French Attitudes Research Articles

The Image of Russia in French Public Opinion, 1811–12

The Image of Russia in French Public Opinion, 1811–12 Nikolai Promyslov Translated by Anton Fedyashin (bio) European intellectuals, including philosophers and literary figures, actively debated Russia’s present and future throughout the 18th century. The “Russian mirage” steadily lost appeal for a variety of reasons, including the country’s growing influence in international affairs, increasing involvement in European politics, and the declining popularity of the Enlightenment itself. By the time of the French Revolution, Russia’s negative characteristics as a despotic, uncivilized, and therefore especially dangerous country began to predominate in public opinion.1 Most 18th-century essays about Russia, however, found only a limited audience among the intellectual and political elite of France, while impressions about the Russian Empire among the wider public were vague. This changed during the revolution and Napoleonic era, when the negative image of Russia was widely disseminated among the general [End Page 235] audience by state propaganda and—later—memoirs and remained entrenched for years to come. Several factors contributed to the pervasive influence of Russia’s negative image during the Napoleonic Wars. First, a widening sector of the populace came into contact with printed propaganda, including the bulletins of the Grande Armée that were reprinted in newspapers, as well as pamphlets. The impact of the French press on public opinion during the First Empire increased both because of the growing consumption of dailies and because of the convergence in editorial politics.2 A significant increase in literacy was also an important factor. The state-published Moniteur universel was the major organ of propaganda, and it gained an advantage over other papers by printing information delivered directly to it by government ministries.3 An 1807 circular established that the Moniteur universel would hold a monopoly on all political information, which other publications would have to cull from it. Furthermore, materials printed in the Moniteur universel, especially bulletins issued by the army, were read aloud during Sunday services in every parish and in special public announcements at city halls for the benefit of illiterate Frenchmen.4 Propaganda had occupied the attention of Napoleon since the very beginning of his career, and he owed his popularity as a general under the Directory to the influence of the press.5 Special publications were issued to cover his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, which the Paris press closely followed.6 Napoleon personally dictated and edited the bulletins of the Grande Armée during the Russian campaign. The second factor contributing to the pervasiveness of Russia’s negative image was private correspondence.7 This became an important avenue for [End Page 236] disseminating information about Russia in the early 19th century, when for the first time letters began arriving to France from Russia in vast numbers. Over 300,000 French soldiers and officers were part of the Grande Armée during the 1812 campaign; tens of thousands remained in Russia as prisoners of war (POWs) after the fighting ended, and the overwhelming number wrote letters to family members and friends. The result was that back home they came to be considered highly qualified experts on Russia, and their letters were even more widely disseminated thanks to the tradition of collectively reading aloud, still practiced in France in the early 19th century. If a soldier’s family was illiterate, the letter was often addressed to the local priest (curé), exposing its contents to even more “readers.” Letters were also often shared with family members of fellow soldiers.8 Soldiers’ memoirs were a third factor shaping public opinion about Russia in France, and they remained popular reading material throughout the 19th century. Thanks to the ubiquity of revolutionary and Napoleonic war veterans, who told their tales everywhere, even those who did not read books about Napoleon could hardly avoid exposure to the developing legend about the Russian campaign. Regardless of whether listeners believed these tales, they affected French attitudes toward their past and toward themselves.9 In the words of Jean-Paul Bertaud, veterans became “bards of the Great Nation” (conteurs de la Grande Nation).10 The list of autobiographical writings is long. Authors came from all social classes: marshals, generals, quartermasters, and even the lower ranks. Among the...

A Longitudinal Study of French Attitudes on Accepting Bribes

This study examines French views on the ethics of bribe taking. The World Values data from the oldest and most recent wave of surveys were used, which span a generation (1981 to 2006). Several key demographic variables were also examined for each wave to determine whether there were any significant differences. The study found that there were several significant differences in the demographic variables, and also that opposition to bribe taking has increased over time.

Shadow and Light: Louis-Xavier Eyma (1816–76) and French Opinion of the United States during the Second Empire

This article is a study of a neglected yet significant French writer on the United States, Louis-Xavier Eyma (1816–76). In the period of the Second Empire (1852–70), Eyma wrote more about the United States than any other author, and was recognised as a reliable and influential guide to US society. What makes his career particularly interesting is that his work defies any simple categorisation. Whilst elements of his writings smack of anti-Americanism, he wrote with admiration about many aspects of US democracy and society. At the same time, he did not belong to the group of liberal writers who, according to some scholars, used praise of the United States as a coded means of criticising repressive government at home. Eyma was a staunch monarchist who opposed the introduction of democracy in his native France. Eyma's career demonstrates the complexity of French attitudes towards the United States, and points towards the need for a comprehensive study of French writing about the United States in the period of the Second Empire.

Access to French Education and Attitudes toward International French and Cajun French among South Louisiana High School Students

Access to French Education and Attitudes toward International French and Cajun French among South Louisiana High School Students

America through the prism of French national identity debates: Review of Richard F. Kuisel, the French way: How France embraced and rejected American values and power. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2012

Examining French attitudes toward America during the 1980s and 1990s in his recent book, The French Way, Richard Kuisel arrives at surprising conclusions. America's stock in France rose dramatically under the Reagan presidency; it then began to collapse, not under George W. Bush, as is often argued, but under his predecessor, Bill Clinton. Significantly, Kuisel's study dovetails with a growing body of scholarship on recent French debates, involving both intellectuals and the general public, over questions of national identity. This article places Kuisel's work within the context of this scholarship, focusing first on the sea change in the French intellectual climate that culminated in the 1980s and second on French reactions to economic and cultural globalization during the 1990s.

'Dans le palais du son, on fait de la farine': Performing at the Opera during the 1870 Siege of Paris

The period of the 1870 siege of Paris has often been dismissed as a musical vacuum; few new works were written, and many of the capital’s theatres closed. But as the war persisted, initial objections to entertainment were overridden by a desire to escape the tedium of life under siege. In response, the artists of the Opera formed a cooperative to present a series of soirees musicales . The hitherto neglected archives for these concerts offer a fascinating insight not only into the difficulties faced by musicians, but also into the ideological and aesthetic debates that preoccupied the musical culture of Paris in this time of political crisis. Central to these debates was the prominence of the enemy’s music in the concert programmes: investigation of this repertory’s reception reveals the complex nature of French attitudes to German culture during this period. But the unique performing conditions imposed by the siege provoked as much discussion as the chosen repertory. The Opera and its audience were forced to adapt to the absence of costumes, decor, and lighting—a compromise that would bring with it intriguing aesthetic consequences.

Ethnic Minorities and Integration Process in France and the Netherlands: An Institutionalist Perspective

Introduction During spring of year 2005, both French and Dutch voters rejected project of European Constitution. A few months later, French riots shed light on plight of children from immigrant backgrounds. It seems that these young people, most of them second-or third-generation immigrants, do not feel to fully belong to society. Likewise, in Netherlands, murders of politician Pym Fortuyn in 2002 and film-maker Theo Van Gogh in 2004 highlighted same issues. Fortuyn and Van Gogh's harsh criticism of Islam made them infamous by proclaiming failure of Dutch model. These events left a deep impression in France and Netherlands. They led columnists and scholars to question challenges for two models of integration. The goal of this article is thus to explain evolution of attitude of French and Dutch governments toward of ethnic and religious minorities. This issue is a fundamental matter of Western societies because it plays a key role in social process. As Allan Gruchy argued, institutionalism is precisely the science of social provisioning (Gruchy 1987: 21). In this respect, I provide an analytical framework to highlight what underpins changes of last years relying on North's views on institutions and institutional change. Indeed, despite fact that it could be said to be close to standard theory (Milonakis and Fine 2007), new institutionalism of North indisputably deals with aforementioned process insofar as it endogenizes institutions. From this viewpoint, French and Dutch experiences are very worthwhile to be studied as they illustrate relationships between beliefs and institutional scaffoldings in maintaining relatively smooth functioning of social order. The transformation of scaffolding of both countries is significant too. Although initial conditions of France and Netherlands were different, their experiences over time made them adopt rather similar policies. This theoretical framework has been applied successfully to economic subjects (see, for instance, North 1990, 2005) while, to my knowledge, it has not yet been applied to issue of of migrants and their offspring. This article aims at filling a void in field of ethnic minorities integration. It uses a narrative approach (see McCloskey 1990) to provide a reading of French and Dutch institutional trajectories: economic analytical tools are therefore used to tell a story about a sociopolitical subject. The article is divided into three sections. The first one sets out issue and main theoretical concepts used in study. The second states doctrinal background of French and Dutch models. The third part analyzes, adapting an institutional perspective, French and Dutch trajectories. It also sets out recent evolutions of policies in these countries. Institutions, Integration, and Institutional Change: Clarifying Issue From an institutionalist perspective, this article aims at scrutinizing changes regarding policies in France and Netherlands. In this respect, idea of institution and institutional change must be clarified. What is more, word integration is often used to allude to problems associated with ethnic and cultural diversity at national level. Despite fact that it has been widely used both by general public as well as scholars, it remains, however, difficult to embody a unanimous definition. The main purpose of this section is thus fourfold: 1) to describe four levels of social analysis that shape background of study; 2) to lay out method of analysis; 3) to give a theoretical framework that centers upon institutional change; and 4) to give a theoretical clarification of idea of integration. Four Levels of Social Analysis Institutional change can be studied within four main levels of social analysis identified by Oliver Williamson (2000). …

Introduction: Zola, Cultural Historian avant la lettre?

Dans le texte de plaisir, les forces contraires ne sont plus en etat de refoulement, mais de devenir : rien n'est vraiment antagoniste, tout est pluriel. Je traverse legerement la nuit reactionnaire. Par exemple, dans Fecondite de Zola, l'ideologie est flagrante, particulierement poisseuse : naturisme, familialisme, colonialisme; il n'empeche que je continue a lire le livre. Cette distorsion est banale? On peut trouver plutot stupefiante l'habilete menagere avec laquelle le sujet se partage, divisant sa lecture, resistant a la contagion du jugement, a la metonymie du contentement : serait-ce que le plaisir rend objectif ? --Roland Barthes, Le Plaisir du texte As well as offering a synthesis of the articles in this special number of Romanic Review--which Elisabeth Ladenson generously invited me assemble, and Heidi Holst-Knudsen and Vincent Debaene bave kindly helped me bring fruition--this introduction offers its own analysis of the particular position of Zola in the current climate of negotiation between traditional literary history and modern cultural history. Although this is not an etat present of the habitual variety, or even of the enlightened kind favored in recent years by the journal French Studies, it is worth noting the various quasi-institutional contexts in which Zola studies have developed in recent times. In France, of course, Les Cahiers naturalistes and the Equipe Zola of ITEM (Institut des textes & manuscrits modernes) bave continued flourish under the stewardship of Alain Pages. Away from Paris, the democratizing force of digitalization is felt yet more keenly. Activities in Medan have continued open up a wider public this most popular and populist of literary writers (as, in their own smaller way, have the activities of the Zola Society, based at the Institut francais in London); indeed, in October 2011, one of our contributors, Christophe Reffait, addressed the annual October pilgrimage Medan, as another, Robert Lethbridge, had done in 1990. The current closure of Zola's bouse is due the most noble of ambitions: the construction of a Musee Dreyfus. But the sheer complexity of Zola's relationship this issue finds testament in the articles by Maurice Samuels and Dorian Bell, which close this number. As Samuels writes: Scholars have spilled a great deal of ink over antisemitism, analyzing its causes and effects, its history and its politics. But very little attention has been paid philosemitism--the defense, admiration, and love of Jews--which often accompanies its seeming opposite. As the first European country grant the Jews full civil rights in the eighteenth century, France has long stood as a beacon of philosemitism. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading statesmen, thinkers, and writers have rallied around the Jews and fought for their political and social equality. No figure incarnates this posture more than Emile Zola [...]. And yet, several years before defending Dreyfus, Zola published a novel, L'Argent (1891), with undeniably antisemitic overtones. Samuels manages to trace Zola's itinerary from L'Argent his final novel, Verite (1903), about the Dreyfus Affair and to complicate this narrative by revealing the ambivalence that subtends both Zola's early antisemitism and his later philosemitism, addressing such fundamental questions as: What did Jews signify for Zola in the 1890s? What drove him first attack and then defend them? And why were his hostility and sympathy for Jews so inextricably linked? At stake is not only a better understanding of French attitudes toward Jews at this crucial historical moment, but also a better understanding of the ideologies of liberalism, universalism, republicanism, secularism, and socialism that have long represented France's unique contribution the fight against antisemitism. Bell, too, stresses ideological nuance rather than simple opposition: Anti-anti-Semitism created a new, roving category of imperial perception. …

Zola’s Philosemitism: From L’Argent to Vérité

Scholars have spilled a great deal of ink over antisemitism, analyzing its causes and effects, its history and its politics. But very little attention has been paid to philosemitism--the defense, admiration, and love of Jews--which often accompanies its seeming opposite. (1) As the first European country to grant the Jews full civil rights in the eighteenth century, France has long stood as a beacon of philosemitism. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading statesmen, thinkers, and writers have rallied around the Jews and fought for their political and social equality. No figure incarnates this posture more than Emile Zola, who risked his name, his fortune, and perhaps even his life to defend a Jew wrongly accused of treason in the 1890s. And yet, several years before defending Dreyfus, Zola published a novel, L'Argent (1891), with undeniably antisemitic overtones. In what follows, I want to trace Zola's itinerary from L'Argent to his final novel, Verite (1903), about the Dreyfus Affair, an itinerary that critics have characterized as a progression away from prejudice. I want to complicate this narrative by revealing the ambivalence that subtends both Zola's early antisemitism and his later philosemitism. My goal is not to call into question Zola's foie during the Dreyfus Affair, which was nothing short of heroic, but rather to analyze the deeper meaning of his magnanimity. What did Jews signify for Zola in the 1890s? What drove him first to attack and then to defend them? And why were his hostility and sympathy for Jews so inextricably linked? At stake is not only a better understanding of French attitudes toward Jews at this crucial historical moment, but also a better understanding of the ideologies of liberalism, universalism, republicanism, secularism, and socialism that have long represented France's unique contribution to the fight against antisemitism. L'Argent takes place in and around the Bourse, the Paris Stock Exchange, and describes the efforts of Aristide Saccard to launch a Catholic bank, La Banque Universelle, with the goal of investing in the Near East. Inspired by his neighbor, the engineer Hamelin, who has spent time in the Levant, Saccard funds a series of improvements in transportation, mining, and other industries in the Holy Land with the eventual goal of providing the Pope with a prosperous refuge should nascent Italian nationalism require the transfer of the Holy See. It is unclear whether the opportunistic Saccard feels the same level of religious devotion as Hamelin, but he exploits the Catholic angle in order to lure capital from pious speculators, declining aristocrats, and other investors frustrated by the dominance of La Haute Banque, otherwise referred to in the novel as La Banque Juive. At first, Saccard's energetic marketing succeeds in boosting the bank's share price to dizzying heights, but soon his overweening ambitions and illegal maneuvers drive La Banque Universelle to ruin. Its demise is hastened by the efforts of the all-powerful Jewish banker Gundermann, who sees in Saccard a rival and who short sells shares in the Universelle when the bank is vulnerable. Saccard uses the bank's own cash reserves to buy back its falling shares in a quixotic attempt to halt the tumble, but thereby seals the bank's doom. The novel ends with the total collapse of La Banque Universelle, its worthless shares bought up by other Jewish speculators at bargain-basement prices, leading to the utter ruin of its many Catholic shareholders. To begin to understand the novel's complex depiction of Jews, I want to start on the surface of the text, with the viciously antisemitic rants that punctuate it. Even a casual reader of the novel cannot help but be struck by the hostility of the diatribes that make up for in vitriol what they lack in originality: L'empire est vendu aux aux sales juifs, Saccard fulminates. Tout notre argent est condamne a tomber entre leurs pattes crochues (244). …

Norman's Lament: The Greek and Euro Area Crisis in Historical Perspective

This article uses original and secondary archival sources to examine the value of the distinction between creditor and debtor states in explaining the behaviour of domestic elites in international and European macroeconomic and monetary cooperation, compared to variables like size and trade. It highlights the paradox and tension between changes in institutional forms and stronger incentives to cooperate (Montagu Norman's ‘new Europe’) and persisting patterns in strategic behaviour across space and over time. Central to this continuity is a fundamental asymmetry of power between creditor and debtor states. The imbalances that underpin creditor–debtor state relations also reveal the structural underpinnings of arguments from economic principle, ‘who argues what’ and receptiveness to economic ideas and thinkers. Not least, the case studies and arguments in the article offer fresh and different insights into British and French attitudes to European coordination.

Attitudes towards entrepreneurship education: a comparative analysis

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact of enterprise education on entrepreneurial attitude within European higher education institutions (HEIs) in France, Germany and Poland. The research seeks to consider whether differences between cultural and industrial heritage can influence entrepreneurial attitude and mediate the effectiveness of enterprise education.Design/methodology/approachResearch argues that Europe requires more entrepreneurs willing to innovate and create new ventures to facilitate economic growth. This research builds on prior studies, which have examined the impact of enterprise education and training on business start‐up. In particular the study utilises the concept of entrepreneurial attitude to measure how enterprise education influences students' perceptions of, and motivations towards, entrepreneurship as a viable career option. The study contrasts and compares the impact of a short enterprise course on entrepreneurial attitude among undergraduate students in French, German and Polish HEIs. A quantitative methodology employed a research instrument utilising five‐point Likert arrays to contrast attitudes and opinions of students both prior to, and after, the delivery of the course.FindingsEnterprise education has a positive impact on entrepreneurial attitude of French and Polish students. Conversely, the course had a negative impact on male German students. It was also found that while female students are more likely to perceive a greater benefit from the learning experience, the impact of enterprise education on entrepreneurial attitude is actually more significant for male students.Practical implicationsThe research findings are of interest to academia and policy makers. The study suggests that entrepreneurial attitude among European students can be influenced by exposure to enterprise education. The results also indicate that gender, cultural and industrial heritage can moderate the impact of enterprise education.Originality/valueThe paper provides evidence that differences between gender, culture and regional settings need to be considered in the design and delivery of enterprise programmes if they are to have the desired impact on entrepreneurial intent and graduate entrepreneurship.

Farm Interests as Bargaining Chips: France in the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Negotiations

AbstractIn trade policy France ranks as one of the most protectionist countries in the European Union. From an outside perspective, the French attitude is usually explained as a consequence of the strength and influence of the agrarian lobby. The article argues that farm groups in France have lost their formerly privileged position and the power to pursue their interests politically. A closer look at domestic politics shows that agricultural reforms were successfully implemented against the opposition of the farm lobby during the last ten years. But at the same time, French policy-makers were keen to create the impression that they were unable to make concessions in international trade talks due to the resistance of the agricultural sector. The EU-Mercosur negotiations demonstrate how the French government fended off demands for liberalization using farm interests as bargaining chips.

The legacy of Christianity in West Africa, with special reference to Burkina Faso

In the following paper, I am going to discuss education and religion and consider the legacy of Christianity in education in West Africa with particular reference to the Evangelical churches in Burkina Faso. The paper will start with a general introduction to West Africa and the place of missionaries’ activities in the region. I will then attempt to point out some different strategies between the British and French attitudes to education with a special focus on Burkina Faso. The quality contribution of the church schools to success in the national examination league tables will be examined. The supportive attitude of government officials to the Christian legacy in the country will conclude this paper.

'The Contending Kingdoms': France and England 1420-1700

Studies of England and France come in many shapes and sizes, but for the late medieval and early modern period four have predominated. There are investigations of cultural transmission, usually from France to England. There are essays in comparative political analysis, usually pointing up the contrasts between a precociously centralized medieval England and an increasingly absolutist early modern France. There are reconstructions of French attitudes to the English and English attitudes to the French. And, commonest by far, there are accounts of the wars and (less often) negotiations between the two rival monarchies whose struggle dominated western European politics for nearly three centuries and influenced it for generations more. It is the aim of The Contending Kingdoms to ring the changes on this pattern. The editor's introduction reviews the historiography of Anglo-French relations and Anglo-French comparisons in the volume's chosen period, helpfully pointing out areas where coverage is surprisingly thin, such as trade or the diplomacy of the 1630s. The nine contributors then essay a series of studies in Anglo-French comparisons and connections.

A Tale of Two Campaigns: A Comparative Assessment of the Internet in French and US Presidential Election

French politicians, like those in democracies around the world, were enthralled by the success of Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential elections. Part of that thrall sprung from the candidate’s embrace of internet campaigning and his use of Web 2.0 tools to communicate his ideas, raise campaign funds and break through to voters that might otherwise not be reached through traditional and mainstream media campaigning. In the wake of Obama’s win, speculation emerged that internet and Web 2.0 campaigning would soon become a key tool in French politics, particularly at the personality-driven and high-profile Presidential level. In reality, though, it seems unlikely that France will embrace an Obama style campaigns, not because they are ineffective but because they are constrained by the French electoral system and French attitudes to the internet itself from doing.

French Political Parties in Campaign (1989–2004): A Configurational Analysis of Political Discourses on Europe

This article analyses the nature of French political parties' attitudes towards the EU. Three main dimensions of the EU process and of its impact on the member states are focused upon: identity, representation and scope of governance. We propose for the analysis a complementary insight in to the ideological explanations of party attitudes towards the EU by focusing on two main factors of variation: the institutional position of parties and time effects. We show that French parties divide over EU issues, along the lines opposing (1) major parties to radical and outsider parties, and (2) governmental parties to non-governmental and extra-parliamentary parties. Left and right do not impact the pattern of contestation of the EU issue in the French case. Parties divide upon EU issues producing in the end a peculiar pattern that differs from the more traditional patterns of party competition of France. Finally, there is diversity between the attitudes of the party central office and the party in public office.

Les Réfugiés acadiens en France 1758–1785, l'impossible réintégration? (review)

Reviewed by: Les Réfugiés acadiens en France 1758–1785, l'impossible réintégration? N.E.S. Griffiths Les Réfugiés acadiens en France 1758–1785, l'impossible réintégration? Jean-François Mouhot: Sillery: Septentrion. Pp. 456, $34.95 paper, $26.21 PDF During the last fifty years, writing about Acadian history has been a growth industry. Above all, the events of the Deportation of the Acadians by the British, in the mid-eighteenth century, from what are today the Maritime provinces of Canada, have been discussed and [End Page 125] reinterpreted. In writing about the experience of those Acadians whose fortunes took them first to Virginia, then to England and France, and finally, in most cases, to Louisiana, Jean-François Mouhot has chosen to investigate one of the less examined aspects of the Deportation. One of the reasons for his choice was his knowledge of the way in which France accommodated close to a million 'Pieds-Noirs' who left Algeria after 1962. In concluding his study of the 'intégration des Acadiens en France au siècle des Lumières,' he writes that his aim had been a three-fold analysis: that of 'l'attitude du gouvernment: celle des réfugiés eux-même, et enfin ce qu'on peut appréhender de la réalité de leur (re)insertion dans la société d'Ancien Régime.' His work was awarded a doctorate by the European University in Florence in 2006. In many ways this is a fine piece of scholarly endeavour. Mouhot's archival research is extensive and broad-ranging and his work will be not only a necessary but also a very helpful source for future scholars. He has visited the major archive collections in London, Madrid, Ottawa, and Paris and also the most important provincial archives in all four countries. He has also made considerable use of Internet sources. As a result, his narrative of the official French attitude to the Acadians and of their reaction to their treatment is firmly anchored by an extensive knowledge of primary resources. His complex and interesting arguments regarding the attitude of the French officials engaged in trying to establish the Acadians on Belle Isle and in the region of Poitier are well worth reading. In his analysis of the rural France in the eighteenth century, he might have considered the views of Fernand Braudel and others of the Annales school in more detail when describing the reception of the Acadians by their neighbours. Mouhot's attention to the way in which French government policies changed over the decades, to the arguments made by the supporters of changing government actions is exemplary. As well, his sympathy with the frustrations of those working at the local level makes for entertaining as well as enlightening reading. It is clear that Mouhot's interests lie in political and governmental history, rather than sociological and cultural studies. This intellectual bent accounts for a major shortcoming in his analysis of Acadian identity in the eighteenth century. There is very little reference to Acadian experience in North America after the Deportation. While it would be unfair to ask for the sort of archival work in the American state archives that Mouhot has done so well elsewhere, there is also little reference to secondary sources about European colonial experience published in the United States, no evidence of a reading [End Page 126] of the immense body of monographs on the early sense of a developing 'American' identity, or even of the articles more easily available in the pages of the William and Mary Quarterly. As a result, the fact that the Acadians had lived in a world very different from France for a minimum of five generations does not seem to be a matter for his contemplation. The consistent refusal of the majority of the Acadians to take up arms for either England or France seems, for Mouhot, to be beside the point: since the Acadians wished to speak French and to continue to be Catholic, their sense of identity must above all be grounded in an attachment to France. He rejects my own work in this area, at...

The Future of French Culture

The evolution of French culture from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century is described as a succession of three "cultural configurations": humanist (or literary/philosophical), scientific/organic, and industrial. The transformation of the culture is linked to changes in the educational system in response to France's altered place in the global order after 1945. French attitudes toward, and internal critiques of, the shifting cultural hegemony are examined as both causes and consequences of these evolving configurations.

Black and White on the Silver Screen: Views of Interracial Romance in French Films and Reviews since the 1980s

This article explores French attitudes about race during and after the years of the National Front's breakthrough by looking at French films and film reviews on the topic of interracial couples. In a country in which antiracists have been reluctant to legitimize the concept of race by talking about it, but in which the far Right has made gains by proclaiming its own views on race, French film-makers in the 1980s and after broached the topic in numerous films, but they often did so in ways that avoided controversy or serious reflection on current French racism. French critics of both French and American films featuring interracial couples also sidestepped the most explosive issues, revealing a disinclination to discuss a troubling and divisive concept, but also a persistent belief that racism remained an American problem and obsession.

Qu'est-ce qu'une communauté à l'époque contemporaine ? À propos d'une recherche sur les Juifs en Sarthe, 1889-1945

Through the example of Sarthe, a French “departement”, this study focuses on defining the notion of Jewish community. Our investigation spans from the apparition of the first anti-Semitic archives in Sarthe to the official date that the number of deportees was known in the county. It depicts the arrival of foreign Jews in the county in the inter-war period and studies the migration phenomena of these individuals and families. We show that this immigration had direct consequences on the creation of Jewish communitarian structures. We also illustrate the events happening in Sarthe when it became part of the occupied zone and consequences for the Jews living in the area, the massive arrival of Jewish refugees from Paris as soon as the War is declared, the anti-Jewish persecutions, and the dispersion of the Jewish community. We also analyse the tentative ways they tried to reconstruct the Jewish community and the difficulties they faced with that Henry Rousso defined as “Syndrome de Vichy”, the French attitude when it comes to deal with the World War II.