Georges Balandier

French sociologist, anthropologist and ethnologist noted for his research in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently a professor emeritus at the Sorbonne (Université René Descartes, Paris-V), and is a member of the Center for African Studies (Centre d'études africaines [Ceaf]), a research center of the École pratique des hautes études (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences). For many years he was the editor of the Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie (previously held by his mentor Georges Gurvitch) and edited the innovative series Sociologie d'Aujourd'hui at Presses Universitaires de France.