Firmin, Anténor. De l’égalité des races humaines (Anthropologie positive).

Rare édition originale de ce fervent plaidoyer en faveur de la race noire.

Paru en 1885, cet ouvrage d’Anténor Firmin (Haïti, 1850-1911) est une réponse à l’essai De l’inégalité des races humaines de Joseph Arthur de Gobineau. L’auteur voulait combattre les thèses racistes de de Gobineau par ce livre qui apporte au mouvement panafricain une grande rigueur scientifique. Se positionnant contre les pseudo-scientifiques, Firmin définit une anthropologie critique, sociale et culturelle. Il réévalue le rôle essentiel des cultures africaines dans l’histoire de la civilisation, des Egyptiens à la première République noire d’Haïti. L’auteur affirme ses certitudes sur l’égalité des hommes et offre de nouvelles voies à la réflexion sur la condition noire.

« A seminal work in the theory of race relations in Haitian intellectual thought and in the struggle for the recognition of a black civilization that was not properly acknowledged by intellectual and scientific circles at the time.”

“Firmin challenged the notion of racial hierarchy perpetuated by such works as Gobineau’s ‘Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines’ (1853), which would thrive as one of the foundational bases for what would become the development of anthropological sciences in the academy. Recognizing it for what it was – that is, a treatise for the justification of slavery and imperialism under the guise of science – Firmin took on Gobineau’s pseudoscience in his own work ‘De l’égalité des races humaines’ and boldly challenged the latter’s presumptive assessment and scientific authority”. (Anywhere but here: Black Intellectuals in the Atlantic World and Beyond).

“Anténor Firmin was a pioneering anthropologist in the nineteenth 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 only recently has been recovered, translated, and introduced into English as ‘The Equality of the Human Races (Positivist Anthropology) (2000), 115 years after its original publication. Thus, it is being evaluated as an anthropology text for the first time after 2000.
Firmin was one of two Haitian members of the Paris Anthropology Society from 1884-88, during his years in France as a Haitian emissary, although apparently his name remained on the roster until years after his death in 1911. Although a member of the Société who attended many of its meetings his voice was effectively silenced by the racialist physical anthropology dominant at the time, and by his race. In the ‘Memoires’ that provide a transcript of the Société’s deliberations, apparently Firmin rose to speak only twice, and on both occasions he was silenced by racialist or racist comments. At one point he rose to challenge the biological determination of race that pervaded the prevailing physical anthropology of Broca and others when he was confronted bt Clemence Royer (a pioneering woman of science who translated Darwin’s ‘Origin of species’ into French), who asked Firmin if his intellectual ability and presence in the Société were not the result of some white ancestry he might possess. Firmin tells us in his own words in the preface to ‘The Equality of the Human Races’ that he wanted to debate those who ‘divided the human species into superior and inferior races’ but he feared his request would be rejected. ‘Common sense told me that I was right to hesitate. It was then that I conceived the idea of writing this book’”. (Histories of Anthropology, vol. 3).

“Puisse ce livre être médité et concourir à accélérer le mouvement de régénération que ma race accomplit sous le ciel bleu et clair des Antilles!” (Préface d’Anténor Firmin).

Le présent ouvrage est en outre orné de deux portraits hors-texte et de quelques gravures.

Précieux exemplaire de cet ouvrage rare, relié avec ses couvertures grises bleutées conservées.

Localisation des exemplaires en France : Bibliothèque de Strasbourg, Bibliothèque Paris-Cujas, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève à Paris, Paris Institut de France, Médiathèque du Musée du Quai Branly, B.n.F.