Régis Debray
Encyclopedia
Jules Régis Debray is a French
intellectual
, journalist
, government official and professor
. He is known for his theorization of mediology
, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara
in Bolivia
.
, Regis Debray studied at the École Normale Supérieure
under Louis Althusser
, and became "agrégé de philosophie
" in 1965.
In the late 1960s he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Havana
in Cuba
, and became an associate of Che Guevara
in Bolivia
. He wrote the book Revolution in the Revolution?, which analysed the tactical and strategic doctrines then prevailing among militant socialist movements in Latin America, and acted as a handbook for guerrilla warfare
that supplemented Guevara's own manual on the subject. It was published by Maspero in Paris in 1967 and in the same year in New York (Monthly Review Press and Grove), Montevideo (Sandino), Milan (Feltrinelli) and Munich (Trikont). Guevara was captured in Bolivia early in October, 1967; on April 20, 1967, Debray had been arrested in the small town of Muyupampa, also in Bolivia. Convicted of having been part of Guevara's guerrilla group Debray on November 17 was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was released in 1970 after an international campaign for his release which included Jean-Paul Sartre
, André Malraux
, General Charles de Gaulle
and Pope Paul VI. He sought refuge in Chile, where he wrote The Chilean Revolution (1972) after interviews with Salvador Allende
. Debray returned to France in 1973 following the coup by Augusto Pinochet
in Chile.
, in 1981, he became an official adviser to the Président on Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he developed a policy that sought to increase France's freedom of action in the world, decrease dependence on the United States, and promote closeness with the former colonies. He was also involved in the development of the government's official ceremonies and recognition of the bicentennial of the French Revolution
. He resigned in 1988. Until the mid-1990s he held a number of official posts in France.
In 1996 he published a memoir of his life, translated into English as Régis Debray, Praised Be Our Lords (Verso, 2007).
, which examined the origins of the 2003 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
. Debray supported the 2003 law. This was in defense of French laïcité
(separation of church and state) which aims to maintain citizens' equality through the prohibition of religious proselytism
within the school system. Debray, however, appears to have encouraged a more subtle treatment of religious issues within school history teaching in France.
Debray is preoccupied with the situation of Christian minorities in the Near East (and with the status of the Holy Places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and elsewhere), a traditional interest of the French state, and has established an 'observatory' to monitor the situation. His recent work deals thoroughly with the religious paradigm as a social nexus able to support collective orientation on a wide, centuries-long scale. This led him to propose the project of an Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions, a French institute founded in 2005 aimed at monitoring sociological religious dynamics and informing the public on religion through conferences and publications.
", which attempts to scientifically study transmission of cultural meaning in society, whether through language or images. Mediology is characterized by its multi-disciplinary approach. It is expounded best in the English-language book Transmitting Culture (Columbia University Press, 2004). In Vie et mort de l'image (Life and Death of Image, 1995), an attempted history of gaze, where he distinguished three regimes of the images (icon
, idol
and vision), he explicitly prevented misunderstandings by differentiating mediology from a simple sociology
of mass media
. He also criticized the basic assumptions of history of art
which present art as an atemporal and universal phenomenon. According to Debray, art is a product of the Renaissance
with the invention of the artist as producer of images, in contrast with previous acheiropoieta
icons or other types of so-called "art," where these "works of art" did not fulfil an artistic function but rather a religious one.
, Régis Debray criticized the tendency of the whole French political class to move toward the right-wing of politics. He also deplored the influence of the "videosphere" on modern politics, which he claimed has a tendency to individualize everything, forgetting both past and future (although he praised the loss of the 1960s messianism
), outside of any common national project. He criticized the new generation in politics as being competent but without character, and lacking ideas: "So they [think they] recruit philosophy with André Glucksmann
or Bernard-Henri Lévy
and literature with Christine Angot
or Jean d'Ormesson
". He called for a vote to the "left of the left," in order to attempt to block a modern "anti-politics" which has turned into political marketing
.
In English:
(April 1, 2004) 514 pages ISBN 0-262-63300-0 ISBN 978-0-262-63300-0
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, government official and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
. He is known for his theorization of mediology
Mediology
Mediology , broadly indicates a wide-ranging method for the analysis of cultural transmission in society and across societies, a method which challenges the conventional idea that 'technology is not culture'...
, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
1967 to 1973
Born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Regis Debray studied at the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
under Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
, and became "agrégé de philosophie
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...
" in 1965.
In the late 1960s he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Havana
University of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and became an associate of Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
. He wrote the book Revolution in the Revolution?, which analysed the tactical and strategic doctrines then prevailing among militant socialist movements in Latin America, and acted as a handbook for guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
that supplemented Guevara's own manual on the subject. It was published by Maspero in Paris in 1967 and in the same year in New York (Monthly Review Press and Grove), Montevideo (Sandino), Milan (Feltrinelli) and Munich (Trikont). Guevara was captured in Bolivia early in October, 1967; on April 20, 1967, Debray had been arrested in the small town of Muyupampa, also in Bolivia. Convicted of having been part of Guevara's guerrilla group Debray on November 17 was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was released in 1970 after an international campaign for his release which included Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, André Malraux
André Malraux
André Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
, General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
and Pope Paul VI. He sought refuge in Chile, where he wrote The Chilean Revolution (1972) after interviews with Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
. Debray returned to France in 1973 following the coup by Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
in Chile.
1981 to 1995
Following the election of President François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, in 1981, he became an official adviser to the Président on Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he developed a policy that sought to increase France's freedom of action in the world, decrease dependence on the United States, and promote closeness with the former colonies. He was also involved in the development of the government's official ceremonies and recognition of the bicentennial of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. He resigned in 1988. Until the mid-1990s he held a number of official posts in France.
In 1996 he published a memoir of his life, translated into English as Régis Debray, Praised Be Our Lords (Verso, 2007).
2003 onwards
Debray was a member of the 2003 Stasi Commission, named after Bernard StasiBernard Stasi
Bernard Stasi was a French politician. He is the son of Italo-Mexican immigrants. Stasi served as Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories from 2 April 1973 to 27 February 1974....
, which examined the origins of the 2003 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public primary and secondary schools...
. Debray supported the 2003 law. This was in defense of French laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
(separation of church and state) which aims to maintain citizens' equality through the prohibition of religious proselytism
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
within the school system. Debray, however, appears to have encouraged a more subtle treatment of religious issues within school history teaching in France.
Debray is preoccupied with the situation of Christian minorities in the Near East (and with the status of the Holy Places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and elsewhere), a traditional interest of the French state, and has established an 'observatory' to monitor the situation. His recent work deals thoroughly with the religious paradigm as a social nexus able to support collective orientation on a wide, centuries-long scale. This led him to propose the project of an Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions, a French institute founded in 2005 aimed at monitoring sociological religious dynamics and informing the public on religion through conferences and publications.
Work: mediology
Debray is the founder and chief exponent of the discipline of médiologie or "mediologyMediology
Mediology , broadly indicates a wide-ranging method for the analysis of cultural transmission in society and across societies, a method which challenges the conventional idea that 'technology is not culture'...
", which attempts to scientifically study transmission of cultural meaning in society, whether through language or images. Mediology is characterized by its multi-disciplinary approach. It is expounded best in the English-language book Transmitting Culture (Columbia University Press, 2004). In Vie et mort de l'image (Life and Death of Image, 1995), an attempted history of gaze, where he distinguished three regimes of the images (icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
, idol
Idol
An idol is an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed or any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion.More specific terms include:Worship...
and vision), he explicitly prevented misunderstandings by differentiating mediology from a simple sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
of mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. He also criticized the basic assumptions of history of art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
which present art as an atemporal and universal phenomenon. According to Debray, art is a product of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
with the invention of the artist as producer of images, in contrast with previous acheiropoieta
Acheiropoieta
Acheiropoieta — also called Icons Made Without Hands — are a particular kind of icon which are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not created by a human painter. Invariably these are images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary...
icons or other types of so-called "art," where these "works of art" did not fulfil an artistic function but rather a religious one.
Current political views
In a February 2007 op-ed in Le MondeLe Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, Régis Debray criticized the tendency of the whole French political class to move toward the right-wing of politics. He also deplored the influence of the "videosphere" on modern politics, which he claimed has a tendency to individualize everything, forgetting both past and future (although he praised the loss of the 1960s messianism
Messianism
Messianism is the belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi and Isa , the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant...
), outside of any common national project. He criticized the new generation in politics as being competent but without character, and lacking ideas: "So they [think they] recruit philosophy with André Glucksmann
André Glucksmann
André Glucksmann is a French philosopher and writer, and member of the French new philosophers.-Early years:André Glucksmann was born in 1937, in Boulogne-Billancourt, the son of Ashkenazi Jewish parents from Romania and Czechoslovakia. He studied in Lyon, and later enrolled at École normale...
or Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
and literature with Christine Angot
Christine Angot
Christine Angot is a French writer, novelist and playwright.-Life:Born Pierrette, Marie-Clotilde Schwartz in Châteauroux, Indre, she is perhaps best known for her 1999 novel L'Inceste which recounts an incestuous relationship with her father.It is a subject which appears in several of her...
or Jean d'Ormesson
Jean d'Ormesson
Count Jean Lefèvre d'Ormesson is a French novelist whose work mostly consists of partially or totally autobiographic novels.- Life :...
". He called for a vote to the "left of the left," in order to attempt to block a modern "anti-politics" which has turned into political marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
.
Books
- Révolution dans la révolution? et autres essais (1967)
- La Frontière, suivi de Un jeune homme à la page [littérature] (1967)
- Nous les TupamarosTupamarosTupamaros, also known as the MLN-T , was an urban guerrilla organization in Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s. The MLN-T is inextricably linked to its most important leader, Raúl Sendic, and his brand of social politics...
, suivi d'apprendre d'eux (1971) - L'Indésirable [littérature](1975)
- Les rendez-vous manqués (pour Pierre Goldman) [littérature] (1975)
- Journal d'un petit bourgeois entre deux feux et quatre murs [littérature] (1976)
- La neige brûle prix Femina [littérature] (1977)
- Le pouvoir intellectuel en France (1979)
- Critique de la raison politique (1981)
- Comète ma comète [littérature] (1986)
- Christophe Colomb, le visiteur de l'aube, suivi des Traités de Tordesillas [littérature] (1991)
- Contretemps : Eloge des idéaux perdus (1992)
- Trilogie "Le temps d'apprendre à vivre" I: Les Masques, une éducation amoureuse [littérature] (1992)
- Vie et mort de l'image (1995)
- Contre Venise [littérature](1995)
- L'œil naïf (1994)
- A demain de Gaulle (1996)
- La guérilla du Che (1996)
- L'État séducteur (1997)
- La République expliquée à ma fille (1998)
- L'abus monumental (1999)
- Shangaï, dernières nouvelles [littérature] (1999)
- Trilogie "Le temps d'apprendre à vivre" II: Loués soient nos seigneurs, une éducation politique [littérature] (2000)
- Trilogie "Le temps d'apprendre à vivre" III: Par amour de l'art, une éducation intellectuelle [littérature] (2000)
- Dieu, un itinéraire (2001, Prix Combourg 2003)
- L'Enseignement du fait religieux dans l'école laïque (2002)
- Le Feu sacré : Fonction du religieux (2003)
- L’Ancien testament à travers 100 chefs-d’œuvre de la peinture (2003)
- Le Nouveau testament à travers 100 chefs-d’œuvre de la peinture (2003)
- À l'ombre des lumières : Débat entre un philosophe et un scientifique (2003) (Entretien avec Jean Bricmont).
- Ce que nous voile le voile (2004)
- Le plan vermeil [littérature](2004)
- Empire 2.0United States of the WestThe United States of the West is a political union satirically advocated by French writer, philosopher, social commentator, and self-proclaimed mediologist, Régis Debray , in his short essay entitled, "Empire 2.0: A Modest Proposal for a United States of the West by Xavier de C***."-Synopsis:Empire...
[littérature] (2004) - Le siècle et la règle [littérature](2004)
- Julien le Fidèle ou Le banquet des démons [théâtre] (2005)
- Sur le pont d'Avignon, Flammarion, 2005.
- Les communions humaines (2005)
- Supplique aux nouveaux progressistes du XXIe siècle, Gallimard, (2006).
- Aveuglantes Lumières, Journal en clair-obscur, Gallimard, (2006).
- Un candide en Terre sainte, Gallimard, (2008)
In English:
- Transmitting Culture (Columbia University Press, 2004).
- Against Venice (Pushkin Press, 2002).
Articles
- "This Was an Intellectual". TELOSTELOS (journal)Telos is an academic journal published in the United States. It was founded in May 1968 to provide the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective. It sought to expand the Husserlian diagnosis of "the crisis of European sciences" to prefigure a particular program of social reconstruction...
44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press
Reports
Further reading
Also published at pp. 467–488 of book Tom McDonough (2004) (Editor) Guy Debord and the Situationist International: Texts and Documents. The MIT PressMIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
(April 1, 2004) 514 pages ISBN 0-262-63300-0 ISBN 978-0-262-63300-0
Videos
- Éloge du spectacle, 04/12/2007, Center for international research University of Montréal
- Quelle éthique pour les relations Nord-Sud ? Politique humanitaire politique étrangère, convergences et divergences 04/14/2007,Center for international research University of Montréal
- Dramaturgies engagées, un tabou ? 04/13/2007,Center for international research University of Montréal
External links
- "Che’s Guerrilla War", 1973
- Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions
- Regis Debray - Revolution in the Revolution?
- www.regisdebray.com Article subject's website (Français)
- Symposium Théâtre, religion, politique: Les liaisons dangereuses, Centre d’études et de recherches internationales de l'Université de Montréal, April the 12, 2007
- Debray Growls At A World In Chaos The Times of India, December 19, 2009
- Communication and Transmission: Régis Debray Daily Times, January 18, 2010