Vincent Geisser
{{Short description|French sociologist and political scientist}}
{{ infobox person
| name = Vincent Geisser
| image = Vincent Geisser et Omero Marongiu, Maghreb-Orient des Livres 2018.jpg
| caption = Geisser to the left
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|01|15|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = Saint-Mandé, France
| nationality = French
| education = Grenoble Institute of Political Studies
| occupation = Sociologist
Political scientist
}}
Vincent Geisser (born 15 January 1968) is a French sociologist and political scientist.{{cite web|url=http://www.wafaw.org/people/core-researchers/vincent-geisser/|title=Vincent Geisser|publisher=When Authoritarianism Fails In The Arab World|accessdate=5 January 2016}}
Principal themes of his work and extensive written output include political questions in the Arab world, the role of Islam in France and in Europe more generally, and problems involving discrimination in the French political parties.
Life
Geisser was born at Saint-Mandé, a prosperous quarter on the eastern side of Paris. His father, Robert Geisser (1936–2015), was a police officer: his mother, Geneviève Ourta, was a social worker. His maternal grandfather, Yves Ourta (1912–1989), achieved eminence as a commander of the French Republican Guard and co-director of the National Gendarmerie.{{cite web|publisher=Joseph BÉGASSE, Gendarme au G.A.G.S. (1960–1962) |url=http://www.3emegroupedetransport.com/GENDARMERIE00YvesOurta.htm|title=Le Général Yves Ourta|accessdate=5 January 2016}}
Vincent Geisser holds a Diploma from the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies (1989), a doctorate in political science (1995), as well as degrees from the Aix-en-Provence Institute of Political Studies (1991 and 1995) and from the Tunis based International Academy of Constitutional Law (1991).
Between 1995 and 1999 he was sent by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Research Institute on the contemporary Maghreb "Institut de recherche sur le Maghreb contemporain" / IRMC), an institution sponsored by the French government but based in Tunis. Following this, he has become recognised as an expert on the political regime of President Ben Ali.{{cite web|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20140109-tunisians-nostalgic-ben-ali-ennahda-islamist|title='Surge of nostalgia' for Ben Ali in Tunisia|author= Assiya Hamza|publisher=France 24|date=9 January 2014|accessdate=5 January 2016}} Since 1999 he has been employed as a researcher by the National Centre for Scientific Research ("Centre national de la recherche scientifique" / CNRS), successively assigned to the Research and Studies Institute on the Arab and Muslim World ("Institut de recherches et d'études sur le monde arabe et musulman" / IREMAM) (1999–2011) based at Aix-en-Provence. After June 2011 he was based at the French Middle-East Institute based in Beirut. Since September 2015 he has been professionally reintegrated into the CNRS itself.
Geisser's public profile was raised in 2009 when he became involved in a dispute with Joseph Illand, a senior engineer at the CNRS. The matter became acrimonious and was picked up by the media,{{cite web|title=Elisabeth Roudinesco, vive polémique avec Esther Benbassa|url=http://www.lesinfluences.fr/Elisabeth-Roudinesco-vive.html|date=29 June 2009|author=Emmanuel Lemieux|publisher=Les Influences, Boersch|accessdate=5 January 2016}} promoted in at least one headline to the status of a Grand Affair ("l'Affaire Geisser").{{cite web| url=http://www.fabula.org/actualites/affaire-geisser-cela-n-a-rien-a-voir-avec-une-sanction-interview-de-joseph-illand-libemarseille-06-_32302.php|title=Affaire Geisser : "Cela n'a rien à voir avec une sanction", interview de Joseph Illand (LibéMarseille, 06/0709)|author=Bérenger Boulay|publisher=Fabula: La recherche en littérature|date=7 July 2009|accessdate=5 January 2016}} Intellectuals launched a major media storm, with positions increasingly polarised.{{cite web|title=De l'emballement des intellectuels|date=28 May 2013| publisher= Actualité judiciaire & La république des livres (Pierre Assouline)}} The polemicist Caroline Fourest introduced an opinion piece on the matter with the assertion that Geisser was "known for his controversial position in support of radical Islam" ("... connu pour ses prises de position polémiques en faveur de l'islam radical").{{cite web|title=L'"Islam light" selon Vincent Geisser, par Caroline Fourest| url=http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2009/06/19/l-islam-light-selon-vincent-geisser-par-caroline-fourest_1208913_3232.html|author=Caroline Fourest|publisher=Le Monde (Idées)|date=19 June 2009|accessdate=5 January 2016| author-link=Caroline Fourest}} Meanwhile, Geisser found himself called before a disciplinary council by the CRNS under circumstances which according to one side in the debate threatened his right to free speech. Parallels were drawn with Nazi book burnings in the 1930s and the 1950s senate hearings associated with Joseph McCarthy.{{cite web| url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2009/06/29/l-affaire-geisser-agite-les-universitaires_567469|title=L'affaire Geisser agite les universitaires |date=29 June 2009|publisher=Libération|author=Esther Benbassa|authorlink=Esther Benbassa|accessdate=5 January 2016}}
Geisser is regularly invited to participate in programmes on the broadcast media, notably in the talk show "Toutes les France" presented by Ahmed El Keiy on the France Ô channel. Other channels on which he appears regularly are France Culture and France Info radio channels and the France 24 and TV5Monde television channels. He writes regularly for the Oumma.com website.{{cite web|url=http://oumma.com/Vincent-Geisser|title=Vincent Geisser : ses articles - Oumma, regard musulman sur l'actualité|date=25 September 2012 |publisher=oumma.com|accessdate=6 January 2016}} He is also much involved in public life in his home city by adoption, Marseilles, where he participates in numerous debates on the theme of "living together".
References
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Category:French political scientists
Category:People from Saint-Mandé
Category:21st-century French non-fiction writers
Category:Grenoble Alpes University alumni