Firmin, Anténor (1850-1911)

Anténor Firmin (1850-1911), a Haitian anthropologist, is a pioneer in the discipline. His masterpiece, De l’égalité des races humaines(anthropologie positive), published in Paris in 1885, contradicts the racist theories of his time and refuted any causal link between language, race and culture, long before Franz Boas. A victim of prejudice because of the colour of his skin, he was rediscovered at the turn of the 21^st century by the international anthropological community, while his legacy has never ceased to inspire the black movements, négritude and pan-Africanism .

“A 19^th Century Haitian Pioneering Anthropologist: An Intellectual Biography of Anténor Firmin”

Carolyn Fluehr‑Lobban, 2018

Anténor Firmin was a pioneering anthropologist in the 19th century whose major work, De l’égalité des races humaines (anthropologie positive) was published in Paris in 1885 and was largely ignored or dismissed as a foundational text in anthropology (Fluehr-Lobban, 2000). The text was recovered (…)

Secondary sources

“Anténor Firmin and Haiti’s Contribution to Anthropology”

Carolyn Fluehr‑Lobban, 2005

Primary sources

De l’égalité des races humaines (anthropologie positive)

Anténor Firmin, 1885

“A 19th Century Haitian Pioneering Anthropologist: An Intellectual Biography of Anténor Firmin”

“Anténor Firmin and Haiti’s Contribution to Anthropology”

De l’égalité des races humaines (anthropologie positive)

Cuba and Haiti - Anthropologies and Nation-building from Cuba and Haiti (1930-1990)

“A 19^th Century Haitian Pioneering Anthropologist: An Intellectual Biography of Anténor Firmin”