Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain Explained

Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain
Birth Date:November 6, 1898
Birth Place:Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Death Place:Nigeria
Occupation:Folklorist, anthropologist, ethnographer
Period: 1935–1975
Notableworks:Their Eyes Were Watching God-->

Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain (6 November 1898 – 20 June 1975)[1] was the first woman Haitian anthropologist. Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain was a student of Bronisław Malinowski who worked in 1949 with Alfred Métraux, and participated in a UNESCO project in Haiti. She married Jean Comhaire, a Belgian who headed the Anthropology Department of University of Nsukka. Subsequently, she worked in Africa.

Biography

She was born on 6 November 1898 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and was the daughter of Georges Sylvain, Haitian activist and symbol of the resistance against the American Occupation, and of Eugénie Malbranche.

She studied in Kingston and Port-au-Prince before she obtained her bachelor's degree and Doctorate in Paris. Besides her interest in Haitian folklore and social issues of the condition of women in Haiti and Africa, her research focused on the origins of Creole language, an idiom considered juvenile and worthless at that time. She had chosen a difficult path but her work, disregarded by her peers, sparked the interest of famous Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. The latter invited her in London where she became her research assistant while studying at London University and later at the London School of Economics. She also conducted successful research at the British Museum that resulted in her major work regarding the African roots of Haitian Creole.[2]

Comhaire-Sylvain conducted field research in Kenscoff and Marbial (Haiti), Kinshasa (Congo), Lomé (Togo) and Nsukka (Nigeria) and worked with renowned anthropologists such as Melville Herskovits and Alfred Métraux who entrusted her and her husband Jean Comhaire with a mission of the UNESCO in Haiti. Comhaire-Sylvain also taught at the New School for Social Research in New York, was an early recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, and was appointed a member of the United Nations trusteeship council for Togo and Cameroon under French administration.[2]

Comhaire-Sylvain came from a very notable family in Haiti. Her uncle Benito Sylvain was one of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism and her father Georges Sylvain (1866–1925) was an important figure of the resistance against the American occupation in Haiti. Comhaire-Sylvain was the oldest of a family of seven. Her sister Yvonne Sylvain (1907–1989) was the first Haitian woman physician and the first gynecologist-obstetrician of the country. Many of her articles were published in the magazine Voix des femmes (Women's Voices). Their brother Normil Sylvain (1900–1929) was a poet and co-founder in 1927 of La Revue indigène. Comhaire-Sylvain's sister Madeleine Sylvain (1905–1970) was one of the founders of the Ligue Feminine d’Action Sociale (Feminine League for Social Action) which fought for women's legal rights such as equality for married women. Finally, her youngest brother Pierre Sylvain (1910–1991) was a botanist who published several reports on coffee production in Ethiopia.[2]

She died in a car accident in Nigeria on 20 June 1975. As of 2014, her papers had been catalogued and made available through Stanford University Libraries.

Selected published works

[3]

Her work (including more than 200 articles) was awarded numerous distinctions, such as the Prix de l'Alliance Française (The French Alliance Prize), "La Médaille de l'Académie Française" (The Medal of the French Academy), "La Grande Médaille de l'Alliance Française et La Médaille de la Société pour l'Encouragement du Progrès" (The French Alliance Medal and the Medal of the Society for Encouragement and Progress).

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Haiti-Reference : Notables d'Haiti : Suzanne Sylvain Comhaire n. 06 nov 1898 Port-au-Prince d. 20 juin 1975 Nigéria. www.haiti-reference.com. 2018-05-17.
  2. Web site: Guide to the Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain Papers (M1835) . 8 February 2016.
  3. Web site: Potomitan - Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain: A bibliography of Her Publications. www.potomitan.info. 8 February 2016. Francesca. Palli.

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