More than a year and a half after his death, the archives of the great intellectual Bruno Latour entered the National Archives, at the will of his wife, Chantal LATOUR, and his two children, Chloé RAULT and Mr. Robinson LATOUR.
Bruno Latour, in exploring the question of the global relationship between the environment and human societies, occupies a major place in contemporary political and ecological thinking. At the same time philosopher, sociologist of knowledge and arts, anthropologist and political scientist of contemporary life, he asserted himself as the essential thinker of a present that «has never been modern». He was a long-time teacher at the Ecole des Mines in Paris and also served as scientific director of Sciences Po Paris.
His family entrusted the National Archives with the archives of his last ten years of activity, mostly in digital format (correspondence, working files, photographs, sound and audiovisual recordings), as well as a few hundred books annotated in abundance, containing reading notes, which form as many manuscripts and unpublished texts.
These archives complement those that Bruno Latour entrusted in 2018 to the Municipal Archives of Beaune, cradle of his family, which are already the subject of scientific exploitation and digitization projects, in partnership with the Maison des sciences de l'Homme in Dijon and the Côte d'Or departmental archives. Within the Archives de France network, the National Archives and the Municipal Archives of Beaune will work together to promote the cultural and scientific value of this exceptional ensemble, in partnership with research stakeholders, at the Maison des sciences de l'Homme in Dijon (University of Dijon), and at Sciences Po.
Ms Rachida DATI, Minister of Culture, thanks Ms Chantal LATOUR, Ms Chloé RAULT and Mr. Robinson LATOUR who, with this donation, ensure the preservation and bequeath to posterity the archives of a French intellectual of international renown.