French specialist of religion and Islam, Bruno Étienne has passed away in Aix-en-Provence, France.
In 1980 Étienne became director of the CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research), holding the chair in the Muslim World and became Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence. In 1985 he founded “Observatoire du fait religieux” (Observatory of Religious Facts) which he directed until 2006.
He directed several important students, including Franck Fregosi, Jocelyne Cesari and Raphaël Liogier. Étienne was among the first French political scientists to focus on Islam; until then, scholarship came from Orientalists, and Arabic-language and culture specialists. His publications include L’Islam radical (Hachette 1987) and La France et l’islam (Hachette 1989). Étienne argued for an “Islam of France”, insisting that their religiosity was but one dimension of the lives of Muslims in France. Bruno Étienne was 71 years old.
