Francoise Hivernel


Francoise Hivernel is a French-born academic archaeologist, psychoanalyst and writer.

Early life

Hivernel was born to Raymonde Beque and André Hivernel in Versailles during World War II. Her brother Jacques Hivernel, was born in 1945.

Education

Hivernel attended the lycée in Versailles and achieved the Baccalaureat 1st and 2nd part. In 1974. She was awarded an MA and a PhD in 1979 from the UCL Institute of Archaeology in London. She also trained in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy through the West Midlands Institute for Psychotherapy in Birmingham.

Careers

Hivernel worked first as an archaeologist in France where she belonged to the National Scientific Research Centre, Laboratory of Quaternary Geology. She dug in Ethiopia and Lebanon. Then she went to the UK, whence she dug in Jordan and Kenya. She excavated in Ngenyn, a site initially discovered by Louis Leakey, as part of research towards her PhD. She has also contributed to learned papers on other African archaeological sites and published on the archaeology of Britain.
Subsequently, she worked for Cambridgeshire County Council and next the Cambridge City Council. She then had a career in Psychoanalytic-Psychotherapy.

Writing

Hivernel has written extensively on archaeology and psychotherapy and has been published in an array of academic journals and books. She has followed the work of Francoise Dolto and translated Dolto's seminal book
from French into English. This work has brought Dolto to the attention of English speaking clinicians.
Hivernel has published the travel narrative Safartu and substantially contributed to a women's travel anthology 50 Camels and She's Yours. She has been a member of Cambridge Writers for some years.