Julien Alapini

Julien Alapini (born August 28, 1906, in Abomey-Calavi; died February 26, 1970) was a teacher, writer, playwright, ethnographer, and politician from French Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin).

Biography Julien Alapini attended primary school in Ouidah and then the École normale William-Ponty in Gorée (Senegal) from 1926 to 1929.

After graduating, he was appointed a teacher and later a school principal in several locations: Porto-Novo, Kouandé, Djougou, Savalou, Cotonou, Allada, Abomey, Covè, Parakou, Kouti, and Tori-Gare.

In parallel, he conducted ethnographic and linguistic research on Dahomey, approaching it as a Christian and admirer of French culture. Through two essays, Les noix sacrées. Étude complète de Fa-Ahidégoun, génie de la sagesse et de la divination au Dahomey (1950) and Les Initiés (1953), he aimed to continue the work of colonial ethnologists: to better understand the colonized to better govern them. As a devout Catholic, he denounced superstitions and fetishism, particularly the methods of divination such as the consultation of Fa. )