Palaeontologist and professor at the Collège de France, Yves Coppens died on 22 June 2022. He was inextricably linked with Lucy, a small australopithecine aged 3.2 million years, discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia during an international mission that he co-directed with the American Donald Johanson and the geologist...
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Dogon mythology, revealed to ethnologist Marcel Griaule in 1946 by the old hunter-initiate Ogotemmêli, has been reconstructed in his book Dieu d'eau. A complex mythological universe, transmitted orally from generation to generation of initiates.
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Half-female, half-fish, half-terrestrial, half-aquatic, Mami Wata is an African divinity, a legendary spirit linked to vodun. This cult is particularly prevalent among the Fon (Benin and Togo), Ashanti (Ghana) and Yoruba (mainly Nigeria) peoples. Meet this powerful mermaid, the object of so much...
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With population growth and changes in food consumption, the need for water is increasing, while the resource is being affected by climate change. What are the prospects for people living in the Amazon, in the deserts of Africa or in the...
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Among the tantras practised in Nepal and India, the Chandamahâroshana tantra remained a secret until 2015, when it was translated into French. Previously passed down only from master to disciple, this tantra was given by Dharma Guruji,...
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How did you first come across trance? My first encounter with trance was during an ethnopsychiatric consultation I ran at the Georges Devereux Centre, a university centre providing psychological support for migrant families. In these consultations, we receive patients in groups of two or three...
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Part memoir, part historical novel, this is the life of an extravagant Nepalese king, a contemporary of Louis XIV. An extraordinary monarch, poet, magician, warrior, great builder and seducer, his life is a veritable Himalayan epic in which Éric Chazot takes us on a journey of...
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Every culture has its own predominant narrative about the world. So wherever we live, we inherit these narratives with which we all forge our identities. What do these stories tell? Do they have common origins? Are there universal myths?
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Its grandiose landscapes, its wild nature and the magnificent hiking trails that criss-cross it have made the reputation of this beautiful land of France emerged in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We are "in the perfumed land that the sun caresses", as Baudelaire wrote in his poem "À une dame créole".
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