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Rothko Journal

Sartre Revisited in Light of the Obama Era

Why do I feel it necessary to publish this text this year rather than a year or two years ago ? Because of the political context. Because of Memphis and Martin Luther King, Jr. Because of Barack Obama. And may be also because of my own debt to Sartre, as being someone educated as a colonized

Coup de foudre for Governor Brown at « Normale Sup' »

In the Frame of COP 21. When Jerry Brown, governor of California, announced that he would attend the COP 21 Climate Conference in Paris, his friend Jean-Pierre Dupuy, professor of philosophy at Stanford, -the two had met 40 years ago, through Ivan Illich- suggested that he adds an event at the Ecole normale supérieure to his calendar.

Paris: Walking in the Void

Sirens and police cars crisscrossing our streets -shootings, radio, TV, messages from friends, from children, from all over the world -confusion. Within a few minutes, we are in a war zone -sirens and police cars crisscrossing down there. The death toll keeps rising, striking the younger ones.

Among the Ruins of Djemila (Algeria)

Unexpectedly, Rothko’s Outreach Develops One Step Further. The weather is cool and windy as we walk through the Roman ruins of Djemila (1st-6th century AD), led by two marvelous archeologists, both with unconventional training –Aicha Malek, who studied architecture and Youcef Aïbeche, who graduated as a historian.

A Rothko Sky on Martha’s Vineyard

On my first evening on the island, the sky turned into a Rothko painting. At the Chilmark Library, the next day, after I presented Mark Rothko as an immigrant, an artist and a pioneer, I couldn’t help mentioning that uncanny coincidence. With a hand-written poster on the road outside the grey shingle building and…

Travelling Through Rwanda

Resilience, Empowerment & Entrepreneurship Everywhere. On my first evening on the island, the sky turned into a Rothko painting. At the Chilmark Library, the next day…

Last Day in Korea: Mr Park, my Publisher finally Appears

How to access the puzzle of so much information in such a complex culture as the Korean one? How to quickly interact in a new country after only three days? How to decipher the signs of a whole system while trying to be part of it? These are common questions for an anthropologist facing new…

Day 3 in Korea: Finally, the Sun is Shining in Seoul!

Today the French Ambassador to Korea, Jerome Pasquier has generously organized a lunch to introduce me to local artists and intellectuals. What a treat! All the more since the French residence immediately appears to me as an absolutely gem of architecture. At first, it seems to hide itself on the top of a hill, behind…