Denis Retaillé (born 1953, Mayenne,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) was a Professor of Geography at the

University of Bordeaux III Bordeaux Montaigne University (, ; formerly ''Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3'') is a public university in Pessac, France, approximately 8 kilometres (5 miles) southwest of the city centre of Bordeaux. It forms part of the ComUE d'A ...

and the Director of the CNRS ADES Research Unit, UMR 5186. Professor Retaillé holds a PhD in Geography from the

University of Rouen The University of Rouen Normandy (''Université de Rouen Normandie'') is a French university, in the Academy of Rouen. History and demographics Located not in Rouen, but in the suburb of Mont-Saint-Aignan (a "township" in the Normandy region), t ...

(1983) dedicated to the study of the Nigerien region of Koutous, and a Habilitation from the

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it m ...

(Paris IV) (1993) dedicated to the study of space in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

. From 1993 to 2008, he was a Professor of Geography at the University of Rouen, France. Drawing on the work made by French geographer Jean Gallais in the

Inner Niger Delta The Inner Niger Delta, also known as the Macina or Masina, is the inland river delta of the Niger River. It is an area of fluvial wetlands, lakes and floodplains in the semi-arid Sahel area of central Mali, just south of the Sahara Desert. ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, he has contributed to the understanding of space, in particular in the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and in the

and also in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Building on his African fieldworks, he developed the idea of a ''nomadic space'' and of a ''mobile space''. More generally, he is interested in explaining the diversity of cultural representations in the globalised world. His work has contributed to the development of the epistemology of geography and is inspired by a comparative approach, as evidenced by his contribution in ''Le monde, espaces et systèmes'', published with Marie-Françoise Durand and Jacques Lévy in 1993, and in ''Le monde du géographe'', published in 1997. Professor Retaillé was the Editor in Chief of ''L’Information géographique'', a French journal.

Career

*M.A. in Geography, University of Rouen (1979) *PhD in Geography, University of Rouen (1983) *Assistant professor, University of Rouen (1989–1993) *Reader, Institut d’études politiques, Paris-Sciences Po (1990–1997) *Lecturer, University of Rouen (1982–1989) *Professor, Department of Geography, University of Rouen (1993–2008) *Professor, Department of Geography, University of Bordeaux III (2008-2016)

References

Major works

*Retaillé D. 2014. De l’espace nomade à l’espace mobile en passant par l’espace du contrat: une expérience théorique. ''Canadian Journal of African Studies'' 48(1): 13-28. *Retaillé D. 2012. ''Les Lieux de la mondialisation'', Le Cavalier Bleu, Paris. *Retaillé D, Walther O. 2011. Spaces of uncertainty: A model of mobile space in the Sahel. ''Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography'' 32(1): 85-101. *Retaillé D, Walther O. 2011. Guerre et terrorisme au Sahara-Sahel: la reconversion des savoirs nomades. ''L’Information Géographique'' 76(3): 51-68. *Retaillé D. 2009. Malaise dans la géographie, l’espace est mobile, in M. Vanier (ed.) ''Territoires, territorialité, territorialisation''. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes : 97-114. *Retaillé D. 2007. Les échelles paradoxales du développement. ''Les Cahiers d’Outre Mer'' 238: 167-183. *Retaillé D (dir.). 2006. ''La ville ou l’Etat? Développement politique et urbanité dans les espaces nomades et mobiles''. Rouen: PURH. *Retaillé D. 2005. L’espace mobile, in Antheaume B, Giraut F (eds) ''Le territoire est mort. Vive les territoires! Une (re)fabrication au nom du développement''. Paris: IRD : 175-202. *Retaillé D. 2000. Geopolitics in history. ''Geopolitics'' 5(2): 35-51. *Retaillé D. 1998. L’espace nomade. ''Revue de Géographie de Lyon'' 1: 71-81. *Retaillé D. 1997. ''Le monde du géographe''. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. *Retaillé D. 1995. Structures territoriales sahéliennes. Le modèle de Zinder. ''Revue de Géographie alpine'' 2: 127-148. *Durand M.-F, Lévy J, Retaillé D. 1993. ''Le monde, espaces et systèmes''. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po and Dalloz. *Retaillé D. 1993. Afrique: le besoin de parler autrement qu’en surface. ''EspacesTemps'' 51-52: 52-62. *Retaillé D. 1989. Mobilités des populations sahéliennes pendant la sécheresse aggravée de 1984, in Bret B (ed.) ''Les hommes face aux sécheresses''. Paris: IHEAL: 277-285. *Retaillé D. 1986. Les structures territoriales et la sécheresse au Sahel. ''Cahiers Géographiques de Rouen'' special issue: 27-42. *Retaillé D. 1984. La mise en place d’une région en Afrique sahélienne autour du Koutous (Niger oriental). In Blanc-Pamard, C. et al. (eds) ''Le développement rural en questions: paysages, espaces ruraux, systèmes agraires''. Paris: ORSTOM : 181–203. *Retaillé D. 1983. ''La mise en place d’une région Afrique sahélienne, autour du Koutous, Niger oriental''. University of Rouen, unpublished PhD dissertation.

External links

CNRS ADES Research Unit PageUniversity of Bordeaux III Official Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Retaille, Denis French geographers 1953 births University of Rouen Normandy alumni University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Bordeaux Living people