Germaine Tillion
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Germaine Tillion (born May 30, 1907) is a French anthropologist, best known for her work in Algeria in the 1950s on behalf of the French government.
Tillion was born in Allègre in Haute-Loire. Studying anthropology under Marcel Mauss, she lived in Algeria on various occasions between between 1934 and 1940, studying the Berber and Chaoui people in the Aures region of northeastern Algeria. During World War II, Tillion participated in the French Resistance. Captured, she was sent to the German concentration camp at Ravensbrück in 1942. After the War, she completed her doctorate under Louis Massignon.
In the 1950s during the Algerian War of Independence Tillion seved as an adviser to the French government in Algeria on its social policies, helping the government to set up 'Social Centres'. During this period, at the time of The Battle of Algiers, she served as a liaison between the National Liberation Front leader Saadi Yacef and the French government, and helped arranged several cease-fires. Tillion was among the first to denounce the use of torture by French forces in the war.
In 1977 Germaine Tillion was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca and holds France's Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur. She is currently Honorary Director at France's School of High Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS).
[edit] Bibliography
- (2001) L’Algérie aurésienne, a collaboration with Nancy Woods (in French). ISBN 2-7324-2769-1.
- (2000) Il était une fois l’ethnographie. Biographie (in French). ISBN 2-02-025702-5.
- (1960) Les ennemis complémentaires (in French).
- (1958) Ravensbrück (in French).
- (1966) Le harem et les cousins (in French).
- (1956) L’Algérie en 1957 (in French).
- (1959) L'Afrique bascule vers l'avenir (in French).
