Denis Retaillé

Denis Retaillé (born 1953, Mayenne, France) was a professor of geography at the University of Bordeaux III and the Director of the CNRS ADES Research Unit, UMR 5186. Professor Retaillé holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Rouen dedicated to the study of the Nigerien region of Koutous, and a Habilitation from the Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) (1993) dedicated to the study of space in the Sahel. From 1993 to 2008, he was a professor of geography at the University of Rouen, France.

Drawing on the work made by French geographer Jean Gallais in the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, he has contributed to the understanding of space, in particular in the Sahara and in the Sahel and also in India. Building on his African fieldworks, he developed the idea of a nomadic space and of a mobile space. More generally, he is interested in explaining the diversity of cultural representations in the globalised world. His work has contributed to the development of the epistemology of geography and is inspired by a comparative approach, as evidenced by his contribution in Le monde, espaces et systèmes, published with Marie-Françoise Durand and Jacques Lévy in 1993, and in Le monde du géographe, published in 1997.

Professor Retaillé was the Editor in Chief of L’Information géographique, a French journal.

Career M.A. in Geography, University of Rouen (1979) PhD in Geography, University of Rouen (1983) Assistant professor, University of Rouen (1989–1993) Reader, Institut d’études politiques, Paris-Sciences Po (1990–1997) Lecturer, University of Rouen (1982–1989) Professor, Department of Geography, University of Rouen (1993–2008) Professor, Department of Geography, University of Bordeaux III (2008-2016)