fundamentalism and for Equality".

In 2011 she discussed her path to feminism with historian Michelle Perrot, philosopher Sylviane Agacinski, and political scientist Nicole Bacharan. She said:

Recognition and awards In 1978 she was awarded the CNRS silver medal, for her on the functioning of semi-complex systems of kinship and alliance.

Personal life Héritier married anthropologist Michel Izard.