Sophie Wahnich

Sophie Wahnich is a Research Director at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) affiliated with the Pacte Laboratory at the University of Grenoble Alpes and the Steep research team at Inria. Her interdisciplinary work bridges history, political science, and anthropology with significant contributions to understanding the French Revolution's contemporary relevance, political emotions, and environmental futures.

Dr. Wahnich completed her Habilitation à diriger les recherches (HDR) in 2007 on "Histoire des émotions et présent de l'histoire, une approche du sensible en politique" and earned her PhD in History from Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne in 1994 with a thesis on "L'étranger paradoxe de l'universel pendant la Révolution française." She also holds the Agrégation in History from 1988.

Her research focuses on interdisciplinary constructions of past-present-future relationships regarding environmental issues, political emotions, historical anthropology of political violence and sovereignty, and epistemological questions in historical analysis. She examines how historical events like the French Revolution continue to shape contemporary political thought, democratic processes, and environmental modeling approaches.

Dr. Wahnich has directed numerous research projects including the Interdisciplinary Institute of Contemporary Anthropology (IIAC) from 2012-2023 and spent 2018-2019 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She has supervised doctoral students through specialized seminars and maintains an active publication record spanning books, edited volumes, and journal articles.

As a member of the Steep research team, she contributes historical perspectives to sustainability transitions research, examining how historical analysis can inform environmental modeling and future-oriented policy development while addressing epistemological challenges of reductionism in environmental studies.