Copyright: Jurgen Brauer, Augusta, Georgia, USA

In the Spring of 2001, my French colleague Jacques Fontanel asked if I would ask Prof. Amartya Sen on behalf of the University of Pierre Mendes-France in Grenoble, France, if he would accept an honarary doctoral degree. I have known Prof. Sen since 1990, and he graciously did accept the invitation. The ceremony took place on 14 October 2002. I myself was invited to give a seminar talk at the occasion as well (for my paper, click here ). Via Paris, I arrived in Grenoble, site of the 1968 Winter Olympics, on Friday, the 11th. 

The ceremony was much anticipated and well attended, but more about that later on in the story. 

Prof. Amartya Sen at dinner the night preceeding the ceremony. More about the dinner later on as well.

Our immediate host was my friend Prof. Jacques Fontanel, an economist who works on peace and economic development, on Europe, and on Russia in particular. He is as French as French can be ... and that includes "wine, women, and song."

Here's the wine (photographed at his home to which he and his wife invited me for an excellent lunch) ...

... here are the women (Jacques' doctoral student Nadège Alfred-Sheehan, left, and his former student, Dr. Fanny Coulomb, who now teaches at Grenoble) ... 

... and the song. Dr. Coulomb, also a long-standing friend of mine, took me to see Annecy, a little more than an hour's drive from Grenoble. Annecy is nestled right up against the Alps -- on a clear day one can see Mount Blanc (4,800m or nearly 15,000 feet high) -- and by sheer coincidence there happened to be the annual Retour de Alpages festival in town. This refers to bringing the cows down from the high Alpine mountain meadows to winter at lower altitudes. More about Annecy later, also.

Let's start in Grenoble. Its recorded history goes back to 43 BC, settled along the banks for the river Isere. Today it is a thriving university town with four major universities and some 50,000 students. A large section of downtown is closed off to traffic and full of people enjoying the many cafes and boutique shops. Many of the well-maintained buildings are hundreds of years old and impart an atmosphere of a beautiful medieval town, vibrant with intellectual life. Hereunder, a photograph of a public garden, in the background the Bastille of Grenoble.

The way to the Bastille is considerably eased by taking the skyway.

A typical plaza, showing a public fountain, old lamp post, style of building, and shops on the ground floor.

On Saturday, the 12th, Prof. Fontanel, Dr. Coulomb, and I took lunch at Au Fil des Jours, a marvellously named little restaurant at which we enjoyed vegetarian pizza before Dr. Coulomb and I took off for a day trip to Annecy.

In Annecy, I could not resist some nature photography. Guess what's below ...

... just some moss. This being October, leaves changed colors all around us.

We went up to the Chateau (the castle) of Annecy which commands a beaufiful view of the surrounding mountains and the town and its lake below. Note the tower and the flame-red climbing plants. The castle is now converted to a museum and exhibition site.

One of the, to me, more interesting exhibits was on mountain lake ecology. In the photograph below, I aimed at some mountain salmon.

The view from the castle. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast but one does get a reasonable impression of the view.

A more "artistic" view, shot through a window frame onto the castle tower, with the lake and mountains in the background.

In the museum, one room was completely empty except for a single spotlight hanging from the ceiling. I thought I'd try my hand at photographing light and indulged a bit in artiste photography.

Here, Dr. Coulomb in reflective pose, shot with long exposure and strong backlighting.  

Four forgotten chairs on the castle grounds set against the strikingly covered castle wall make for an irresistible shot.

Small round towers are placed at the castle corners. Turning off the flash generates a unique view of town. The word "photography" means "to draw with light."

Exhibitions also pay much attention to lighting. The two pictures photographed below are distilled out of a dark hall by the circular floodlight that illuminates them.

I thought I could do one better and asked Dr. Coulomb to pose between the pictures, resulting in a somewhat mysterious collage . 

Annecy is part of the region of Savoy. In the castle, we happened upon a display of Savoy pitchers, each uniquely crafted.

We moved from the castle to the old town itself. A small waterway flows through it to the lake; the scene is rather more idyllic and romantic. 

As I said, a festival was held. Thousands of people pushed their way amicably through the small streets, examining the displays of regional crafts, sampling delicious traditional food, enjoying the music-making and singing of the peoples of the region.

There were pigs and geese ...

... and cows ...

... and stately swans.

... but most of all people in traditional costume worn with a bearing as if it were their everyday dress.

The five men pictured below absolutely astonished me. I do enjoy acappella (without instruments) singing. But these five, relaxed and comfortable as relaxed and comfortable can be, sipping their beers and puffing their cigarettes, sang like all the angels in all the heavens there are!

At the base of the Alps one must find, of course, alp horns. The long instruments did not fit in the viewfinder, hence the necessity of an unusual photographic angle :-)

Idyllic lake island.

A horn of plenty and harvest time.

The prison island in Annecy at night.

In my hotel, Hotel de l'Europe, in Grenoble I noticed the persistent chirping of a flock of birds that pleasantly echoed through the four-story central shaft around which the floors and rooms were arranged. It actually took me awhile to locate what turned out to be a cage of nine parakeets (they all hushed up when approached).

On Sunday, the 13th, Prof. Sen arrived from the University of Cambridge of whose Trinity College he is president. A dinner was given in his honor. In this photograph, Prof. Fontanel on the left, then Prof. Sen, myself, Prof. Courlet (president of the University -- we'll see him better later on), and Prof. Gerbier, who chairs the economics division.

Nadège Alfred-Sheehan, Prof. Amartya Sen, and Dr. Fanny Coulomb. 

At the dinner table.

President Courlet with Dr. Ramini, a researcher, engrossed in conversation with Prof. Sen.

The university has four vice-presidents -- for administration, research, international relations, and teaching. Hereunder Monsieur Joel-Pascal Biays, VP for teaching. My friend Jacques Fontanel fills the international relations slot. Want to study in Grenoble? Let me know.

Monday, the 14th, starts off with a press conference in President Claude Courlet's office. Prof. Sen is flanked by the translator to the side and Pierre Mendes-France, the university's namesake, above. The university was founded in 1339 but renamed for Mendes-France, a member of the French resistance, imprisoned by the Vichy regime, made economics minister in 1945 by de Gaulle, and rising to become the French premier in 1954, the year in which he arranged for the cease-fire in the Indochina war. The university has a long history of peace and development studies, fields of intense interest to Prof. Sen.

The event was attended by perhaps 300 or more eager faculty and students. The faculty wore its colorful robes -- one of the rare occassions when robes are still worn.

After introductions, President Courlet attaches the symbolic shoulder cover to Prof. Sen's robe. Thereafter, Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel-Laureate in Economics (click here for details and writings) presented his acceptance speech, entitled "Identity and Conflict: Do Civilizations Clash," a critique of Samuel Huntington's 1996 book "The Clash of Civilizations."