Bernard Lugan is a contemporary French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and Associate Professor of African history at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3

Jean Moulin University Lyon 3

Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 is a French public university, based in Lyon. It is under the supervision of the Academy of Lyon...

, in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. He's also teaching at the French Institute of Defense Studies. He has an academic rank

Academic rank in France

The following summarizes basic academic ranks in the French higher education system:-State university system:* PU equivalent to Full Professor)...

 as "Maître de conférences". A specialist of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 since 1971, he authored many books on the African continent. He was the editor of "L'Afrique réelle".

He studied at the Paris X University Nanterre and edited a thesis

Thesis

A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...

 (third cycle doctorate) naming "L'Économie d'échange au Rwanda de 1850 à 1914". He also has lived for an extended time in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, especially in Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

 where he has conducted significant research, and has taught African History at the National University of Rwanda

National University of Rwanda

The National University of Rwanda is the largest university in Rwanda. It is located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government in cooperation with the Congregation of the Dominicans from the Province of Quebec.When it was established, the NUR had three divisions The...

. In 1982, he authored a thesis for a state doctorate naming "Entre les servitudes de la houe et les sortilèges de la vache : le monde rural dans l'ancien Rwanda".

Lugan's notable work includes several books on Southern Africa

Southern Africa

Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 and Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

 including "History of South Africa", When Africa was German and African Legacy, Solutions for a Community in Crisis where he describes how individualism

Individualism

Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...

 hasn't replaced preexisting loyalties to clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

s, groups, and tribe

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

s. In this book, he rejects what he calls "the victimization paradigm

Paradigm

The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...

," which says colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 exploitation and the slave trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

 brought Africa to its knees, rejects solutions based on Western guilt and claim that a correct interpretation of history is necessary for Africans to "build a future on a more solid foundation" and save an African continent ravaged by famine

Famine

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...

, economic disaster and civil war

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

. He notably proposes a redrawing of national African frontier

Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

s in accordance with ethnic groupings and promotes a new type of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

, more rooted in those native groupings rather than on Western "one man one vote" system.

Bernard Lugan is also an expert witness for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...

.

Works

• Le Safari du Kaiser, La Table Ronde, Paris, 1987, 231 p.
• Huguenots et Français : ils ont fait l'Afrique du Sud, La Table ronde, Paris, 1988, 296 p.
• History of South Africa, Garzanti Publishing, 1989, 1st éd. : Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1986, 272 p.
• Afrique : l'histoire à l'endroit, Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », 1989, 285 p. Rééd. : 1996
• The Last Boer Commando: A French Volunteer in the Anglo-Boer War, 1900-1902, éd. du Rocher, 1989
• Villebois-Mareuil, le La Fayette de l'Afrique du Sud, éd. du Rocher, 1990
• When Africa was German, Jean Picollec, coll. « Documents dossiers », Paris, 1990, 267+16 p. ISBN 286477108X
• Afrique, bilan de la décolonisation, 1st éd. : Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1991, 304 p. Rééd. : 1996
• La Louisiane française : 1682-1804, Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1994, 273 p. Titre alternatif : Histoire de la Louisiane française : 1682-1804
• Afrique : de la colonisation philanthropique à la recolonisation humanitaire, C. de Bartillat, coll. « Gestes », Étrépilly, 1995, 390 p.
• The French People Who Made South Africa, Bartillat, coll. « Gestes », Étrépilly, 1996, 430 p. ISBN 2841000869
• Histoire du Rwanda : de la préhistoire à nos jours, Bartillat, Paris, 1997, 606 p.
• La guerre des Boers : 1899-1902, éd. Perrin, Paris, 1998, 364+8 p.
• History of Morocco, éd. Perrin et éd. Critérion, coll. « Pour l'histoire », Paris, 2000, 363 p.
• Atlas historique de l'Afrique des origines à nos jours, Éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2001, 268 p.
• Histoire de l'Égypte, des origines à nos jours, éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2002, 290 p.
• Douze années de combats judiciaires (1990-2002), Lyon, Édition de l’Afrique réelle, s.d.
• African Legacy; Solutions for a Community in Crisis, Carnot, 224p, 2003, ISBN 1592090354.
• Rwanda : le génocide, l'Église et la démocratie, éd. du Rocher, Paris et Monaco, 2004, 234 p.
• François Mitterrand, l'armée française et le Rwanda, éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2005, 288 p.
• Rwanda. Contre-enquête sur le génocide, éd. Privat, 2007,