Concept
The Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie, also known as CREDO (Center for Research and Documentation on Oceania) is a cross-disciplinary research laboratory in social and cultural anthropology, history and archaeology including researchers and lecturers from three institutions: the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences) and the University of Provence. Its main focus of research and teaching are the past and contemporary societies of the Pacific, Australia included. The CREDO was created in 1995 as an UMR (Unité Mixe de Recherche) of the CNRS and the EHESS in Marseilles, France. The principal founders of the CREDO are Pierre Lemonnier and Serge Tcherkézoff, with Maurice Godelier. From the very first year of its creation, its members wanted to be associated to the University of Provence in order to teach and supervise students from both major institutions in the South of France in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In early March 1999, the CREDO left its original location in the Vieille Charité, hosted by the EHESS, and moved to the Saint-Charles Campus at the university of provence. Next to IRSEA (Laboratory on South-East Asia), and a new centre for documentation (MAP), the CREDO is now one of the three constituents of the Maison Asie Pacifique. Previous directors of the centre were Maurice Godelier and Serge Tcherkézoff. The current director is Laurent Dousset. The CREDO is engaged in a great number of research activities that are currently divided into 6 general themes: Theme 1 : Configuration and dynamics of identity: historical and contemporaneous processes of national constructions, regionalization and globalization. Theme 2 : Knowledge of the past: A critical historiography of the Pacific Theme 3 : The person: Gender and kinship, sexuation, socialization and individuation.