Dear Toyin ADEPOJU,
Thanks for the blog, thanks for all you are doing, thanks for your promise about translations
and publications.
I am in dept of your kind solidarity but I know you do it because it is from a highly
disinterested pan africanist scientific heart.
When french text is short i can manage to translate it in average correct english. It is the
case with the abstract on Orisha as social institution for science.
But when the text is long, i put a lot of time to translate it. The two articles you read were of
that kind. The first, ‘’Cosmological vision of the Yoruba-Idààcha: A light on Yoruba history
and culture’’ was translated by me (because the Conference was held in Ghana / Cape
Coast with many coming from the US) and has been corrected by Holbrook herself. And then
again, i adjust it. But the second ‘’Scientific mind and cultural articulation in an oral society:
language as a mirror’’ has been translated from french directly by Social Science Information
Sage Pub. They pay themselves for it because they wanted it to be published in english.
Dear Brother,
I propose, instead of article to be translated now, to finish the review of the books and
translate them to english and publish them, as the books will include practically the articles.
I am aware that time is urgent, but by this year, if god wants, /asè ti olorun (in idààcha
dialect)/ i will succeed to complete all them.
About your review, it is a gift. Yes, i feel very stronger with your review and advices. When
you write, “It is very,very helpful,though,for both moral,material and logistical support to have
people who recognise your potential and commit themselves to helping you actualise it,in
whatever way they can’’, you give me so wonderful energy to go up. Indeed, it is not a
rewarding task today to be at this side within the international scientific community, to be
addressing relevant topics that point to emerging discoveries in the non-western fields of
research.
Yes, brother I agree that, in the two assays you read, it is not clear enough the distinction
between intuitive knowledge (and what for) and abstract formal, theorised, well premeditated
knowledge (where and what for) though the former is predominantly tacit or implicit. Are we
discussing and comparing methods and ways of thinking of scientists in Western and that of
lay men in non-western cultures? If so, the winner of the ‘’match’’ is obviously the Western
world. Yes, I am aware of the fact that we should make seriously an account of the question
of division of labor, in bringing out a central interrogation as to whether ways of coining
knowledge of a practitioner in a non-western culture including during our classical and late
antiquity period (African, Yoruba) can be labelled ‘scientific’.
FORMAL and INTUITIVE
1- FORMAL / THEORISED KNOWLEDGE (Implicit or tacit)
At the one hand, and about formal and well premeditated knowledge, i maintain that the false
dichotomy between western science and the non-westren science obscures the presence of
different ways of securing predictive knowledge of the material world. That, in one of the two
essays of me you read, one can find abstract and formal reasonning about the 8 timezones/
midnight encoding by original coders of divinatory calendar (iwon ri iwon ogun mejo);
one can also find it in my article ‘’From cosmogony to number theory, french) and also in
‘’Epistemological reassessment of Yoruba concept of number, french). With the perfect
coincidence between binary/hexa codes and the linguistic codes of the 256 chapters of Ifa
corpus, that despite the dispersion of the pre Oduduwa Yoruba now mainly in Dahomey
(Benin Republic) who were influenced by new spatial habits facing the divining chain (the
influence of the new neighbours, the Fon) different from the usage of the Yoruba from
Nigeria, the mathematical interpretations remain the same in this part of Yoruba country,
considering all that, I believe we have a process where implicit or tacit knowledge coined
from arrangements of inscriptions shows sufficient abstract reasoning comprising high
generalization (causality and inferences-abduction, deduction and induction, the criticism of
the orthodox).
Indeed, it is because the cowry shells appear on two sides of the divining chain and that they
are aligned, viewed from left to right and from bottom to the top, that there is a reason for
hexa and binary systems to occur (My article in french on ‘’From cosmology to number
theory: Ifa revisited as a case study of oral, formal mathematics). It is because this is highly
premeditated that the original coders could give the correspondent inscriptions their
equivalent linguistic nominations as they have internally theorized and imagined them (Kant).
I believe that the Yoruba numeration system has been base five first, and this move to base
twenty after the taking into account of the spatial generative scheme and mental model of the
Yoruba incorporated from cosmology (I argue this contra Verran, 10 fingers and 10 toes). All
this happens at the urban revolution, somewhere in Yoruba land, Ilé-Ifè presumably. And
who can make this happen apart from SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. I maintain that in african
history, Yoruba in particular, science and scientific institutions have existed and their findings
and productions have influenced a lot the rationalization of real life. It is my anthropological
hypothesis. Unfortunately, the means were essentially oral, tacit, implicit and invisible objects
and moreover with the long slavery and colonial/neocolonial passages, we lost big part of
this. To convince international scientific community as to the evidence of such institutions is
not easy. Meanwhile we hold these materials and facts as tangible and valid.
When i finished the essay on Yoruba geometry ‘Scientific mind and cultural articulation,
language as a mirror’, and that it comes to me to realize as if we were drawing the same
Euclidian representation in Greek geometric tradition, Yoruba elements of geometry deriving
from one another, i wondered if in Yoruba history, there have been scientific groups and
which works and findinds influenced social life, including languages, in the same way The
ACADEMIE FRANCAISE has been influencing and canalizing the french language since the
renaissance. But here again, it is my anthropological hypothesis. Anyway, we can question
the common view that theoretical mathematical knowledge was exclusively transmitted by
writing systems which show a tendency to definition and formalism. In contrast to the
classical thesis, there is the possibility of formal and abstract mathematical constructions in
oral societies without writing even in classical and late antiquity.
Now, we have to gather existing materials and prove scientific status with use of try, error,
causality, inferences and experiment, not experience but namely and mainly
experiment. Unless this is clarified, we will continue to draw the rubicon and the positivists
and orthodow also draw theirs. It is the reason of my Project on ‘’Transformation of bio
medical knowledge...’’ and also the concern of the one page abstract that i sent on ‘’Orisha
as scientific institutions’’. Yes, Dear brother, you can share these two documents with others.
I wish in return critics and observations.
2- INTUITIVE
At the second hand, you are right but my target is not to primitivising the African. I was
furious it was said African languages can not convey science and technology and it was a
challenge for me to prove a valid anthropological stock of proto-concepts and concepts
predating any theoretical constructions, as has been the case of intuitive stage of Western
scientific rationality, so also in India, Greece, Egypt, and Babylon (Intrinsic character of
human mind). You see it when finally you say ‘’Having noted that, however, it remains true
that Segla is able, using the same premises on the intuitive character of mathematical
knowledge and its grounding in metaphors derived from spatial orientation through the body,
to develop a strong argument for the teaching of mathematics in Yoruba. Using vigorously
and precisely developed examples, he argues that Yoruba mathematical conceptions can be
developed in relation to more reflexive theoretical formulations.’ ’
But again, this distinction might be clearer in work, and thank again for review.
I would add that (apart from schooling in our mother tongues), this helps us to go up also in
improving or modernizing existing traditional ancestral technologies. We see now in Africa
that chinese and western commodities (goods) are invading the continent while our proper
traditional goods which were already known through centuries of practical experience and
know-how are abandonned, implying economical weakness for the continent. Meiji Japon did
well in calling for technology translation, a conversion of existing ancestral technical
knowledge into science-based know-how but in keeping the cultural basis and in grafting on
the cultural cocoon.
I want to say that, If Meiji Japan succeeded in developing its economy from Tokugawa –
Meiji period (1868), it is because Japanese peasants and crafts men accepted to collaborate
with scientists who questioned them on the proto-concepts and the concepts underlying the
production of traditional ancestral industries. Meiji Japan directed many students from Tokyo
University to write their thesis on traditional products. Using ethnographies of these existing
technologies, Japanese scientists discovered chemical solution to improve many of
traditional products, indigo, Japanese traditional paper, lacquer, camphor, wax, face powder,
niter, sake, soy sauce, etc. For instance, they could prevent decomposition of sake and
method of glazing pottery gave durability; the implications were that Japanese sake and
pottery for instance gained important export.
I was elevated by my grand mother and her know-how were impressive about all things. This
perhaps influenced me in turning towards Epistemology, history of science and technology
and anthropology of knowledge in non-western cultures. When i see nowadays that all the
traditional knowledge and know-how are falling apart, Ione can question african identity and it
really brings many fear...
Let me quit you now but tell me, Dear brother, are you Yoruba Oyo, Egba, Ijebu, Eketi, or
...? Where are You? In UK, I suppose? What is your position there?
Good day.
Yours faithfully
Aimé Dafon
Saturday 2 May 2009
AIMÉ DAFON SEGLA
A brief review of two articles by the Beninoise historian and philosopher of science Aimé Dafon Segla:
“The Cosmological Vision of the Yoruba-Id`a`acha(West Africa):A Light on Yoruba History” ( African Cultural Astronomy: Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Research in Africa, Holbrook, Jarita; Medupe, R. Thebe; Urama, Johnson O. (Eds.) 2008) and “ The Scientific Mind and Cultural Articulation in an Oral Society: Language as Mirror” (Social Science Information,2003,42(3)339-374).
For me, reading him is a unique experience. He operates at the intersection of mathematics, astronomy, semiotics, linguistics, epistemology, and Yoruba history and culture.
The exuberance of his ideas clearly suggests a work in progress as he grapples with questions and ideas emerging from his preoccupation with the interpretation of the scientific universe of the Yoruba people, in relation to observations from other parts of the world. His grasp of recondite aspects of the Yoruba-Orisa tradition system of knowledge known as Ifa, as he enables such arcane conceptions achieve transformation into clear and simply accessible formulations, is most impressive. In my view, Ifa scholarship could benefit significantly from his elucidation of the logical relationships in Ifa between spatial relations, the dimensions of the human body, number theory and cosmic structure. I have been searching for guidance on the logic of relations through which the organising principles of the Ifa system are developed and his work goes a long way in uncovering that. He makes clearer, in a way that complements while going into a much more foundational archaeology of concepts, the mathematical dynamism of Ifa as elucidated by Olu Longe-“Ifa Divination and Computer Science” (University of Ibadan ) and Ron Eglash African Fractals (http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/eglash.htm).
Segla’s work demonstrates, par excellence, the genius of the Ifa system in terms of techniques of epistemological compression and expansion in which a minimal structure of symbolic forms-a relationship between one and two- encapsulates an entire cosmogony, itself represented in terms of an unfolding series of numbers-from two to sixteen and from sixteen to two hundred and fifty-six, with an infinite range of literary texts associated with each number that emerges through this numerical unfolding. This relationship between numerical and literary organisation is itself replicated in tactile visual symbols, such as the divining chain, the opele in Yoruba, and the divinatory palm nuts, ikin in Yoruba, divinatory instruments which are organised in terms of the same numerical structure, their associations also demonstrating the process of the creation of infinite possibility of
meaning from the most limited means.
Segla enables one to look at Ifa with new eyes, even if one is familiar with the Ifa literature coming out of Nigeria, understood as the origin of the system, a claim that Segla seems to both corroborate and challenge. As Abiola Irele observes in “The African Scholar” (Transition), the scientific achievements of Classical African cultures are understudied, the focus of scholarship being on the humanities and the social sciences, and as Paulin Hountondji argues, even when such studies take place, they operate in terms of a description of ideas that have been superseded, and are best understood as historical markers and anthropological guides, if I am not misinterpreting his subtle arguments in “The Reasons for Scientific Dependence in Africa Today” ( Research in African Literatures, 1990). Segla, in my view, might not be completely free of this charge of seeing Classical African thought as evidence of superseded achievements, since he argues that Classical Yoruba scientific thought is best understood as intuitive rather than theorised but bases his arguments on interviews with people who are not traditional knowledge specialists, but with lay people. That strategy enables him to develop his argument about the innate character of mathematical intuitions and their presence among Yoruba people without Western education, a stage of cognitive possibility he correlates with the intuitive stage of Western scientific rationality centuries ago. I think, though, that in doing that he could be seen as falling into the trap of primitivising the African, particularly since if one wants to learn about the quality of theoretical thinking in any discipline, one does not approach the lay person in whatever society one is studying, but learns from the specialist.
Having noted that, however, it remains true that Segla is able, using the same premises on the intuitive character of mathematical knowledge and its grounding in metaphors derived from spatial orientation through the body,to develop a strong argument for the teaching of mathematics in Yoruba. Using vigorously and precisely developed examples, he argues that Yoruba mathematical conceptions can be developed in relation to more reflexive theoretical formulations.
His invocation of Yoruba and Western history and linguistics, his deployment of insights from the philosophy of mind, and from sociological and architectural conceptions from Classical Yoruba culture, within the context of a solid grounding in the disciplines of the Western academy, is amazing.
The essay on the scientific mind in oral society is from the Sage free journals access offer that ends on April 30.The essay on the cosmological vision of the Yoruba Idaacha is from the amazing volume on African astronomy edited by Jarita Holbrook published by Springer, African Cultural Astronomy, which I am poaching by posting here, since I gained access to it through an institutional password. The work is so powerful, and in my view, so little known, that I was able to persuade myself that I was doing more good than harm by making it thus available.
I pray Segla makes more of his work available in English since most of it seems to be in French and the translation of the work on cosmology seems to suffer slightly from translation. The second comes across more clearly.
IMAGE
Nyansapo,the Wisdom Knot
Symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence and patience in the Akan/Gyaman Adinkra corpus of visual symbols.. An especially revered symbol of the Akan, this symbol conveys the idea that "a wise person has the capacity to choose the best means to attain a goal. Being wise implies broad knowledge, learning and experience, and the ability to apply such faculties to practical ends."
Quoted from http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra/nyan.htm
Nyansapo can be seen in terms of the image of opening and closing, tying and untying, freedom and enclosure, lines and circular forms, associated with tying and untying a knot.Its design is a delicate intertwining of lines suggesting both the sense of enclosure and of spatial release emerging from a highly imaginative transposition of the visual impressions conveyed by the twining and untwining of a knot.
"Puzzles and difficulties are for Aristotle the starting point of philosophy.[He] uses the metaphor of a knot. '...the difficulty of our thinking points to a 'knot' in the object; for in so far as our thought is in difficulties ,it is in like the case with those who are bound; for in either case it is impossible to go forward'.
[On gaining adequate understanding we experience a ] the subsequent free play of thought' "
Adapted from Aristotle,Metaphysics,III,I25-34 and Jonathan Lear,Aristotle:the Desire to Understand,1999.Chap.1.p.4.
Count the links of the chain; worship the triple Fire: knowledge, meditation, practice; the triple process: evidence, inference, experience; the triple duty: study, concentration, renunciation; understand that everything comes from Spirit, that Spirit alone is sought and found; attain everlasting peace; mount beyond birth and death.
When man understands himself, understands universal Self, the union of the two kindles the triple Fire, offers the sacrifice; then shall he, though still on earth, break the bonds of death, beyond sorrow, mount into heaven.
Death speaking to Nachiketas in The Ten Principal Upanishads.trans.W.B.Yeats and Shree Purohit Swami.1970.p.27.
“The Cosmological Vision of the Yoruba-Id`a`acha(West Africa):A Light on Yoruba History” ( African Cultural Astronomy: Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Research in Africa, Holbrook, Jarita; Medupe, R. Thebe; Urama, Johnson O. (Eds.) 2008) and “ The Scientific Mind and Cultural Articulation in an Oral Society: Language as Mirror” (Social Science Information,2003,42(3)339-374).
For me, reading him is a unique experience. He operates at the intersection of mathematics, astronomy, semiotics, linguistics, epistemology, and Yoruba history and culture.
The exuberance of his ideas clearly suggests a work in progress as he grapples with questions and ideas emerging from his preoccupation with the interpretation of the scientific universe of the Yoruba people, in relation to observations from other parts of the world. His grasp of recondite aspects of the Yoruba-Orisa tradition system of knowledge known as Ifa, as he enables such arcane conceptions achieve transformation into clear and simply accessible formulations, is most impressive. In my view, Ifa scholarship could benefit significantly from his elucidation of the logical relationships in Ifa between spatial relations, the dimensions of the human body, number theory and cosmic structure. I have been searching for guidance on the logic of relations through which the organising principles of the Ifa system are developed and his work goes a long way in uncovering that. He makes clearer, in a way that complements while going into a much more foundational archaeology of concepts, the mathematical dynamism of Ifa as elucidated by Olu Longe-“Ifa Divination and Computer Science” (University of Ibadan ) and Ron Eglash African Fractals (http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/eglash.htm).
Segla’s work demonstrates, par excellence, the genius of the Ifa system in terms of techniques of epistemological compression and expansion in which a minimal structure of symbolic forms-a relationship between one and two- encapsulates an entire cosmogony, itself represented in terms of an unfolding series of numbers-from two to sixteen and from sixteen to two hundred and fifty-six, with an infinite range of literary texts associated with each number that emerges through this numerical unfolding. This relationship between numerical and literary organisation is itself replicated in tactile visual symbols, such as the divining chain, the opele in Yoruba, and the divinatory palm nuts, ikin in Yoruba, divinatory instruments which are organised in terms of the same numerical structure, their associations also demonstrating the process of the creation of infinite possibility of
meaning from the most limited means.
Segla enables one to look at Ifa with new eyes, even if one is familiar with the Ifa literature coming out of Nigeria, understood as the origin of the system, a claim that Segla seems to both corroborate and challenge. As Abiola Irele observes in “The African Scholar” (Transition), the scientific achievements of Classical African cultures are understudied, the focus of scholarship being on the humanities and the social sciences, and as Paulin Hountondji argues, even when such studies take place, they operate in terms of a description of ideas that have been superseded, and are best understood as historical markers and anthropological guides, if I am not misinterpreting his subtle arguments in “The Reasons for Scientific Dependence in Africa Today” ( Research in African Literatures, 1990). Segla, in my view, might not be completely free of this charge of seeing Classical African thought as evidence of superseded achievements, since he argues that Classical Yoruba scientific thought is best understood as intuitive rather than theorised but bases his arguments on interviews with people who are not traditional knowledge specialists, but with lay people. That strategy enables him to develop his argument about the innate character of mathematical intuitions and their presence among Yoruba people without Western education, a stage of cognitive possibility he correlates with the intuitive stage of Western scientific rationality centuries ago. I think, though, that in doing that he could be seen as falling into the trap of primitivising the African, particularly since if one wants to learn about the quality of theoretical thinking in any discipline, one does not approach the lay person in whatever society one is studying, but learns from the specialist.
Having noted that, however, it remains true that Segla is able, using the same premises on the intuitive character of mathematical knowledge and its grounding in metaphors derived from spatial orientation through the body,to develop a strong argument for the teaching of mathematics in Yoruba. Using vigorously and precisely developed examples, he argues that Yoruba mathematical conceptions can be developed in relation to more reflexive theoretical formulations.
His invocation of Yoruba and Western history and linguistics, his deployment of insights from the philosophy of mind, and from sociological and architectural conceptions from Classical Yoruba culture, within the context of a solid grounding in the disciplines of the Western academy, is amazing.
The essay on the scientific mind in oral society is from the Sage free journals access offer that ends on April 30.The essay on the cosmological vision of the Yoruba Idaacha is from the amazing volume on African astronomy edited by Jarita Holbrook published by Springer, African Cultural Astronomy, which I am poaching by posting here, since I gained access to it through an institutional password. The work is so powerful, and in my view, so little known, that I was able to persuade myself that I was doing more good than harm by making it thus available.
I pray Segla makes more of his work available in English since most of it seems to be in French and the translation of the work on cosmology seems to suffer slightly from translation. The second comes across more clearly.
IMAGE
Nyansapo,the Wisdom Knot
Symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence and patience in the Akan/Gyaman Adinkra corpus of visual symbols.. An especially revered symbol of the Akan, this symbol conveys the idea that "a wise person has the capacity to choose the best means to attain a goal. Being wise implies broad knowledge, learning and experience, and the ability to apply such faculties to practical ends."
Quoted from http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra/nyan.htm
Nyansapo can be seen in terms of the image of opening and closing, tying and untying, freedom and enclosure, lines and circular forms, associated with tying and untying a knot.Its design is a delicate intertwining of lines suggesting both the sense of enclosure and of spatial release emerging from a highly imaginative transposition of the visual impressions conveyed by the twining and untwining of a knot.
"Puzzles and difficulties are for Aristotle the starting point of philosophy.[He] uses the metaphor of a knot. '...the difficulty of our thinking points to a 'knot' in the object; for in so far as our thought is in difficulties ,it is in like the case with those who are bound; for in either case it is impossible to go forward'.
[On gaining adequate understanding we experience a ] the subsequent free play of thought' "
Adapted from Aristotle,Metaphysics,III,I25-34 and Jonathan Lear,Aristotle:the Desire to Understand,1999.Chap.1.p.4.
Count the links of the chain; worship the triple Fire: knowledge, meditation, practice; the triple process: evidence, inference, experience; the triple duty: study, concentration, renunciation; understand that everything comes from Spirit, that Spirit alone is sought and found; attain everlasting peace; mount beyond birth and death.
When man understands himself, understands universal Self, the union of the two kindles the triple Fire, offers the sacrifice; then shall he, though still on earth, break the bonds of death, beyond sorrow, mount into heaven.
Death speaking to Nachiketas in The Ten Principal Upanishads.trans.W.B.Yeats and Shree Purohit Swami.1970.p.27.
Friday 1 May 2009
CV OF AIME DAFON SEGLA [INCOMPLETE.A COMPLETE VERSION IS STILL AWAITED]
VITAE
Aimé Dafon SEGLA
Chercheur Indépendant Associé – Anthropologie de la connaissance
Max - Planck Institute, Martin-Luther University (Allemagne), Université d’Arizona (US)
Consultant : Ingénierie d’Exploration du Pétrole et Gaz - Conseil en Energies Alternatives - Conduite de
Projets Afrique (Management culturel et de l’innovation - Marketing du développement durable)
ORKESTRA Consulting Paris - Place de la Madeleine.
E-mail: [asegla@orkestra.biz] / [a_s_aime@yahoo.fr]
Formation
1980 Diplôme du Baccalauréat, Série Scientifique, Lycée Mathieu-Bouké, Parakou (Bénin)
1981-1985: Diplôme d’Ingénieur Gisement pétrolier (Géologie du pétrole), Université de Moscou, ex
URSS.
1990-1991: Attestation Gestion - Management de l’Innovation et Conduite de projets de changements
technologiques, Institut Français de Gestion (IFG) Paris.
1992-1993: Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA) - Epistémologie, Histoire des Sciences Exactes et
des Techniques (Mathématiques, Sciences physiques, Biologie/Médecine : Option
Mathématiques) - Université Paris 7.
1994-2001: Doctorat : Epistémologie et Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, Université Paris 7-
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS France).
Thème de dissertation: ‘Appropriation des mathématiques dans une langue africaine : le
Yoruba’
Jury composé de:’
- Cathérine Coquery-Vidrovitch, Président du jury, Professeur Emérite, Université Paris 7
(France)
- Christian Houzel, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS-France (Professeur des Universités)
- Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, Rapporteur, Professeur Université de Floride (USA) ;
Ambassadeur du Bénin à L’UNESCO.
- Roshdi Rashed, Directeur de Thèse, Directeur de Recherche de Classe Exceptionnelle au
CNRS (France)
- Terry Shinn, Rapporteur, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS (France)
2
2002 Accréditation: Qualification aux fonctions de Maître de Conférence - Conseil National des
Universités de France (CNU), Ministère Français de l’Education Nationale.
Expériences Professionnelles
1980-1981 : Service Militaire National et Mission à l’Education Nationale.
- Services de trois mois dans l’Armée Nationale du Bénin.
- Mission de neuf mois à l’Education Nationale : enseignement des mathématiques, biologie
et géologie dans les classes de quatrième et de troisième du Collège d’Enseignement
Secondaire d’Abomey-Calavi au Bénin.
1985-1987: Société Neftigazapromuchlinosti de Stavropol (Ex-Urss) et Société Norvégienne des
Pétroles SAGA Petroleum (Bénin)
Ingénieur Géologue Gisement:
- Traitement informatique des levées géologiques et géophysiques des puits de pétrole de
Neftikoumsk (Caucases-ex-Urss) et de Sèmè (Bénin).
- Interprétations et établissement de schémas directeurs : mes conclusions ont renforcé le
plan d’implantation de nouveaux forages d’exploration.
- Géologue résidant sur chantier: analyse de la boue de forage, carottage, diagraphies des
propriétés acoustiques, électromagnétiques et électriques des roches traversées, mesure des
caractéristiques physiques et chimiques des réservoirs, détection des hydrocarbures,
cartographie des gisements et calculs des fourchettes de réserves de pétrole du gisement
Pichanoe (Neftikoumsk – Caucases).
1989-1991: Geco Pracla Géophysics, London-Arpington (UK)
- Traitement de données de sismique réflexion - Application à l’Etude des sédiments et
blocs pétrolifères, Bloc1 (Sèmè), Bloc2, Bloc3 et Bloc4 (Bénin)
- Lecture, interprétations et cadrage avec les études et données régionales de surface en
géologie structurale et en forage déjà réalisées.
- Synthèse des données, évaluation et décision de fixation des coordonnées de nouveaux
forages d’exploration, cartographie des prospects.
1991-1992: Bernard Girard Ingénierie - Conseil, Paris
Stagiaire: Audit et stratégie de modernisation des Nouvelles Messageries et Presses de Paris
(NMPP).
1994-2001: Groupe Carrefour - France
Gestionnaire : Politiques de prix ; - Stock et démarque; - Anticipations et stocks de
sécurité ; - Gestion des intégrations.
1994-2001: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France (CNRS).
3
Chercheur Pré doctoral, Laboratoire de Recherche: Centre d’Histoire des Sciences, des
Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales (Professeur Roshdi RASHED). Domaine de recherche:
Anthropologie de la connaissance mathématique et cognitive dans la civilisation Yoruba de
tradition orale (Nigeria et Bénin).
2001-2004: Max-Planck Institute For History of Science, Berlin (Allemagne) et Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique France (CNRS).
Chercheur Postdoctoral.
Thème de recherche: ‘Systems of Concepts and knowledge in language and cognition:’.
Dans le groupe de recherche ‘’Understanding the Historical Processes of Structural changes
in Systems of Knowledge’’ du Prof. Dr. Jurgen Renn (Berlin).
2003-2008: Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Max-Planck Institute (Allemagne)
Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Université de Parakou (Bénin) : Enseignant Chercheur.
Séminaires et travaux de recherche dans le cadre de deux Projets :
1- ‘The material Culture of biomedical knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa’’
(Anthropologie de la connaissance biologique et médicale en Afrique au sud du Sahara) ;
2- ‘’Appropriation des savoirs et des savoir-faire endogènes des colorants naturels et
traditionnels au Bénin : valorisation et impact sur le développement social et économique
du Bénin’’
Sous la direction du Prof. Dr. Richard Rottenburg (Anthropology of science and technology
in Africa, Martin-Luther University, Halle). Avec la collaboration des Professeurs Akpona
(Université de Parakou au Bénin) et Ayédoun (Université du Bénin à Abomey Calavi)
2004-2008: ORKESTRA Consulting - 16, Place de la Madeleine, Paris, France :
Consultant :
- Ingénierie de l’Innovation
- Conduite de projet d’acquisition de blocs pétrolifères en Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritanie,
Cameroun et au Bénin au profit de American Global Oil Corporation International Ltd,
Pangea Minerals and Energy, Vetra Oil and Gaz Int, China National Petroleum International
Ltd CNPC.
- Conseil Expert au profit de l’American Global Oil Corporation pour l’évaluation des
réserves de pétrole du champ pétrolifère de Pravdinskaya dans la région d’Orembourg en
Russie.
- Conduite de projet de joint-venture pour activités d’exploration et de production du pétrole
sur les blocs On shore A et Off shore 9 et 11 en République du Bénin. Développement de
Base Logistique locale.
4
- Revue de données géologiques et géophysiques - évolution tectonique et géodynamique du
socle, historique magmatique, évolution de l’épaisseur de la couverture sédimentaire d’après
les données de sondage et de puits, stratigraphie - redéfinition du socle, classification de blocs
en on shore du bassin sédimentaire du Bénin.
- Optimisation de politiques de développement des techniques et génies locaux - Management
de projets Afrique: traitement durable de déchets ménagers et hospitaliers, énergies
renouvelables, biocarburants, biogaz – biomasse, etc. (Côte d’Ivoire, Libéria, Bénin et
Centrafrique).
Responsabilités collectives
1999-2008 : - Président du Club Sportif ‘’Taekwondo Club’’ St Germain à Paris.
1994-2001 : - Président du Conseil d’Administration et Président du Comité de gestion de la Maison des
2004-2008 : étudiants des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à Paris (MEEAO).
- Ancien membre du Bureau directeur de la Coordination des Associations des Etudiants et
Stagiaires Africains en France (COSESAF).
- Représentant en France de L’Union Inter Africaine des Droits de l’Homme (UIDH).
- Représentant permanent du Bénin à l’Agence Internationale de lutte contre la Malaria
(AIM WABT - UNESCO - Paris).
- Membre de ‘’African Cultural Astronomy Project - University of Arizona and The Nasa’’.
- Membre du Projet d’Une Encyclopédie Transculturelle des Mots et Concepts-clefs -
Université de Nice France.
- Membre du Comité de réhabilitation des folklores Guèlèdè et Goumbé à Kèrè (Igbo-
Idààcha, Bénin).
- Initiateur du Projet de création d’un sanctuaire pour la mémoire de l’esclavage (lieu de
mémoire, anciens lieux de refuge) sur les hauteurs des Collines de Kèrè - Igbo-Idààcha,
Bénin.
- Membre de l’Association Pluridisciplinaire d’Experts pour le Développement du Bénin
(APED – Bénin)
1982-1996 : - Responsable Etudiant - Participation active à la Conférence Politique Nationale de janvier -
février 1990 au Bénin. - Président du Comité Culturel pour la Démocratie au Bénin
(CCDB/Paris).
5
Langues
- Français : lu, écrit, parlé (première langue, comme langue maternelle).
- Anglais : lu, compréhension (bien) ; parler, écrit (assez-bien)
- Russe: lu, écrit, parlé (assez-bien)
- Yoruba : lecture et compréhension (bien), parlé (moyen)
- Idààcha, dialecte du Yoruba: (langue maternelle)
- Fon : compréhension (passable), parlé (passable)
- Allemand, débutant
Bourses, Aides et Coopérations
- Allocations de recherche de l’Université Martin-Luther (Allemagne), d’octobre 2003 à
juin 2005.
- Allocations ‘Jeune Chercheur’ de la Société Max-Planck (Allemagne), de décembre 2001 à
juillet 2003.
- Bourse Postdoctorale du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - France (CNRS) en
coopération avec le Max-Planck Society (Allemagne), de décembre 2001 à janvier 2003.
- Bourse Bénin - Russe de Coopération Internationale, de septembre 1980 à juin 1986.
- Bourse Nationale Béninoise des Collèges et des Lycées, de septembre 1971 à novembre
1979.
Publications
Articles
- 2008, The Cosmological vision of the Yoruba-Idààcha of Benin Republic (West Africa): A
Light on Yoruba History and Culture, in Jarita Holbrook, Rodney Medupe and Johnson
Urama (Editors), Astrophysics and space science proceedings - African Cultural
Astronomy: Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Research in Africa, Springer
Verlag.
- 2006, ‘’Eclipse Totale du Soleil de Mars 2006: les enseignements épistémologiques à
retenir’’, La Nation, Quotidien National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin. (Total Solar Eclipse
of March 2006 in West Africa: Epistemological lessons to be known by common peoples, in
La Nation, A Daily State National Journal, Cotonou in Benin Republic)
6
- 2006, ‘’De la Cosmologie à la Rationalisation de la vie sociale: ces mots Idààcha qui
parlent ou la mémoire d’un type de calendrier Yoruba ancien’’, Cahier d’Etudes Africaines,
181 : 11-50 (http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/cnrs). (From Cosmology to rationalization of
social life : these Idààcha words that talk or memory of an ancient Yoruba calendar)
- 2005, ‘’Concepts mathématiques dans une société d’oralité : les Yoruba (la formation du
vocabulaire scientifique à partir d’un cas de structuration de la pensée), Alliage, 55-56,
pp.178-189 (Mathematical concepts in context in an oral society : the formation of scientific
vocabularies from Yoruba structuralisations of thought)
(www.tribunes.com/tribune/alliage/55-56/index.html)
(www.tribunes.com/tribune/alliage/55-56/Segla.htm).
- 2004, ‘’De la Cosmologie à une Théorie du Nombre: Le corpus Ifa revisité comme un
questionnement de la mathématique orale’’, Preprint 256 Max-Planck Institute for History
of Science, Berlin. (From Cosmology to Number theory : Ifa corpus revisited as a case study
of oral formal mathematics)
- 2004, ‘’Instruments et objets de l’évolution du développement du concept de nombre en
Yoruba: relecture pour une épistémologie historique’’, Preprint 257 Max-Planck Institute
for History of Science, Berlin. (Instruments and objects in the evolutionary process of the
historical development of Yoruba concept of number: an epistemological rereading)
- 2003, ‘’The Scientific Mind and Cultural Articulation in an Oral Society: language as a
mirror’’, Social Science Information, SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and
New Delhi), 42(3), pp. 339-374 (http://ssi.sagepub.com/content/vol42/issue3/cnrs).
- 2002, ‘’La force agissante du mot, de la phrase - mot et des métaphores Yoruba dans la
formation du vocabulaire scientifique: le développement de la langue comme la condition de
la possibilité conceptuelle’’, Preprint Series n° 221, Max-Planck Institute for History of
Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck Society edoc Server edoc.mpg.de.) (The power of Yoruba
words, noun-phrases or metaphors: the development of the language system as primary
condition for conceptual possibilities and innovations)
- 2002, ‘’L’histoire des manuels scolaires français en Afrique noire: prospective
d’anthropologie expérimentale de l’introduction de la langue maternelle dans l’éducation’’,
7
Preprint Series n° 220, Max-Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck
Society edoc Server, edoc.mpg.de. Neuerwerbungen der BBF – Januar 2003). (History of
french school books in Black francophone Africa: A perspective of experimental
anthropology of the introduction of the mother tongue in educational curricula)
- 2002, ‘’Traditions conceptuelles : un cas d’études linguistiques d’une traduction d’extraits
des Eléments d’Euclide dans une langue africaine, le Yoruba’’, Preprint Series n° 219, Max-
Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck Society edoc Server
edoc.mpg.de.) (Conceptual Traditions in History of Mathematics : a case study of some
Euclid Elements translated into an african language, Yoruba)
Evaluation d’article - Review of article
- 2004, Critique de l’article ‘’From ethno-science to science, or ‘What the indigenous
knowledge debate tells us about how scientists define their project?’’, paru dans le Journal
américain Journal of Cognition and Culture – Special Issue, June 2004. Auteur: Professor
Ellen, Roy (University of Kent at Canterbury- UK)
Livres - Books (en cours de révision, in final stage)
- Mathématiques Yoruba - Systèmes de Concepts en Langage et Cognition: une
reconstitution (Yoruba Mathematics - Systems of Concepts in Language and Cognition: a
reconstruction). En cours de révision.
- Le Projet des six ans d’école primaire en langue Yoruba de l’Université d’Ilé-Ifè revisité à
la lumière de l’histoire et la philosophie des mathématiques : Prospective d’Anthropologie
expérimentale de l’Introduction de la Langue maternelle dans l’Education. En cours de
révision. (‘’Fafunwa revisited : The six year primary Project in the light of history of
mathematics’’ – in writing stage – Fafunwa fut Ministre de l’Education Nationale du
Nigéria, Initiateur du Projet des six ans d’école primaire en langue Yoruba, Fafunwa was a
former Ministry of Education in Nigeria, the main autor of the Six Year Primary project)
- Orisha (Vodun) et le cas Batammaliba du Nord Bénin et Togo ou Comment le Rapport au
Ciel a Construit la Science. (Orisha (Vodun) and Batammaliba case study in northern
Benin and Togo or How People’s conception of the Sky Constructed Science)
(En cours de révision, final stage).
8
Conférences
- Croyance et Connaissance: les fondements mathématiques du corpus Ifa, Conférence
donnée à l’Unesco (Paris) le 28 Juillet 2006 à l’occasion du 46ème anniversaire de
l’Indépendance de la République du Bénin.
- International Conference ‘’Total Solar Eclipse 2006 : Cosmo Vision in Africa’’ organized
by the University of Arizona (Usa), University of Alabama, and The Nasa, etc. at the
University of Cape-Coast (Ghana), 27-31 mars 2006.
- Work-Shop ‘ Spatial Thinking’, Max-Planck Institute for History of Science, Max-Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, at the Max-Planck in Berlin, Février 2003.
- Colloquium ‘Quantitative thinking and intuitive geometry in West Africa (Yoruba)’, A
Paper presented at colloquium – Institut Fur Ethnologie Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-
Wittemberg, 26 November 2002, Allemagne.
- Séminaire du CNRS Traditions Conceptuelles, Traditions Textuelles: ‘Procédures de
calcul mental chez les Yoruba’, Paris, Avril 2000.
- Séminaire du CNRS Traditions Conceptuelles, Traditions Textuelles - Antiquité, Moyen –
Age, Age classique: ‘Intuitions, proto-concepts, et proto-terminologies dans la culture
Yoruba: les interrogations de l’anthropologie’, Paris, Février 1999.
Thèmes de recherche
Thèmes professionnels
- Anthropologie de la connaissance dans les cultures non occidentales : - les systèmes de
concepts en langage et en cognition dans les cultures africaines, - physique intuitive, -
géométrie intuitive, - mathématiques orales et implicites, - les connaissances incorporées,
procédurières et pratiques dans les technologies traditionnelles et dans la médecine
traditionnelle.
- Connaissance et croyance - Para-normalité.
- Théorie scientifique, théorie de la connaissance
- Anthropologie des systèmes de connaissances ayant préfiguré l’émergence de la science et
de la technologie dans la culture occidentale et dans la société japonaise de l’époque Meiji.
- L’impact des travaux des savants arabes en Afrique sub-saharienne.
Autres centres d’intérêt
- Les institutions scientifiques; - le management culturel et de l’innovation; - les sciences
politiques ; l’économie sociale et du développement ; l’histoire des religions et des
institutions politiques en Afrique noire (la question de l’Etat - Nation) ; - les procédés de
9
fabrication; - la réorganisation du système éducatif en Afrique sub-saharienne ; le
développement durable.
Publications secondaires en relation avec les autres centres d’intérêt (Secondary
publications):
- ‘’Aube Nouvelle, Politique Nouvelle : Avec Boni Yayi, Faire la Politique de façon
désintéressée’’, La Nation, Quotidien National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, mars 2006.
- ‘’Les Nations d’Afrique noire peuvent-elles encore rayonner?’’, La Nation, Quotidien
National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, 1999.
- ‘’Pour une Nouvelle Gauche Démocratique’’, La Nation, Quotidien National
d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, 1998.
- Dans l’Autre Maison de mon Père : Réponse à Anthony Appiah (In My Father’s House –
Harvard University). (In My Other Father’s House : Answers to Anthony Appiah) Livre en
préparation, book in writing stage.
Aimé Dafon SEGLA
Chercheur Indépendant Associé – Anthropologie de la connaissance
Max - Planck Institute, Martin-Luther University (Allemagne), Université d’Arizona (US)
Consultant : Ingénierie d’Exploration du Pétrole et Gaz - Conseil en Energies Alternatives - Conduite de
Projets Afrique (Management culturel et de l’innovation - Marketing du développement durable)
ORKESTRA Consulting Paris - Place de la Madeleine.
E-mail: [asegla@orkestra.biz] / [a_s_aime@yahoo.fr]
Formation
1980 Diplôme du Baccalauréat, Série Scientifique, Lycée Mathieu-Bouké, Parakou (Bénin)
1981-1985: Diplôme d’Ingénieur Gisement pétrolier (Géologie du pétrole), Université de Moscou, ex
URSS.
1990-1991: Attestation Gestion - Management de l’Innovation et Conduite de projets de changements
technologiques, Institut Français de Gestion (IFG) Paris.
1992-1993: Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA) - Epistémologie, Histoire des Sciences Exactes et
des Techniques (Mathématiques, Sciences physiques, Biologie/Médecine : Option
Mathématiques) - Université Paris 7.
1994-2001: Doctorat : Epistémologie et Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, Université Paris 7-
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS France).
Thème de dissertation: ‘Appropriation des mathématiques dans une langue africaine : le
Yoruba’
Jury composé de:’
- Cathérine Coquery-Vidrovitch, Président du jury, Professeur Emérite, Université Paris 7
(France)
- Christian Houzel, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS-France (Professeur des Universités)
- Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, Rapporteur, Professeur Université de Floride (USA) ;
Ambassadeur du Bénin à L’UNESCO.
- Roshdi Rashed, Directeur de Thèse, Directeur de Recherche de Classe Exceptionnelle au
CNRS (France)
- Terry Shinn, Rapporteur, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS (France)
2
2002 Accréditation: Qualification aux fonctions de Maître de Conférence - Conseil National des
Universités de France (CNU), Ministère Français de l’Education Nationale.
Expériences Professionnelles
1980-1981 : Service Militaire National et Mission à l’Education Nationale.
- Services de trois mois dans l’Armée Nationale du Bénin.
- Mission de neuf mois à l’Education Nationale : enseignement des mathématiques, biologie
et géologie dans les classes de quatrième et de troisième du Collège d’Enseignement
Secondaire d’Abomey-Calavi au Bénin.
1985-1987: Société Neftigazapromuchlinosti de Stavropol (Ex-Urss) et Société Norvégienne des
Pétroles SAGA Petroleum (Bénin)
Ingénieur Géologue Gisement:
- Traitement informatique des levées géologiques et géophysiques des puits de pétrole de
Neftikoumsk (Caucases-ex-Urss) et de Sèmè (Bénin).
- Interprétations et établissement de schémas directeurs : mes conclusions ont renforcé le
plan d’implantation de nouveaux forages d’exploration.
- Géologue résidant sur chantier: analyse de la boue de forage, carottage, diagraphies des
propriétés acoustiques, électromagnétiques et électriques des roches traversées, mesure des
caractéristiques physiques et chimiques des réservoirs, détection des hydrocarbures,
cartographie des gisements et calculs des fourchettes de réserves de pétrole du gisement
Pichanoe (Neftikoumsk – Caucases).
1989-1991: Geco Pracla Géophysics, London-Arpington (UK)
- Traitement de données de sismique réflexion - Application à l’Etude des sédiments et
blocs pétrolifères, Bloc1 (Sèmè), Bloc2, Bloc3 et Bloc4 (Bénin)
- Lecture, interprétations et cadrage avec les études et données régionales de surface en
géologie structurale et en forage déjà réalisées.
- Synthèse des données, évaluation et décision de fixation des coordonnées de nouveaux
forages d’exploration, cartographie des prospects.
1991-1992: Bernard Girard Ingénierie - Conseil, Paris
Stagiaire: Audit et stratégie de modernisation des Nouvelles Messageries et Presses de Paris
(NMPP).
1994-2001: Groupe Carrefour - France
Gestionnaire : Politiques de prix ; - Stock et démarque; - Anticipations et stocks de
sécurité ; - Gestion des intégrations.
1994-2001: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France (CNRS).
3
Chercheur Pré doctoral, Laboratoire de Recherche: Centre d’Histoire des Sciences, des
Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales (Professeur Roshdi RASHED). Domaine de recherche:
Anthropologie de la connaissance mathématique et cognitive dans la civilisation Yoruba de
tradition orale (Nigeria et Bénin).
2001-2004: Max-Planck Institute For History of Science, Berlin (Allemagne) et Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique France (CNRS).
Chercheur Postdoctoral.
Thème de recherche: ‘Systems of Concepts and knowledge in language and cognition:’.
Dans le groupe de recherche ‘’Understanding the Historical Processes of Structural changes
in Systems of Knowledge’’ du Prof. Dr. Jurgen Renn (Berlin).
2003-2008: Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Max-Planck Institute (Allemagne)
Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Université de Parakou (Bénin) : Enseignant Chercheur.
Séminaires et travaux de recherche dans le cadre de deux Projets :
1- ‘The material Culture of biomedical knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa’’
(Anthropologie de la connaissance biologique et médicale en Afrique au sud du Sahara) ;
2- ‘’Appropriation des savoirs et des savoir-faire endogènes des colorants naturels et
traditionnels au Bénin : valorisation et impact sur le développement social et économique
du Bénin’’
Sous la direction du Prof. Dr. Richard Rottenburg (Anthropology of science and technology
in Africa, Martin-Luther University, Halle). Avec la collaboration des Professeurs Akpona
(Université de Parakou au Bénin) et Ayédoun (Université du Bénin à Abomey Calavi)
2004-2008: ORKESTRA Consulting - 16, Place de la Madeleine, Paris, France :
Consultant :
- Ingénierie de l’Innovation
- Conduite de projet d’acquisition de blocs pétrolifères en Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritanie,
Cameroun et au Bénin au profit de American Global Oil Corporation International Ltd,
Pangea Minerals and Energy, Vetra Oil and Gaz Int, China National Petroleum International
Ltd CNPC.
- Conseil Expert au profit de l’American Global Oil Corporation pour l’évaluation des
réserves de pétrole du champ pétrolifère de Pravdinskaya dans la région d’Orembourg en
Russie.
- Conduite de projet de joint-venture pour activités d’exploration et de production du pétrole
sur les blocs On shore A et Off shore 9 et 11 en République du Bénin. Développement de
Base Logistique locale.
4
- Revue de données géologiques et géophysiques - évolution tectonique et géodynamique du
socle, historique magmatique, évolution de l’épaisseur de la couverture sédimentaire d’après
les données de sondage et de puits, stratigraphie - redéfinition du socle, classification de blocs
en on shore du bassin sédimentaire du Bénin.
- Optimisation de politiques de développement des techniques et génies locaux - Management
de projets Afrique: traitement durable de déchets ménagers et hospitaliers, énergies
renouvelables, biocarburants, biogaz – biomasse, etc. (Côte d’Ivoire, Libéria, Bénin et
Centrafrique).
Responsabilités collectives
1999-2008 : - Président du Club Sportif ‘’Taekwondo Club’’ St Germain à Paris.
1994-2001 : - Président du Conseil d’Administration et Président du Comité de gestion de la Maison des
2004-2008 : étudiants des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à Paris (MEEAO).
- Ancien membre du Bureau directeur de la Coordination des Associations des Etudiants et
Stagiaires Africains en France (COSESAF).
- Représentant en France de L’Union Inter Africaine des Droits de l’Homme (UIDH).
- Représentant permanent du Bénin à l’Agence Internationale de lutte contre la Malaria
(AIM WABT - UNESCO - Paris).
- Membre de ‘’African Cultural Astronomy Project - University of Arizona and The Nasa’’.
- Membre du Projet d’Une Encyclopédie Transculturelle des Mots et Concepts-clefs -
Université de Nice France.
- Membre du Comité de réhabilitation des folklores Guèlèdè et Goumbé à Kèrè (Igbo-
Idààcha, Bénin).
- Initiateur du Projet de création d’un sanctuaire pour la mémoire de l’esclavage (lieu de
mémoire, anciens lieux de refuge) sur les hauteurs des Collines de Kèrè - Igbo-Idààcha,
Bénin.
- Membre de l’Association Pluridisciplinaire d’Experts pour le Développement du Bénin
(APED – Bénin)
1982-1996 : - Responsable Etudiant - Participation active à la Conférence Politique Nationale de janvier -
février 1990 au Bénin. - Président du Comité Culturel pour la Démocratie au Bénin
(CCDB/Paris).
5
Langues
- Français : lu, écrit, parlé (première langue, comme langue maternelle).
- Anglais : lu, compréhension (bien) ; parler, écrit (assez-bien)
- Russe: lu, écrit, parlé (assez-bien)
- Yoruba : lecture et compréhension (bien), parlé (moyen)
- Idààcha, dialecte du Yoruba: (langue maternelle)
- Fon : compréhension (passable), parlé (passable)
- Allemand, débutant
Bourses, Aides et Coopérations
- Allocations de recherche de l’Université Martin-Luther (Allemagne), d’octobre 2003 à
juin 2005.
- Allocations ‘Jeune Chercheur’ de la Société Max-Planck (Allemagne), de décembre 2001 à
juillet 2003.
- Bourse Postdoctorale du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - France (CNRS) en
coopération avec le Max-Planck Society (Allemagne), de décembre 2001 à janvier 2003.
- Bourse Bénin - Russe de Coopération Internationale, de septembre 1980 à juin 1986.
- Bourse Nationale Béninoise des Collèges et des Lycées, de septembre 1971 à novembre
1979.
Publications
Articles
- 2008, The Cosmological vision of the Yoruba-Idààcha of Benin Republic (West Africa): A
Light on Yoruba History and Culture, in Jarita Holbrook, Rodney Medupe and Johnson
Urama (Editors), Astrophysics and space science proceedings - African Cultural
Astronomy: Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Research in Africa, Springer
Verlag.
- 2006, ‘’Eclipse Totale du Soleil de Mars 2006: les enseignements épistémologiques à
retenir’’, La Nation, Quotidien National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin. (Total Solar Eclipse
of March 2006 in West Africa: Epistemological lessons to be known by common peoples, in
La Nation, A Daily State National Journal, Cotonou in Benin Republic)
6
- 2006, ‘’De la Cosmologie à la Rationalisation de la vie sociale: ces mots Idààcha qui
parlent ou la mémoire d’un type de calendrier Yoruba ancien’’, Cahier d’Etudes Africaines,
181 : 11-50 (http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/cnrs). (From Cosmology to rationalization of
social life : these Idààcha words that talk or memory of an ancient Yoruba calendar)
- 2005, ‘’Concepts mathématiques dans une société d’oralité : les Yoruba (la formation du
vocabulaire scientifique à partir d’un cas de structuration de la pensée), Alliage, 55-56,
pp.178-189 (Mathematical concepts in context in an oral society : the formation of scientific
vocabularies from Yoruba structuralisations of thought)
(www.tribunes.com/tribune/alliage/55-56/index.html)
(www.tribunes.com/tribune/alliage/55-56/Segla.htm).
- 2004, ‘’De la Cosmologie à une Théorie du Nombre: Le corpus Ifa revisité comme un
questionnement de la mathématique orale’’, Preprint 256 Max-Planck Institute for History
of Science, Berlin. (From Cosmology to Number theory : Ifa corpus revisited as a case study
of oral formal mathematics)
- 2004, ‘’Instruments et objets de l’évolution du développement du concept de nombre en
Yoruba: relecture pour une épistémologie historique’’, Preprint 257 Max-Planck Institute
for History of Science, Berlin. (Instruments and objects in the evolutionary process of the
historical development of Yoruba concept of number: an epistemological rereading)
- 2003, ‘’The Scientific Mind and Cultural Articulation in an Oral Society: language as a
mirror’’, Social Science Information, SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and
New Delhi), 42(3), pp. 339-374 (http://ssi.sagepub.com/content/vol42/issue3/cnrs).
- 2002, ‘’La force agissante du mot, de la phrase - mot et des métaphores Yoruba dans la
formation du vocabulaire scientifique: le développement de la langue comme la condition de
la possibilité conceptuelle’’, Preprint Series n° 221, Max-Planck Institute for History of
Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck Society edoc Server edoc.mpg.de.) (The power of Yoruba
words, noun-phrases or metaphors: the development of the language system as primary
condition for conceptual possibilities and innovations)
- 2002, ‘’L’histoire des manuels scolaires français en Afrique noire: prospective
d’anthropologie expérimentale de l’introduction de la langue maternelle dans l’éducation’’,
7
Preprint Series n° 220, Max-Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck
Society edoc Server, edoc.mpg.de. Neuerwerbungen der BBF – Januar 2003). (History of
french school books in Black francophone Africa: A perspective of experimental
anthropology of the introduction of the mother tongue in educational curricula)
- 2002, ‘’Traditions conceptuelles : un cas d’études linguistiques d’une traduction d’extraits
des Eléments d’Euclide dans une langue africaine, le Yoruba’’, Preprint Series n° 219, Max-
Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin. (Max-Planck Society edoc Server
edoc.mpg.de.) (Conceptual Traditions in History of Mathematics : a case study of some
Euclid Elements translated into an african language, Yoruba)
Evaluation d’article - Review of article
- 2004, Critique de l’article ‘’From ethno-science to science, or ‘What the indigenous
knowledge debate tells us about how scientists define their project?’’, paru dans le Journal
américain Journal of Cognition and Culture – Special Issue, June 2004. Auteur: Professor
Ellen, Roy (University of Kent at Canterbury- UK)
Livres - Books (en cours de révision, in final stage)
- Mathématiques Yoruba - Systèmes de Concepts en Langage et Cognition: une
reconstitution (Yoruba Mathematics - Systems of Concepts in Language and Cognition: a
reconstruction). En cours de révision.
- Le Projet des six ans d’école primaire en langue Yoruba de l’Université d’Ilé-Ifè revisité à
la lumière de l’histoire et la philosophie des mathématiques : Prospective d’Anthropologie
expérimentale de l’Introduction de la Langue maternelle dans l’Education. En cours de
révision. (‘’Fafunwa revisited : The six year primary Project in the light of history of
mathematics’’ – in writing stage – Fafunwa fut Ministre de l’Education Nationale du
Nigéria, Initiateur du Projet des six ans d’école primaire en langue Yoruba, Fafunwa was a
former Ministry of Education in Nigeria, the main autor of the Six Year Primary project)
- Orisha (Vodun) et le cas Batammaliba du Nord Bénin et Togo ou Comment le Rapport au
Ciel a Construit la Science. (Orisha (Vodun) and Batammaliba case study in northern
Benin and Togo or How People’s conception of the Sky Constructed Science)
(En cours de révision, final stage).
8
Conférences
- Croyance et Connaissance: les fondements mathématiques du corpus Ifa, Conférence
donnée à l’Unesco (Paris) le 28 Juillet 2006 à l’occasion du 46ème anniversaire de
l’Indépendance de la République du Bénin.
- International Conference ‘’Total Solar Eclipse 2006 : Cosmo Vision in Africa’’ organized
by the University of Arizona (Usa), University of Alabama, and The Nasa, etc. at the
University of Cape-Coast (Ghana), 27-31 mars 2006.
- Work-Shop ‘ Spatial Thinking’, Max-Planck Institute for History of Science, Max-Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, at the Max-Planck in Berlin, Février 2003.
- Colloquium ‘Quantitative thinking and intuitive geometry in West Africa (Yoruba)’, A
Paper presented at colloquium – Institut Fur Ethnologie Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-
Wittemberg, 26 November 2002, Allemagne.
- Séminaire du CNRS Traditions Conceptuelles, Traditions Textuelles: ‘Procédures de
calcul mental chez les Yoruba’, Paris, Avril 2000.
- Séminaire du CNRS Traditions Conceptuelles, Traditions Textuelles - Antiquité, Moyen –
Age, Age classique: ‘Intuitions, proto-concepts, et proto-terminologies dans la culture
Yoruba: les interrogations de l’anthropologie’, Paris, Février 1999.
Thèmes de recherche
Thèmes professionnels
- Anthropologie de la connaissance dans les cultures non occidentales : - les systèmes de
concepts en langage et en cognition dans les cultures africaines, - physique intuitive, -
géométrie intuitive, - mathématiques orales et implicites, - les connaissances incorporées,
procédurières et pratiques dans les technologies traditionnelles et dans la médecine
traditionnelle.
- Connaissance et croyance - Para-normalité.
- Théorie scientifique, théorie de la connaissance
- Anthropologie des systèmes de connaissances ayant préfiguré l’émergence de la science et
de la technologie dans la culture occidentale et dans la société japonaise de l’époque Meiji.
- L’impact des travaux des savants arabes en Afrique sub-saharienne.
Autres centres d’intérêt
- Les institutions scientifiques; - le management culturel et de l’innovation; - les sciences
politiques ; l’économie sociale et du développement ; l’histoire des religions et des
institutions politiques en Afrique noire (la question de l’Etat - Nation) ; - les procédés de
9
fabrication; - la réorganisation du système éducatif en Afrique sub-saharienne ; le
développement durable.
Publications secondaires en relation avec les autres centres d’intérêt (Secondary
publications):
- ‘’Aube Nouvelle, Politique Nouvelle : Avec Boni Yayi, Faire la Politique de façon
désintéressée’’, La Nation, Quotidien National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, mars 2006.
- ‘’Les Nations d’Afrique noire peuvent-elles encore rayonner?’’, La Nation, Quotidien
National d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, 1999.
- ‘’Pour une Nouvelle Gauche Démocratique’’, La Nation, Quotidien National
d’Information, Cotonou Bénin, 1998.
- Dans l’Autre Maison de mon Père : Réponse à Anthony Appiah (In My Father’s House –
Harvard University). (In My Other Father’s House : Answers to Anthony Appiah) Livre en
préparation, book in writing stage.
AIMÉ DAFON SEGLA ON CLASSICAL AFRICAN SCIENCE:BRIEF SURVEY OF TEXTS ON IFA AS A SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM
from SEGLA
to toyin adepoju
date 30 April 2009 20:25
subject Inquiries
hide details 20:25 (15 hours ago) CV_AIME-Orkestra-Consultg.pdf,Texteprojet_anglo_saxon_final[1].pdf,Abstract-Orisha _Vodun_ for Cairo2009.pdf
Reply
Dear Toyin Adépoju,
I am back. I have now off office time free and can write you.
Please find attached promised documents. The text about ‘’Bio medical epistemology, transformation of bio knowledge ...’’ is confidential as is also my one page abstract on Orisha as social institution for science in classical Yoruba period. As they are written in english, i just want you see other trends from me. The text about transformation of bio knowledge is the project for which funds were lacking with the German. The abstract is for a conference and for a workshop to be held in Egypt October 2009. But it is also a resume of a forthcoming book, presumably in french.
About your review on the two esays, i can tell more tommorow.
But can i ask you a question: Have you read my article writen in french ‘’ De la cosmologie à une théorie du nombre : le corpus Ifa revisité comme un questionnement de la mathématique orale (From cosmology to Number theory: Ifa corpus revisited as a case study of oral formal mathematics). Your review seems to refere strangely to that article more than to that other one in Holbrook et al. Or, does someone translate it to you? It makes me cry because there are more detailed arguments there for the abstract formal reasonning by the original coders of Ifa than you can find in the essays on Idààcha cosmological vision. The former (Idààcha cosmological vision...) is also just an extract of a very long article published (french) in Cahier d’Etudes Africaines, i mean ‘’ De la cosmology à la rationalisation de la vie sociale: ces mots idààcha qui parlent ou la mémoire d’un type de calendrier Yoruba ancien’’ (From cosmology to the rationalization of life: the idààacha words that talk or memory of an original old Yoruba divinatory calendar)
I accept your pray, more effort should be done for translations into english. I should end very quickly reviews of forthcoming books where are being included these articles writen in french. Books should be translated into english. In cv, you see all these articles writen in french. One in particular may puzzle you: ‘’Conceptual traditions: some Euclide elements translated into an african language, Yoruba’’, a provocational way from me in address of western scholars....
Tomorrow, i shall answer review.
Best regards
Aimé SEGLA
to toyin adepoju
date 30 April 2009 20:25
subject Inquiries
hide details 20:25 (15 hours ago) CV_AIME-Orkestra-Consultg.pdf,Texteprojet_anglo_saxon_final[1].pdf,Abstract-Orisha _Vodun_ for Cairo2009.pdf
Reply
Dear Toyin Adépoju,
I am back. I have now off office time free and can write you.
Please find attached promised documents. The text about ‘’Bio medical epistemology, transformation of bio knowledge ...’’ is confidential as is also my one page abstract on Orisha as social institution for science in classical Yoruba period. As they are written in english, i just want you see other trends from me. The text about transformation of bio knowledge is the project for which funds were lacking with the German. The abstract is for a conference and for a workshop to be held in Egypt October 2009. But it is also a resume of a forthcoming book, presumably in french.
About your review on the two esays, i can tell more tommorow.
But can i ask you a question: Have you read my article writen in french ‘’ De la cosmologie à une théorie du nombre : le corpus Ifa revisité comme un questionnement de la mathématique orale (From cosmology to Number theory: Ifa corpus revisited as a case study of oral formal mathematics). Your review seems to refere strangely to that article more than to that other one in Holbrook et al. Or, does someone translate it to you? It makes me cry because there are more detailed arguments there for the abstract formal reasonning by the original coders of Ifa than you can find in the essays on Idààcha cosmological vision. The former (Idààcha cosmological vision...) is also just an extract of a very long article published (french) in Cahier d’Etudes Africaines, i mean ‘’ De la cosmology à la rationalisation de la vie sociale: ces mots idààcha qui parlent ou la mémoire d’un type de calendrier Yoruba ancien’’ (From cosmology to the rationalization of life: the idààacha words that talk or memory of an original old Yoruba divinatory calendar)
I accept your pray, more effort should be done for translations into english. I should end very quickly reviews of forthcoming books where are being included these articles writen in french. Books should be translated into english. In cv, you see all these articles writen in french. One in particular may puzzle you: ‘’Conceptual traditions: some Euclide elements translated into an african language, Yoruba’’, a provocational way from me in address of western scholars....
Tomorrow, i shall answer review.
Best regards
Aimé SEGLA
ON COGNITIVE TRAJECTORIES :CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN AIME SEGLA AND TOYIN ADEPOJU
-----Message d'origine-----
De : toyin adepoju [mailto:tokem3000@yahoo.com]
Envoyé : mercredi 29 avril 2009 20:44
À : "a s aime"@yahoo.fr; aime.segla@ethnologie.uni-halle.de; asegla@orkestra.biz
Objet : APPRECIATION,ENQUIRY AND REQUEST
Dear Aim´e Dafon S`egla,
Good morning.
I have encountered your work with delighted surprise.I am very keen on your efforts to situate Classical African thought,specifically Yoruba epistemology and cosmology,within a scientific and philosophical context.I have your work on "The Cosmological Vision of the Yoruba-Id`a`acha",published in the volume on African astronomy edited by Jarita Holbrook as well as the one on "The Scientific Mind and the Cultural Articulation of Knowledge in Oral Society".
I wonder if yoiu have any other works in English translation you could do me the honor of sending me?
Could I know where you are and if I can read any bio and publication data on you at any source online?
Thanks.
Toyin
--- On Thu, 4/30/09, SEGLA wrote:
From: SEGLA
Subject: RE : APPRECIATION,ENQUIRY AND REQUEST
To: tokem3000@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 12:07 AM
Dear Toyin Adépoju,
Morning, Bonjour !
First, I apologize for my english, because I am francophone.
Many thanks for your yesterday kind letter and for big interest in my works. I was preparing to answerin sending a long reply.
But I see this morning your mail again.
I will send you more detailed information about me by this evening. Let me shortly say here that I am so pleased because I see you are african scientist and moreover, you are a brother from Nigeria.
For long time, It has been said that there were no Yoruba outside Nigeria. And me myself, I discovered by my works that I am a Yoruba because Idààcha dialect of Yoruba, a group I belong to in the center of Benin Republic, would sound foreign to Yoruba of Nigeria. I discovered with my works how powerful is Yoruba culture and I am very proud belonging to this backgroud. Some scientists, historians and linguists from Nigeria told me that in the area of Idanré near Akurè/Eketi in Nigeria, the dialect there sound exactly like Idààcha dialect and my dream is to go there and see what could be a research topic based on that fact, in relation to old Yoruba language Ifè tutu (Isha tutu) searching for structural changes in Yoruba system of knowledge. My strong believe is that it is only from original languages which were not altered before colonial coastal contacts that we can find root morphems for the better appropriation of modern science and technology in our proper mother tongue.
I am glad to read you because very few see the importance of these kind of works for Africa and our african state institutions are poorly interested in these questions. I am Petroleum geologist first. I worked in Petroleum before my PhD in History of science and Technology from University of Paris Jussieu Denis Diderot and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS France in 2001. From 2001, I worked for French Cnetre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS and for the Max-Planck Institute for the History of science in Berlin focusing my research interests on The Anthropology of Knowledge in non Western cultures. I was also at the Martin-Luther University in Halle Germany. But unfortunately project funds were missing by 2006 for my works. Fund institutions said Africa should itself find research fund for this kind of work. They may be right but is Africa aware of that?
I returned to Paris since then and i am now working in a Paris Consultantancy office in Petroleum geology. I would prefere a reacherch center, but I share part time works as independant researcher (conferences, works shops, seminars) with Holbrook group in Arizona, the Max-Planck or the Martin-Luther University. That is why you can read me in Holbrook (Editor). My second publication in english is just the one you told about; that is ‘’The scientific mind and cultural articulation in an oral society: language as a Miror’’ published in Social Science Information, 2003. My other publications are in french. 3 books are forthcoming also in french. I have my last project (Anthropology of bio medical knowledge) for which funds were misssing written in english. I will send it to you by this evening, CV and an abstract (english) of forthcoming conference in Egypt October 2009. In Cv, you will find more accurate translation into english of the french titles of my works.
Many thanks again and best things to family.
Merci.
Amitiés.
Aimé Dafon SEGLA
ORKESTRA Consulting
16 Place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
Tel: 00 33 1 44 51 51 53 / 00 33 6 19 31 87 42 / 00 33 6 29 51 86 62
My effective email addresses are: a_s_aime@yahoo.fr or asegla@orkestra.biz
De : toyin adepoju [mailto:tokem3000@yahoo.com]
Envoyé : mercredi 29 avril 2009 20:44
À : "a s aime"@yahoo.fr; aime.segla@ethnologie.uni-halle.de; asegla@orkestra.biz
Objet : APPRECIATION,ENQUIRY AND REQUEST
Dear Aim´e Dafon S`egla,
Good morning.
I have encountered your work with delighted surprise.I am very keen on your efforts to situate Classical African thought,specifically Yoruba epistemology and cosmology,within a scientific and philosophical context.I have your work on "The Cosmological Vision of the Yoruba-Id`a`acha",published in the volume on African astronomy edited by Jarita Holbrook as well as the one on "The Scientific Mind and the Cultural Articulation of Knowledge in Oral Society".
I wonder if yoiu have any other works in English translation you could do me the honor of sending me?
Could I know where you are and if I can read any bio and publication data on you at any source online?
Thanks.
Toyin
--- On Thu, 4/30/09, SEGLA
From: SEGLA
Subject: RE : APPRECIATION,ENQUIRY AND REQUEST
To: tokem3000@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 12:07 AM
Dear Toyin Adépoju,
Morning, Bonjour !
First, I apologize for my english, because I am francophone.
Many thanks for your yesterday kind letter and for big interest in my works. I was preparing to answerin sending a long reply.
But I see this morning your mail again.
I will send you more detailed information about me by this evening. Let me shortly say here that I am so pleased because I see you are african scientist and moreover, you are a brother from Nigeria.
For long time, It has been said that there were no Yoruba outside Nigeria. And me myself, I discovered by my works that I am a Yoruba because Idààcha dialect of Yoruba, a group I belong to in the center of Benin Republic, would sound foreign to Yoruba of Nigeria. I discovered with my works how powerful is Yoruba culture and I am very proud belonging to this backgroud. Some scientists, historians and linguists from Nigeria told me that in the area of Idanré near Akurè/Eketi in Nigeria, the dialect there sound exactly like Idààcha dialect and my dream is to go there and see what could be a research topic based on that fact, in relation to old Yoruba language Ifè tutu (Isha tutu) searching for structural changes in Yoruba system of knowledge. My strong believe is that it is only from original languages which were not altered before colonial coastal contacts that we can find root morphems for the better appropriation of modern science and technology in our proper mother tongue.
I am glad to read you because very few see the importance of these kind of works for Africa and our african state institutions are poorly interested in these questions. I am Petroleum geologist first. I worked in Petroleum before my PhD in History of science and Technology from University of Paris Jussieu Denis Diderot and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS France in 2001. From 2001, I worked for French Cnetre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS and for the Max-Planck Institute for the History of science in Berlin focusing my research interests on The Anthropology of Knowledge in non Western cultures. I was also at the Martin-Luther University in Halle Germany. But unfortunately project funds were missing by 2006 for my works. Fund institutions said Africa should itself find research fund for this kind of work. They may be right but is Africa aware of that?
I returned to Paris since then and i am now working in a Paris Consultantancy office in Petroleum geology. I would prefere a reacherch center, but I share part time works as independant researcher (conferences, works shops, seminars) with Holbrook group in Arizona, the Max-Planck or the Martin-Luther University. That is why you can read me in Holbrook (Editor). My second publication in english is just the one you told about; that is ‘’The scientific mind and cultural articulation in an oral society: language as a Miror’’ published in Social Science Information, 2003. My other publications are in french. 3 books are forthcoming also in french. I have my last project (Anthropology of bio medical knowledge) for which funds were misssing written in english. I will send it to you by this evening, CV and an abstract (english) of forthcoming conference in Egypt October 2009. In Cv, you will find more accurate translation into english of the french titles of my works.
Many thanks again and best things to family.
Merci.
Amitiés.
Aimé Dafon SEGLA
ORKESTRA Consulting
16 Place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
Tel: 00 33 1 44 51 51 53 / 00 33 6 19 31 87 42 / 00 33 6 29 51 86 62
My effective email addresses are: a_s_aime@yahoo.fr or asegla@orkestra.biz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
