The Touraine (French pronunciation: [tuʁɛn]) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Indre.

Traversed by the Loire and its tributaries the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne, the Touraine makes up a part of the Paris Basin. It is well known for its viticulture. The TGV, which connects Tours with Paris in less than an hour, has made the Touraine a place of residence for people who work in the capital but seek a different quality of life.

The Touraine takes its name from a Celtic tribe called the Turones, who inhabited the region about two thousand years ago. In 1044, the control of Touraine was given to the Angevins, who (as the House of Plantagenet) became kings of England in 1154, the castle of Chinon being their greatest stronghold. In 1205, Philip II Augustus of France regained Touraine. At this time, Touraine was made into a royal duchy. In 1429, Saint Joan of Arc had a historic meeting with the future King of France Charles VII at Chinon. Throughout the late 15th and 16th centuries, Touraine was a favorite residence of French kings, and the dark and gloomy castles were converted to Renaissance châteaux; for this reason the region was titled "The Garden of France". These same châteaux became popular tourist attractions in modern times. The royal duchy became a province in 1584, and was divided into departments in 1790.

Alain Touraine (born 3 August 1925) is a French sociologist born in Hermanville-sur-Mer. He is research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux (see also Daniel Bertaux). He is best known for being the originator of the term "post-industrial society". His work is based on a "sociology of action," and believes that society shapes its future through structural mechanisms and its own social struggles. Touraine defined historicity as the capability of a society to take action upon itself, see The Self-Production of Society (1977).

His key interest for most of his career has been with social movements. He has studied and written extensively on workers' movements across the world, particularly in Latin America and more recently in Poland where he observed and aided the birth of Solidarnosc (Solidarity), see Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement (1983). While in Poland, he developed the research method of "Sociological Intervention," which had been outlined in "The Voice and the Eye" (La Voix et le Regard) [1981].

Marisol Touraine (French pronunciation: [ma.ʁi.sɔl tu.ʁɛn]; born 7 March 1959 in Paris) is a member of the National Assembly of France. She represents the Indre-et-Loire department, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche. Since 16 May 2012 she is the Minister for Health and Social Affairs. She is fluent in Spanish. Touraine specialized in economic and social issues at the École Normale Supérieure.

Governmental functions

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

General Council

Touraine is the daughter of French sociologist Alain Touraine and Chilean academic Adriana Arenas Pizarro (d. 1990). She has a brother, Philippe, who is professor of endocrinology. She is also first cousin of Alberto Arenas, Chile's Budget Director during Michelle Bachelet's presidency.

Touraine is married to diplomat Michel Reveyrand de Menthon, who is currently French ambassador to Chad. She is a mother of three.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Arabic pronunciation: [ʕaːbd lʕziz butfliqaː]; Arabic: عبد العزيز بوتفليقة‎) (born 2 March 1937) is an Algerian politician who has been the fifth President of Algeria since 1999. He presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest.

He has also served as president of the United Nations General Assembly.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born on 2 March 1937 in Oujda, Morocco. He was the first child of his mother and the second child of his father (Fatima, his half-sister, preceded him). His father (Ahmed Bouteflika) and mother (Mansouria Ghezlaoui) originated from the region of Tlemcen. Bouteflika has three half-sisters (Fatima, Yamina, and Aïcha), as well as four brothers (Abdelghani, Mustapha, Abderahim and Saïd) and one sister (Latifa). Saïd serves as Abdelaziz Bouteflika's personal physician, and is said by some to be an important figure in Bouteflika's inner circle of advisers.

Bouteflika was raised in Oujda, where his father had emigrated as a youngster. He successively attended three schools there: "Sidi Ziane", "El Hoceinia" and the "Abdel Moumen" high-school, where he reportedly excelled academically. He was also affiliated with Kadiri Zaouia in Oujda.

Robert Castel (born August 1, 1933, Saint-Pierre-Quilbignon (today in Brest)) is a French sociologist, currently a researcher at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales.

His initial works dealt with the notion or object of the 'psy' sciences then with what he calls the 'new social questions'. In the 1960s he worked with Pierre Bourdieu. He then became interested in psychoanalysis and psychiatry, establishing a critical sociology of these issues and linking this work to Michel Foucault, particularly to his 'genealogical approach'. His later works dealt with exclusion, or rather what he calls the 'disaffiliation', which affects individuals 'by default'.

His current works examine how the wage system, which at first was despised, has gradually established itself as the reference model and has been progressively associated with social protections, and the concept of social property, creating a constitutive status of 'social identity'. He is responsible for the formation of Le Groupe d'analyse du social et de la sociabilité (GRASS), a specialised group of sociologists within the CNRS.