Inventing a Primitive Mind in New Caledonia: A Missionary Ethnologist at Work

The encounter of anthropology and psychology in Leenhardt's controversial construct of the indigenous mind in New Caledonia widely inspired the theoretical development of French colonial psychiatry, entertaining close ties with anthropology, differential psychology, phenomenological psychiatry, and colonial psychiatry. Few ethnologists have had such influence on French colonial psychiatry. This article contributes to highlighting this specific connection by exploring different aspects of the figure and the work of Maurice Leenhardt (1878-1954), a French missionary and ethnologist in New Caledonia over a period of 25 years from 1902 on.