L'invention de l'ethnographie française : le questionnaire de l'Académie celtique

The invention of French ethnography : the questionnaire of l'Académie celtique Based on a hitherto unexploited source -the archives of Académie celtique- this article attempts an examination of the questionnaire which the Académie issued in 1807 and which can probably be considered as the very first guideline for French ethnography. Given the date of its publication, its rapid disappearance from the scene and the lasting manner in which, nevertheless, it marked the organization of ethnology in France, this is rather amazing document This article tries to rediscover the genesis of the questionnaire, to trace its use and to sketch the personality and works of its principal author. A special attempt is made to determine those elements of the questionnaire deriving from an interest in archaic features -which made it acceptable to contemporaries- and those which can be attributed to intellectual innovation. It is in the interstices between the old and novel elements of this document that one can observe a new approach to popular life.Ozouf Mona. L'invention de l'ethnographie française : le questionnaire de l'Académie celtique. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 36ᵉ année, N. 2, 1981. pp. 210-230