Dr. Vincent Geisser

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Dr. Vincent Geisser has primarily been working with the question of “republican ethnicity” from a French perspective, conducting analyses of the political elite of North African descend. In 2003, he published the book La Nouvelle Islamophobie (La Découverte, Paris) – “The New Islamophobia” – which sparked a tremendous debate in France. The book depicts the development of the anti-Muslim discourses in the media as well as in the intellectual debate, and shows how this new Islamophobia draws on previously existing xenophobic and anti-religious discourses.

He is invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. His program is arranged by Mississippi Consortium for International Development (MCID).

Name:                     Dr. Vincent Robert Hugues GEISSER
   
Present Position:    Researcher, Political Science and Sociology, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
   
Concurrent Position:

Coordinator (for a scientific research program), Institute for Research and Study of the Arab and Muslim world (IRENAM)

 

President, Centre d'Information et d'Etudes sur les Migrations Internationales (CIEMI, an institute that collects data and publishes studies on trends in international migration)
   
Previous Positions:

Researcher, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1995-1999
 

Coordinator, international scientific project on student migrations, Research Institute on Maghreb, Tunis, Tunisia, 1995-1999
 

Assistant Professor, Political Science and Sociology, Institut d'Etudes Politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, 1994-1995
  Assistant Researcher and Assistant Professor, Political Science, IREMAM /Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, 1991-1994
   
Education/Training:

PhD, Political Science, Institute of Political Studies, Aix-en-Provence, 1995
 

Graduate, International Academy of Constitutional Law, Tunis, 1991
 

Master's degree, Political Science (specialty in the Arab and Muslim World), Institute of Political Studies, Aix en Provence, 1990

  Graduate, Institute of Political Studies, Grenoble, 1988
   
Memberships:

Director, Editorial Committee, Migrations et Société (Migration and Society magazine), CIEMI, Paris
 

Member, Editorial Committee, L'Année du Maghreb (The Year of Maghreb magazine), CNRS Editions
 

Member, Editorial Committee, Laïcité (website), Ligue de l'Enseignement, Paris
  Director, Editorial Collection, Planètes Migrations, éditions La Découverte, Paris
   
Publications:

Discriminer pour mieux régner. Enquête sur la diversité dans les partis politiques (Discriminate to Better Rule: Investigation on Diversity in Political Parties), 2008
 

Marianne et Allah: Les politiques français face à la question musulmane (Marianne and Allah: French Political Leaders Confronting the Muslim Issue), 2007
  La nouvelle islamophobie (The New Islamophobia), 2003
   
Languages: French (primary), Arabic, English
   
U.S. Travel: No previous U.S. travel
   
Professional Background:    A prolific political science and sociology researcher and founder of the Center of Information and Studies on International Migration (CIEMI, Paris), Mr. Geisser has made significant contributions to the body of knowledge about the Muslim world and trends in international migration. He is also actively engaged in discussions within French society regarding the status of minority groups, particularly Muslims, and discrimination against minorities in France.

His latest book, Discriminate to Better Rule, is a work of reference: a directory of French minority leaders, their different experiences with social and political advancement, their perspectives on  French society, and their anxieties about the future.