Julien Alapini (born August 28, 1906, in Abomey-Calavi; died February 26, 1970) was a teacher, writer, playwright, ethnographer, and politician from French Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin).
Julien Alapini attended primary school in Ouidah and then the ÃÂcole normale William-Ponty in Gorée (Senegal) from 1926 to 1929.
After graduating, he was appointed a teacher and later a school principal in several locations: Porto-Novo, Kouandé, Djougou, Savalou, Cotonou, Allada, Abomey, Covè, Parakou, Kouti, and Tori-Gare.
In parallel, he conducted ethnographic and linguistic research on Dahomey, approaching it as a Christian and admirer of French culture. Through two essays, Les noix sacrées. ÃÂtude complète de Fa-Ahidégoun, génie de la sagesse et de la divination au Dahomey (1950) and Les Initiés (1953), he aimed to continue the work of colonial ethnologists: to better understand the colonized to better govern them. As a devout Catholic, he denounced superstitions and fetishism, particularly the methods of divination such as the consultation of Fa.
Like other Dahomean authors, such as Maximilien Quénum, his work shows an "interpenetration of ethnology and literature." He studied entertainment, oral literature, songs, proverbs, and riddles and produced his own tales and plays.
In 1960, he was appointed Inspector of Education, then Minister of Education of Dahomey from 1962 to 1964. Retired in 1967, he died on February 26, 1970.