Michel de Certeau
Encyclopedia
Michel de Certeau was a French
Jesuit and scholar whose work combined history
, psychoanalysis
, philosophy
, and the social sciences
.
, Savoie
. Certeau's education was eclectic, following the medieval tradition of peregrinatio academica . After obtaining degrees in classics
and philosophy
at the universities of Grenoble
, Lyon
, he studied the works of Pierre Favre (1506-1546) at the École pratique des hautes études (Paris) with Jean Orcibal. He undertook religious training at a seminary
in Lyon
, where he entered the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus) in 1950 and was ordained in 1956. Certeau entered the Society of Jesus hoping to do missionary work in China
. In the year of his ordination, Certeau became one of the founders of the journal Christus, with which he would actively be involved for much of his life. In 1960 he earned his junior doctorate ("thèse de 3e Cycle") at the Sorbonne
with a study of co-founder of the Society of Jesus Pierre Favre (the Sorbonne is a State, secular university where theology cannot be taught) before embarking on his celebrated study of Jean-Joseph Surin
.
and was, along with Jacques Lacan
, one of the founding members of École Freudienne de Paris
, an informal group which served as a focal point for French scholars interested in psychoanalysis. He came to public attention after publishing an article dealing with the events in France of May 1968. He also took part in Robert Jaulin
's department of ethnology at the University of Paris-VII after May 68.
Certeau went on to teach at several universities in locations as diverse as Geneva
, San Diego, and Paris
. Through the 1970s and 1980s he produced a string of works that demonstrated his interest in mysticism
, phenomenology, and psychoanalysis
.
. In it, he combined his disparate scholarly interests to develop a theory of the productive and consumptive activity inherent in everyday life
. According to Certeau, everyday life is distinctive from other practices of daily existence because it is repetitive and unconscious. In this context, Certeau’s study of everyday life is neither the study of “popular culture”, nor is it necessarily the study of everyday resistances to regimes of power. Instead, Certeau attempts to outline the way individuals unconsciously navigate everything from city streets to literary texts.
Perhaps the most influential aspect of The Practice of Everyday Life has emerged from scholarly interest in Certeau’s distinction between the concepts of strategy
and tactics. Certeau links "strategies" with institutions and structures of power who are the "producers", while individuals are "consumers" acting in environments defined by strategies by using "tactics". In the influential chapter "Walking in the City", Certeau asserts that "the city" is generated by the strategies of governments, corporations, and other institutional bodies who produce things like maps that describe the city as a unified whole. Certeau uses the vantage from a skyscraper in New York to illustrate the idea of a unified view. By contrast, the walker at street level moves in ways that are tactical and never fully determined by the plans of organizing bodies, taking shortcuts in spite of the strategic grid of the streets. This concretely illustrates Certeau's argument that everyday life works by a process of poaching on the territory of others, using the rules and products that already exist in culture in a way that is influenced, but never wholly determined, by those rules and products.
and religion
. De Certeau makes a point in linking the history of writing history to the legitimization of political power and that "Western" traditions of history involve using the act of writing as a tool of colonialism; writing their own histories while un-writing the embodied traditions of native peoples.
In English:
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Jesuit and scholar whose work combined history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and the social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
.
Education
Michel de Certeau was born in 1925 in ChambéryChambéry
Chambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...
, Savoie
Savoie
Savoie is a French department located in the Rhône-Alpes region in the French Alps.Together with the Haute-Savoie, Savoie is one of the two departments of the historic region of Savoy that was annexed by France on June 14, 1860, following the signature of the Treaty of Turin on March 24, 1860...
. Certeau's education was eclectic, following the medieval tradition of peregrinatio academica . After obtaining degrees in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the universities of Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, he studied the works of Pierre Favre (1506-1546) at the École pratique des hautes études (Paris) with Jean Orcibal. He undertook religious training at a seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, where he entered the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus) in 1950 and was ordained in 1956. Certeau entered the Society of Jesus hoping to do missionary work in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In the year of his ordination, Certeau became one of the founders of the journal Christus, with which he would actively be involved for much of his life. In 1960 he earned his junior doctorate ("thèse de 3e Cycle") at the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
with a study of co-founder of the Society of Jesus Pierre Favre (the Sorbonne is a State, secular university where theology cannot be taught) before embarking on his celebrated study of Jean-Joseph Surin
Jean-Joseph Surin
Jean-Joseph Surin was a French Jesuit mystic, preacher, devotional writer and exorcist. He is remembered for his participation in the exorcisms of Loudun in 1634-37....
.
Professional life
Certeau was greatly influenced by Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and was, along with Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
, one of the founding members of École Freudienne de Paris
École Freudienne de Paris
The École Freudienne de Paris was a French psychoanalytic professional body formed in 1964, of which Jacques Lacan was a founding member....
, an informal group which served as a focal point for French scholars interested in psychoanalysis. He came to public attention after publishing an article dealing with the events in France of May 1968. He also took part in Robert Jaulin
Robert Jaulin
Robert Jaulin was a French ethnologist. After several journeys to Chad, between 1954 and 1959, among the Sara people, he published in 1967 La Mort Sara in which he exposed the various initiation rites through which he had passed himself, and closely analyzed Sara geomancy...
's department of ethnology at the University of Paris-VII after May 68.
Certeau went on to teach at several universities in locations as diverse as Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, San Diego, and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Through the 1970s and 1980s he produced a string of works that demonstrated his interest in mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, phenomenology, and psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
.
The Practice of Everyday Life
To date, Certeau's most well-known and influential work in the United States has been The Practice of Everyday LifeThe Practice of Everyday Life
The Practice of Everyday Life is a book by Michel de Certeau which examines the ways in which people individualise mass culture, altering things, from utilitarian objects to street plans to rituals, laws and language, in order to make them their own. It was originally published in French as...
. In it, he combined his disparate scholarly interests to develop a theory of the productive and consumptive activity inherent in everyday life
Everyday Life
Everyday Life is the first solo album made by Life MC of the British Hip Hop group Phi Life Cypher....
. According to Certeau, everyday life is distinctive from other practices of daily existence because it is repetitive and unconscious. In this context, Certeau’s study of everyday life is neither the study of “popular culture”, nor is it necessarily the study of everyday resistances to regimes of power. Instead, Certeau attempts to outline the way individuals unconsciously navigate everything from city streets to literary texts.
Perhaps the most influential aspect of The Practice of Everyday Life has emerged from scholarly interest in Certeau’s distinction between the concepts of strategy
Strategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
and tactics. Certeau links "strategies" with institutions and structures of power who are the "producers", while individuals are "consumers" acting in environments defined by strategies by using "tactics". In the influential chapter "Walking in the City", Certeau asserts that "the city" is generated by the strategies of governments, corporations, and other institutional bodies who produce things like maps that describe the city as a unified whole. Certeau uses the vantage from a skyscraper in New York to illustrate the idea of a unified view. By contrast, the walker at street level moves in ways that are tactical and never fully determined by the plans of organizing bodies, taking shortcuts in spite of the strategic grid of the streets. This concretely illustrates Certeau's argument that everyday life works by a process of poaching on the territory of others, using the rules and products that already exist in culture in a way that is influenced, but never wholly determined, by those rules and products.
The Writing of History
His work The Writing of History, translated into English after his death, deals with the relationship between historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. De Certeau makes a point in linking the history of writing history to the legitimization of political power and that "Western" traditions of history involve using the act of writing as a tool of colonialism; writing their own histories while un-writing the embodied traditions of native peoples.
Major works
In French:- La Culture au Pluriel. Union Générale d'Editions,1974.
- L'Ecriture de l'Histoire. Editions Gallimard. 1975.
- La Fable Mystique. vol. 1, XVIe-XVIIe Siècle. Editions Gallimard. 1982.
- Histoire et psychanalyse entre science et fiction. Editions Gallimard. 1987. (Rev.ed. 2002)
- La Faiblesse de Croire. Edited by Luce Giard. Seuil. 1987.
- L'Invention du Quotidien. Vol. 1, Arts de Faire. Union générale d'éditions 10-18. 1980.
- With Dominique Julia and Jacques Revel. Une Politique de la Langue : La Révolution Française et les Patois, l'enquête de Grégoire. Gallimard. 1975.
- La Possession de Loudun. Gallimard. 1970.
In English:
- The Capture of Speech and Other Political Writings. Translated by Tom Conley. University of Minnesota Press. 1998.
- The Certeau Reader. Edited by Graham WardGraham Ward (theologian)Graham Ward is currently Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at the University of Manchester, England. His appointment as Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford is expected to take effect from 1 October 2012. His letter of appointment had to be re-issued because his...
. Blackwell Publishers. 1999. - Culture in the Plural. Translated by Tom Conley. University of Minnesota Press. 1998.
- Heterologies: Discourse on the Other. Translated by Brain Massumi. University of Minnesota Press. 1986.
- The Mystic Fable: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Translated by Michael B. Smith. University of Chicago Press. 1995.
- The Practice of Everyday LifeThe Practice of Everyday LifeThe Practice of Everyday Life is a book by Michel de Certeau which examines the ways in which people individualise mass culture, altering things, from utilitarian objects to street plans to rituals, laws and language, in order to make them their own. It was originally published in French as...
. Translated by Steven Rendall. University of California Press. 1984. - With Luce Giard and Pierre Mayol. The Practice of Everyday Life. Vol. 2, Living and Cooking. Translated by Timothy J. Tomasik. University of Minnesota Press. 1998.
- The Possession at Loudun. University of Chicago Press. 2000.
- The Writing of History. Translated by Tom Conley. Columbia University Press. 1988.
Works about Michel de Certeau
- Michel de Certeau: Analysing Culture, By Ben Highmore. Continuum. 2006.
- Michel de Certeau: Interpretation and Its Other. By Jeremy Ahearne. Stanford University Press. 1996.
- A partir de Michel de Certeau: de nouvelles frontières. Special issue of Rue Descartes, journal of International College of Philosophy, Presses Universitaires de France. 1999.
- Michel de Certeau: Cultural Theorist. By Ian Buchanan. Sage Press. 2000.
- Michel de Certeau-In the Plural. A special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly, edited by Ian Buchanan. Duke University Press. 2001.
- Michel de Certeau: les chemins d'histoire. Edited by Christiàn Delacroix. Complex. 2002.
- Michel de Certeau: Le marcheur blessé. By François Dosse. Decouverte. 2002.
- Un chemin non tracé. By Luce Giard in Histoire et psychanalyse entre science et fiction (Michel de Certeau). Gallimard. 2002.