From the shore to the open sea: A historian’s journey towards vernacular cosmopolitanism

Abstract

This article retraces the career of historian Fabien Sabatier, Professor at the University of Bordeaux. The author presents, from an ego-historical perspective, the stages of his scientific career. In the course of the two decades that have passed since then, the historian presents the chronology of a change of course, both in terms of the research objects and the epistemology. His intellectual and emotional path allows us to grasp the reasons for a profound renewal of his contribution to scientific knowledge. Thus, from writing about the history of French workers’ sport (1907–2008), Fabien Sabatier gradually opted for the study of systemic discrimination in Europe captured through the prism of vernacular cosmopolitanism. Defending the social role of the historian, his itinerary shows us how the historian of “sport” can take his or her rightful place in politically engaged interdisciplinary groups.