HomeBeyond De Gaulle and beyond London: New approaches to the history of the Free French and the external Resistance
Beyond De Gaulle and beyond London: New approaches to the history of the Free French and the external Resistance
Les réseaux internationaux de la France libre : historiographie, sources et méthodes
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Published on Monday, January 18, 2016
Abstract
Following the Fall of France and the signature of the Armistice with Germany, resistance networks organised themselves in and outside of France. It is upon the latter group that this conference will focus. The aim of the day is to showcase and discuss the new approaches that historians have taken to analyse French external resistance.
Announcement
Conference organised by Ulip, Queen Mary University of London and the University of Manchester
Argument
Following the Fall of France and the signature of the Armistice with Germany, resistance networks organised themselves in and outside of France. It is upon the latter group that this conference will focus. The aim of the day is to showcase and discuss the new approaches that historians have taken to analyse French external resistance.
In recent years, the ‘transnational’ and ‘global’ turns have invigorated the study of the ‘Free French’ movement and the Resistance.[1] Scholars have challenged what Robert Belot calls the ‘gaullocentric’[2] reading of the Resistance and have shifted the focus away from high political debates between the Vichy state and its Gaullist opponents to the realities of the recruitment and the experiences of the oubliés of the movement, women, foreigners and colonial soldiers.[3] The conference organised on ‘Les Français Libres et le Monde' in 2013 has shown the potential of internationalist approaches for the study of De Gaulle’s world visions and the Free French movement more broadly.[4] Much greater attention is now focused on Free France’s community ties outside of the London milieu, the (dis)connections between French and British intelligence services as well as the beliefs and practices of Free French actors in transnational networks. Moving the focus of attention from London to Equatorial Africa and Cameroon, scholars have forced reconsideration of chronology and geography.[5] In doing so, historians have pointed to the complex and often contradictory dimensions of the movement and the tensions between the various resistance(s). They have shed new lights onto the charged questions of anti-Semitism, the ‘whitening’ of Free French forces in 1943 or the issue of rape in the ruins of the Third Reich.[6]
These problems are the inspiration behind this workshop. This conference aims to bring together scholars working on the topic of the Free French movement and the Resistance. Our understanding of the ‘external resistance’ is deliberately inclusive. It encompasses the official members of the Free France, the French National Committee (September 1941-June 1943), the French Committee of National Liberation (June 1943-June 1944) as well as ‘unofficial’ members of the resistance who gravitated around the movement, such as members of the Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes in New York and associations such as France for Ever, France-Grande Bretagne-Etats-Unis. We hope participants will bring new elements to the ongoing reflections about the networks that made up France’s external resistance, while offering new perspectives on the role of competing ideologies, the question of ‘soft power’ or the interactions between Free French experts and existing or nascent international organisations.
We particularly encourage proposals in French or English on the following topics:
- New methodological approaches to studying the external resistance
- Transnational and global history of the external French resistance
- The external resistance and existing or nascent international organisations
- Internal tensions and anti-Gaullism within resistance networks abroad
- The external resistance and its relationship with the Resistance in France
- Intellectuals and the external resistance
- Medical resistance
- Gender and the external resistance
- Violence and the external resistance
- Emotions and the external resistance
- The everyday in studies of the external resistance
The day will include panels of twenty-minute papers followed by a 30-minute discussion.
Prof. Emmanuelle Loyer (Sciences Po) will deliver the key note lecture and Prof. Julian Jackson (QMUL) will conclude the day.
Submission guidelines
We are looking at publishing some of the papers presented during the day in a peer-review journal.
Please submit 300 words proposals in French or English along with a 1-page CV to Laure Humbert laure.humbert@manchester.ac.uk and Charlotte Faucher c.faucher@qmul.ac.uk
The deadline is March 2, 2016.
The Conference will be hold on June 4, 2016 at University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP).
Scientific committee
- Dr Charlotte Faucher, Queen Mary, University of London
- Dr Laure Humbert, University of Manchester
- Prof Julian Jackson, Queen Mary, University of London
- Dr Anna-Louise Milne, University of London Institute in Paris
Subjects
- History (Main category)
- Mind and language > Thought > Intellectual history
- Periods > Modern > Twentieth century
- Periods > Modern > Twentieth century > 1939-1945
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Historiography
- Periods > Modern > Twentieth century > 1945-1989
Places
- 11 rue de Constantine
Paris, France (75007)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Keywords
- France libre, Résistance, de Gaulle, femmes, émotions, soft power, humanitaire
Contact(s)
- Charlotte Faucher
courriel : charlotte [dot] faucher [at] manchester [dot] ac [dot] uk - Laure Humbert
courriel : laure [dot] humbert [at] manchester [dot] ac [dot] uk
Information source
- Charlotte Faucher
courriel : charlotte [dot] faucher [at] manchester [dot] ac [dot] uk
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Beyond De Gaulle and beyond London: New approaches to the history of the Free French and the external Resistance », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, January 18, 2016, https://calenda.org/352420
