Previously: Centre d'Études Transdisciplinaires, Sociologie, Anthropologie, Histoire (Cetsah)

Of the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Anthropology of Contemporary Societies (IIAC).

A graduate teaching and research unit of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

About us
The Edgar Morin Center was established in 1960 at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) by sociologist Georges Friedmann. Initially named Center for the Study of Mass Communications, it evolved into the Center for Transdisciplinary Studies in 1973. Under the prestigious guidance and influence of Roland Barthes and Edgar Morin, over the years it has been producing research in such fields as sociology, cultural anthropology, semiotics, media studies, complexity studies, philosophy, history, political science and social psychology. Currently enjoying its fifth decade of activity, the Center (now named after the internationally renowned social theorist Edgar Morin) is part of the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Anthropology of Contemporary Societies (IIAC), a joint venture of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Research Activity
Transdisciplinarity is the main feature of research at the Edgar Morin Center. Typical research topics offer multiple potential entries. Food, for example, is a basic function both in physiological and social terms; it can and should be considered in anthropological, historical, psychosocial, economic, nutritional, ecological terms. All the teams apply this perspective to their specific topics. Current research at the Center revolves around the following themes:

The body, the individual and society; Food and eating: cross-cultural studies on perceptions and practices; perceptions of health and of foodborne risks; Memory, identity, generations; Nature, space, and environment; Transdisciplinarity and complexity; Applications of audiovisual tools to field research in the social sciences; Common sense, social representations and social influence.

The Center currently hosts about 80 researchers, doctoral and masters students.

Our journal Communications has been published by the Center since 1961. It has regularly produced thematic issues featuring articles by prominent international intellectuals, social scientists and other scientists (from Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Moses Finley, to Noam Chomsky; from Tzvetan Todorov, Edgar Morin, Bill Viola, Paul Virilio, Clifford Hill, to Raymond Boudon, Jacques Le Goff, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini and many others).

Teaching Activity
The Center offers graduate students a wide portfolio of courses and research seminars. It is hosted by EHESS (Paris), whose high-level programs are intended to lead to research careers. Masters and doctoral students are admitted by dossier. The main topics include and connect history, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, media studies, field methodologies, epistemology, environmental sciences.


Centre Edgar Morin
22 rue d'Athènes - Bât. B - 3rd Floor - 75009 Paris, France
Tél : 01 40 82 75 25 - Fax : 01 40 82 75 40
Metro: Saint Lazare, Liège, Europe ; RER A, E
Bus lines: 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 43, 49, 68, 81, 95

Director: Claude Fischler
Administration: Marie-Claude Jahan
Editor of the Journal Communications: Daniel Percheron
Video Post production Unit: Marc-François Deligne

Sites Internet
http://www.iiac.cnrs.fr/cetsah/
http://www.ehess.fr/centres/cetsah/ Site archivé (depuis octobre 2007).