Abstract: Anthropology and autobiography may seem like two completely unrelated fields but in actuality, these are both a form of self-discovery and self-recognition. In Anthropology, this is usually manifested as the exploration of foreign groups whereas in autobiography, it is the exploration of the self. As a writer and anthropologist, Michel Leiris demonstrates the mixture of the two, and L'Afriquefantôme is a product blending the two kinds of practice. In the expedition across Africa in 1930s, Leiris fused anthropological notes and autobiographical writing in the same text, in pursuit of a “journal total,” by his definition.

Key words: anthropology; autobiography; journal; self-discovery; real

Wang Yanhui is Doctoral Student of the history and semiotics of text and image at Paris VII University. Research interest: literature and Arts (music, movies, beaux-arts), autobiography and anthropology.