Suzy Platiel

Suzanne Andrei Nelly Benguigui Platiel (8 July 1930 – 3 March 2024) was an Algerian-born French ethnolinguist and Africanist from the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Biography Suzanne Andrei Nelly Benguigui was born in Mascara, Algeria on 8 July 1930, to a Jewish family. During World War II, she took an interest in ethnology. She earned a diploma in ethnology and linguistics at the age of 31. The couple explored French Upper Volta together before separating in 1972 whose population lacked a writing system or schools. She was hired as a linguist by the Ministry of National Education to transcribe a Senufo alphabet, grammar, syntax, and a dictionary. before having to learn the language herself. However, French was eventually chosen as the language of instruction in schools despite her efforts. particularly those told during dry season, which had previously only been passed down orally. Among the 327 stories she collected, 45 were published by Armand Colin in 1984.

In the 1980s, Platiel decided to host a "story hour" every week in the Paris suburbs. Literary teacher Jean-Christophe Gary was inspired by Platiel's work and recorded some of her stories in his podcast. This led to the creation of the "Les Histoires de Suzy Platiel – Plaidoyer pour le conte" podcast on Radio France on 13 March 2013.

In 2011, Laurence Bellon credited Platiel in a postscript in L’atelier du juge. À propos de la justice des mineurs.

In January 2019, Platiel donated her research work to the . That month, she received a state doctorate in a ceremony organized by the embassy in the presence of Burkinabè ambassador to France Alain Francis Gustave Ilboudo, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Burkina Faso to UNESCO Sabine Bakyono, and Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism .

Suzy Platiel died in Paris on 3 March 2024, at the age of 93. She was buried on 8 March at the .