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Jérôme Denis

Jérôme Denis

Professor

Center · CSI

Discipline(s)
Sociology
Topic(s)
Maintenance and Durability

Keywords

Awards & distinctions

  • 2023 Winner of the 2023 Architecture Book Prize from the Académie d'architecture for the book *Le soin des choses* (La Découverte) and finalist for the "Penser le travail" Prize from Sciences Po and *Le Monde*

Team

CSI

Biography

Jérôme Denis is a social scientist whose work focuses primarily on *Science and Technology Studies* (STS) and urban studies. His research explores practices related to the maintenance, repair, and management of infrastructure, analyzing their material, political, and epistemic dimensions. Through ethnographic studies, he examines, in particular, the reconfigurations of the relationships between humans and technical objects, highlighting fragility as an intrinsic characteristic of sociotechnical systems. His work on water networks, anti-graffiti policies, and urban signage systems reveals how maintenance—far from being a marginal activity—actively contributes to the production and transformation of spaces and knowledge. His approach emphasizes the importance of everyday practices, situated know-how, and processes of valuation in stabilizing or challenging material and social orders.

Publication(s)

Teaching

Social, Political, and Environmental Issues (SPE)

Lecturer

The module includes lecture sessions and computer lab sessions. Total number of 1.5-hour sessions, excluding the exam: 18, of which 11 are lecture sessions, 5 are computer lab sessions, and 2 are for the written exam. Lecture Hall Sessions The lecture hall sessions are devoted partly to presenting course content and partly to interacting with students. Four major themes are covered during the sessions: - Social classes, diversity, and beliefs: 4 sessions - “Other” societies (introductory elements of anthropology): 2 sessions - Criticism, controversies, and social movements: 3 sessions - Politics of the Anthropocene: 2 sessions For each of these themes, an analytical model and the corresponding forms of evidence validation are presented. A handout is provided to students. Before each session, a newspaper article addressing issues related to the lecture (in an “opinion piece” format, debate pages of major daily newspapers, etc.) is distributed to students. During the lecture and in interactive sessions with students, this article is used to highlight the relevance of the course’s topics and the presented analytical model to current events. Small-Group Sessions The objective of the small-group sessions is to continue the process of studying and understanding analytical models in the social sciences by applying them to specific issues and starting with the students themselves: it is the students who will be required to present a social science analysis by giving a presentation on a book they have read. At the beginning of the course, students divide into groups of three and choose a book from among the 40 titles offered to them. They have one month to read the book and prepare a presentation. They receive guidance from a CSI faculty member: one week before the presentation, a “preparation session” is held during which students present their work to the tutor and can seek their help to delve deeper into the subject or improve their understanding. For the PC sessions, the class is divided into five groups. At each session, two books are presented. The presentations last 20 minutes, with 25 minutes set aside for comments and a question-and-answer period. The books were selected so that the two presented at each session would encourage the emergence of contrasting reflections and debates regarding differing analytical approaches to collective phenomena in the social sciences, and so as to cover a consistent range of topics. In total, the topics covered in the four seminar sessions are as follows: Social Issues The Construction of Modern Political Society Science, Technology, and Society Environmental Conflicts In addition to the four sessions dedicated to presentations, one session is devoted to preparing for the in-class exam.

Science, Technology, and Society (TR STS Course)

Course Director

The week-long course will consist of lectures on the history of the field’s major research trends and their theoretical developments, group discussions of academic texts, and case studies (autonomous vehicles, Bitcoin, digital agriculture, etc.). Tentative schedule: Day 1 Morning: general introduction, screening of a documentary film—discussion Afternoon: lecture—Origins and overview of research in Science and Technology Studies Late afternoon: reading of academic articles on Theme 1 (delegation of action, cognitive artifacts) Day 2 Morning: Student presentations of texts—discussion and review of Theme 1—case study Late morning: Reading of academic articles on Theme 2 (technology policies and exclusionary effects) Afternoon: Student presentations of texts—discussion and review of Theme 2—case study / identification of presentation topics Late afternoon: Reading of academic articles on Theme 3 (automation and irreducibility). Day 3 Morning: Student presentations of texts—discussion and review of Theme 3—case study Late morning: Reading of scientific articles on Theme 4 (infrastructure and sociotechnical interdependencies) Afternoon: Student presentations of texts—discussion and review of Theme 4—case study Day 4 Morning: lecture—review of key concepts, putting them into context Afternoon: preparation for presentations Day 5 Morning: preparation for presentations Afternoon: Presentations

Science, Technology, and Society (Research Quarter)

Course Director

Analyse des controverses environnementales (Master spécialisé - ISIGE)

2016 Lecturer

Les questions environnementales font souvent émerger de nouvelles articulations entre activités économiques, expertisestechniques, vie sociale,sciences de la nature et formes de participation politique. Le conflit alors n'est pas loin, au point que la controverse semble constituer le mode d'existence privilégié des questions environnementales contemporaines. Ce constat a conduit l'ISIGE (Institut Supérieur d’Ingénierie et Gestion de l’Environnement) et le CSI (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation) à proposer aux étudiants du MS EEDD parcours Ingénierie et Gestion de l’Environnement, un exercice pédagogique mené tout au long de l'année d’ enseignement, dédié à l'analyse de controverses « sur le terrain ». L’objectif de l’exercice consiste à mieux préparer les étudiants à la compréhension de conflits environnementaux,avec les incertitudes qui les caractérisent, sans prendre parti ni chercher à résoudre ces conflits. A partir d’ une enquête de terrain, ce travail leur permet de dresser le panorama, d’identifier les points saillants et d’ analyser les points de blocage de plusieurs de ces controverses.

PhD supervision

  • 2025 What fragility does to architecture: Maintenance and care of hospital technical services KOCYIGIT Melis Selin
  • 2022 The role of data in sustainable maintenance of public networks AIT SIDI HAMMOU Hafid
  • 2021 Dealing with biodiversity: operators sensitive to non-human life in urban and architectural projects MAZAUD Léone-Alix
  • 2019 Extending the life of the roadway. The concern for municipal roads in metropolitan France after decentralization SOLÉ-POMIES Roman
  • 2017 In transition. When ENGIE reterritorializes under the effect of climate change (2016-2020) DANIELOU Jean
  • 2016 Agricultural data policies. Platforms and innovation projects in the emergence of digital agriculture in France RAJAOBA Mathieu