Born in Gien (Loiret) on December 2, 1919. Died on July 14, 1993.

Education and professional career

• 1947: Diploma in Chinese from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes, Paris
• Trainee at the Centre de Formation à la Recherche en Ethnologie, Musée de l'Homme, Paris
• Licence ès Lettres (Ethnology, Chinese Civilization, Sociology, History of Colonization), Sorbonne
• 1947-1964: Trainee, attaché, research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (French National Center for Scientific Research)
• 1961-1964: Lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – VI^e section (Formation à la Recherche en Anthropologie)
• 1964-1978: Director of Studies at the same École (VI^e section)
• 1967: Doctor of Letters, summa cum laude, Paris
• 1967-1968: Lecturer at the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines (Nanterre)
• 1969: Visiting professor at Université de Montréal
• 1971-1975: Member of the Commission "Ethnologie, Anthropologie, Préhistoire", CNRS
• 1975-1983: Responsible for training in ethnology (III^rd cycle), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
• 1971-1972: Head of the "Atlas" team at the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le Monde Insulindien (LA 183, CNRS-EHESS)
• Co-editor of Journal d'Agriculture Traditionnelle et de Botanique Appliquée
• 1977: Member of the Technical Commission "Anthropologie" at the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (French Overseas Scientific and Technical Research Agency)
• 1979: Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Sociography of Southeast Asia
• Collège de France representative on the French Ministry of Culture's Ethnological Heritage Council