Université de Strasbourg

David Le Breton

Chair of Anthropology of Contemporary Worlds

David Le BretonDavid Le Breton is professor of Sociology and Anthropology and member of the European Dynamics (DynamE) unit at the University of Strasbourg, and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). His research focuses on representations of the human body and the analysis of risk behaviour. He has, furthermore, worked on and written about topics such as pain, silence, and the face.

David Le Breton has written around 30 books, including the influential Anthropologie du corps et modernité, of which the first edition was published by the Presse Universitaire de France (PUF, 1990, latest edition in 2019). Recent publications include En roue libre. une anthropologie sentimentale du vélo (2020, Terre Urbaine), Marcher la vie. Un art tranquille du bonheur (2020, Métailié), Rire : une anthropologie du rieur (2018, Métailié), Tenir. Douleur chronique et réinvention de soi (2017, Métailié), Disparaitre de soi. Une tentation contemporaine (2015, Métailié), Sociologie du risque (2017, PUF, « Que sais je ? »), Expériences de La Douleur. Entre destruction et renaissance (2010, Métailié), Éclats de Voix. Une anthropologie des voix (2011, Métailié) and Marcher. Éloge des chemins et de la lenteur (2012, Métailié). Around 80 different translations of his books have been published in a dozen languages, including Sensing the World: An Anthropology of the Senses (2017, Bloomsbury Publishing - originally published in French with the title La Saveur du monde : une anthropologie des sens (2006, Métailié)). 

Professor Le Breton was co-editor of the Dictionnaire de l’adolescence et de la jeunesse (2010, PUF) and editor of 16 collective works. He has published 228 book chapters and 176 peer-reviewed articles. He sits on the editorial boards of over 15 scientific journals, and is a member of numerous other boards and committees. He received the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Bucharest, Romania) in 2019 and from the Center for Latin American Studies of Inclusive Education (CELEI, Chili) on 10 December 2020.

More information and contact details

An international colloquium "Bodies, Identity(ies) and Societies - Around David Le Breton" will be held on 8-9 September 2022. More information on the event can be found in the Call for Papers.

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