Michel de Certeau
Michel de Certeau (Chambéry, 1925- Paris, 9 January 1986) was a French Jesuit and scholar whose work combined psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences.
Certeau's education was eclectic. After obtaining degrees in classics and philosophy at the universities of Grenoble, Lyon, and Paris, he undertook religious training at a seminary in Lyon, where he entered the Jesuit order in 1950 and was ordained in 1956. That same year he became one of the first founders of the journal Christus, which he would actively be involved with for much of his life. In 1960 he earned his doctorate in theology from the Sorbonne after completing a thesis on Pierre Favre, a contemporary of Ignatius of Loyola. Certeau was greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud and was, along with Jacques Lacan, one of the founding members of L'Ecole Freudienne, 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 of May 1968.
Certeau went on to teach at several universities in locations as wide spread as Geneva, San Diego, and Paris. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he produced a string works which demonstrated his interest in mysticism, phenomenology, and psychoanalysis. His most well-known work is The Practice of Everyday Life
Works by Michel de Certeau
- la Possession de Loudun, 1970
- la Culture au pluriel, 1974
- l'Écriture de l'histoire, 1975
- l'Invention du quotidien, 1980
- la Fable mystique, 1982
Works about Michel de Certeau
- Michel de Certeau: Cultural Theorist. By Ian Buchanan. Sage Press. 2000.
- Michel de Certeau: Le marcheur blessé. By François Dosse. Decouverte. 2002.
- Michel de Certeau: les chemins d'histoire. Edited by Christiàn Delacroix. Complex. 2002.