French History Research Articles

From Xenophon's Constitution of the Lacedaimonians to See the Instrumental Role of the Ideal Spartan Image in His Historical Writing

In 1933, French historian Olier raised the issue of the "Spartan Illusion" and believed that ancient historians' impressions of Sparta must have been artificially processed based on the author's writing purpose. Xenophon's The Constitution of Lacedaemonians is the crucial surviving material of a contemporary author who personally experienced and recorded the specific internal conditions of the Spartan city-state. It is also a concentrated expression of the Spartan illusion. As a historian of the Greek city-state crisis period, Xenophon not only paid more attention to Sparta in the process of writing "Greek Chronicles" due to his legendary personal experience, but also focused more on the image of ideal Sparta. Thinking about sex, theodicy, and political philosophy were integrated into historical writing, making the image of Sparta the focus of Xenophon's historical writing and philosophical thinking, and a tool for him to write history. Previous research has mainly focused on a series of subtle thoughts that Xenophon developed by borrowing the Spartan illusion. This article intends to formally explore and summarize the process of Xenophon manufacturing and using this writing instrument, and whether it achieves its expected results.

Analysis of French Cultural Models under Cross Cultural Theory

This article uses the Hofstede cultural model to deeply analyze the French cultural model and its causes. By exploring France's performance in five dimensions: power distance, individualism and collectivism, masculinization and feminization, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term and short-term orientation, combined with France's history, geography, society, economy, and other factors, the uniqueness and internal logic of the French cultural model are revealed. This article aims to enhance understanding of French culture and provide useful references for cross-cultural communication.

Intellectual Background of Ibn Badis and His Contribution on Societal Change in Algeria, 1913-1940

Abd Al-Hamid Ibn Badis was a hugely influential figure in the Islamic world. He impressed scholars both in the East and the West, with the French historian and journalist Andre Julien describing him as one of the most powerful figures of his time. The Tunisian Mufti Tahar Ibn Ashour even called him the father of Algeria’s Renaissance. In addition to exploring Ibn Badis’ impact on societal change, this study has been conducted to examine the elements of his intellectual background and how he overcame the obstacles he faced during the French colonial period. At that time, the entire country, including schools and endowments, was ruled by the French. The study highlights that Ibn Badis’ contribution to Algerian society was not only in education, but also in the economy, politics, sports, and all areas that promote human development. The study also reveals that Ibn Badis’ success in preventing the colonialists was due to his ability to exploit legal loopholes and gain support from all social classes. After they applied his educational philosophy and saw its results, people were eager to support him. France even intentionally ignored some of his works due to the possible disruption of security caused by his rising popularity. Therefore, this study recommends that Abd Al-Hamid Ibn Badis’ contribution should be implemented to add more value to human endeavours.

Recent Books and Dissertations on French History

Recent Books and Dissertations on French History

The role of black color in the history of Russian, French and Chinese mythology and folklore

The role of black color in the history of Russian, French and Chinese mythology and folklore

Guère franco-française: the nationalist right, civil war discourse and the 2021 tribunes des militaires

The French Army has not always enjoyed a harmonious relationship with its political leadership. Its sobriquet, the ‘Great Mute’ is something of a misnomer, as it is an institution that has certainly made its voice heard at several junctures in modern French history. Recently, the two Tribunes des Militaires (soldiers’ tribunes) expressed the fear among several retired and active officers and enlisted servicemen and women, that France is headed for ‘ruin’ and civil war. This study represents the first in-depth analysis of the tribunes, its connections to the far right, putschist pretentions and civil war rhetoric. This article positions these tribunes within the historical context of previous French military political interventions, examines its rhetoric and establishes the extent to which it presents a far-right sponsored call to military insurrection. This analysis is of importance, given the seriousness of the claims made in the tribunes and the central significance of civil-military relations for any state.

The Third Coming of French Critical Geographies

<p>Critical translation between languages requires consideration not only of the meanings of words, but also of the translator's embeddedness in worlds which assign those meanings. Especially when working with geographic texts, reflecting on the places and spatial experiences that shape our understanding and use of words can be pertinent to creating authentic translations. In translating Yann Calbérac and Marianne Morange and Cécile Gintrac's texts that present an overview of French critical geographies, the translator reflects on ways her own history in French, American, and Canadian academic spaces effects her ability to transfer the nuances of French critical geographies to an Anglophone audience.</p>

Dragon Ships to the Dawnland: Eugène Beauvois and the Vinland Viking Expeditions in the Nineteenth-Century Settler Imagination

Abstract Between the mid-1700s and the Great War, people in Europe and North America were gripped by a frenzy of enthusiasm for all things Viking. Eminent scholars and ordinary readers discovered an insatiable curiosity for medieval Scandinavia, imagined land of dragon-prowed ships and saga heroes. Among these enthusiasts was the prolific French historian Pierre-Eugène Beauvois (1835–1912). Beauvois was fascinated by the Norse voyages to continental North America, known in Old Norse as “Vinland.” By arguing for extensive pre-Columbian European settlement in the Americas, Beauvois stole the glory enjoyed by Spain and Italy as the first “discoverers” of the “New World,” shifting it to Norse populations that Beauvois linked to France. Such a vindication of early voyages by ethnic “cousins” of the French presented France as genetically destined to colonize foreign lands, thus legitimating their conquest of Africa. Yet Beauvois’s arguments extended beyond simply positing a meaningful Norse presence in medieval North America. He maintained that Indigenous culture was really just a watered-down residue of transplanted European culture. By asserting that central components of Indigenous cultures such as language and religion derived from medieval European models, Beauvois usurped Native positionalities and affirmed the rightness of the settler colonial project.

The evolution of bare nouns in the history of French. The view from calibrated corpora

Abstract This article investigates the evolution of bare nouns, used without a determiner, through the history of the French language. The loss of bare nouns is charted through calibrated corpora of non-fictional prose texts from the same genres and region, ranging from the 12th to the 19th century. The change is first completed with nouns in subject function, significantly advances with direct objects, and progresses with obliques. The extensive quantitative documentation demonstrates that the change is impacted by the syntactic function of the noun, along the Accessibility Hierarchy. The speculation is examined that the more accessible functions encourage expression of (definite) determiners, thus explaining the pattern of change.

Disability history in France: past, present and future

Abstract What is disability? How might a focus on disability as a category of human experience change the way we think and write about the French past? In this roundtable seven historians discuss the emergence of disability studies in France, assessing the continued relevance of classics in the field as well as new directions in research. Scholarly attention to disability, the contributors argue, has the potential to transform modern French historiography, not only by challenging our understanding of major ‘turning points’ such as the French Revolution or the world wars, but offering fresh insights into race, class and gender identities, as well as citizenship, inclusion and belonging in French society.

The politics of anger: emotional appraisal mechanisms and the French pension reform protests

In this article, using the French pension reform in 2020 as a case, we demonstrate how a focus on emotions helps us to better understand important policy dynamics. While existing approaches of welfare state reform typically focus on rational-materialist and institutionalist approaches, we use appraisal theory of emotion to explain how the reform project and process on the one hand and interest group behaviour and protest on the other are linked via a mechanism of anger. Material interests of different groups of citizens and trade unions clearly matter, but they cannot sufficiently explain the process through which disagreement could erupt in one of the largest and longest protest movements in recent French history. Theoretically integrating material interests and moral reasoning and using a variety of qualitative and public opinion data, we trace the escalation of conflict between key actors which ultimately impeded a comprehensive reform in 2020. Our findings have important implications for research on the role of emotions in policymaking.

The questionnaire as a methodical form of studying revolutions: on the example of Pitirim Sorokin's theory

The article explores the interaction between sociological and historical knowledge using the example of Pitirim Sorokin's theory of revolution and the methodological views of Marc Bloch. To achieve this goal, a general overview of the work "Sociology of Revolution" by an American researcher was conducted, and the identity of the methodological approaches presented therein to studying revolutionary processes with the questionnaire technique of a French historian was revealed. The obtained results allowed for the utilization of Pitirim Sorokin's developments as a methodological framework by Marc Bloch for analyzing an archival document describing the Zvenyhorod uprising in the territory of Kyiv province in June 1918. As a result, it was demonstrated that constructing a questionnaire based on sociological theory is an important task for a researcher working in the field of historical sociology and sociology of revolutions. The use of the proposed methodological framework enables the enhancement of the quality of socio-historical knowledge, as the researcher can documentarily reproduce the life of society experiencing revolutionary conditions. Given close cooperation between sociologists and historians regarding the development of questionnaires, the coordination of procedures for selecting primary materials and methods of analysis, there is a real possibility of a documentary turn in historical sociology and sociology of revolutions in the future. A direct outcome of such processes could be the establishment of a proper methodological and empirical basis for the emergence of qualitatively new research in the field of sociology of revolutions, ultimately allowing sociologists to utilize more reliable sources for analyzing the causes, course, and consequences of revolutions.

In, Of, or Through? Towards a Literary History of Thirteenth-Century French and Flanders in Paris, BnF, MS fr. 1446

In, Of, or Through? Towards a Literary History of Thirteenth-Century French and Flanders in Paris, BnF, MS fr. 1446

Politicizing Disaster

Abstract The deadliest peacetime railway accident in French history occurred at 7:52 p.m. on December 23, 1933, at Pomponne on the outskirts of Paris. Over two hundred people died as a result of the tragedy. This article explores the responses to the disaster. These drew on long-standing fears over the power of modern technology, not to mention its potential destructiveness as witnessed over a decade previously during the Great War. Yet understandings of the accident and its causes also spoke to anxieties over the contemporary French sense of political crisis, a crisis that the crash at Pomponne helped nurture. The Right and extreme Right came to subsume the accident into its broader campaign against the Third Republic that would end in the violence of February 6, 1934. Study of the Pomponne disaster thus sheds new light both on French anxieties about “modernity” and on the emergence of right-wing antiparliamentarianism in 1930s France.

Letter from the President of the Western Society for French History

Letter from the President of the Western Society for French History

Introduction: The Balkans

This journal has in recent years published the Spotlight series, consisting of articles which each attempt to provide an overview of the historiographical landscape in various European countries and major themes in European history. The articles have highlighted methodological developments, significant debates, and risks and challenges to historical scholarship from hostile political directions. To date, the series has included profiles of Ukrainian, Norwegian, Albanian, Hungarian, Italian, Serbian and French history, as well as insightful overviews of right-wing populism, migration history, and environmental and global history.

New insights into the typology of motion in the history of French : evidence from the manner verb lexicon

Notre étude vise à étudier l’expression de déplacement selon la typologie de Talmy en diachronie. Nous examinons l’hypothèse de Slobin (1997, 2004) selon laquelle la proportion de verbes de manière est plus importante dans les langues à cadrage satellitaire et l’hypothèse de Schøsler (2008) selon laquelle la différence entre les langues à cadrage satellitaire et les langues à cadrage verbal se trouve dans l’emploi des verbes de manière et dépend aussi du type de texte. Notre étude est innovante du point de vue méthodologique car elle cherche à vérifier ces hypothèses sur un très grand ensemble de données en s’appuyant sur des mesures adaptées. Nos résultats montrent une augmentation de la saillance de la manière (au sens de Slobin 1997, 2004), contrairement à ce que nous attendions. Cette augmentation de la proportion des verbes de manière pourrait s’expliquer par une augmentation de la diversité lexicale dans le domaine de l’expression du déplacement en général. De plus, nos résultats soutiennent l’hypothèse de Schøsler, car les facteurs textuels influent sur l’emploi des verbes de manière.

Концепция русского космизма Марлен Ларюэль

Marlene Laruelle, a prominent French historian, sociologist and political scientist specializing in the study of Russian nationalism and nationalism in the countries of the post-Soviet space, has been paying increasing attention to Russian cosmism in recent years. In Laruelle's works one can find different, complementary ideas, which she calls cosmism. The French researcher dates the main manifestations of Russian cosmism to the 1920s, classifying the project of embalming Lenin’s body with the aim of bringing him back to life with the help of future scientific technologies as such manifestations of "maximalist ideology". M.Laruelle seeks to explore cosmism in our country in the context of its historical emergence but does not consider that the expression "Russian cosmism" itself appeared only in the late 1960s. The French researcher does not consider cosmism to be an exclusively Russian cultural phenomenon; she explores it in the context of larger intellectual traditions, such as occultism. Russian cosmism appears in her works as an intellectual hybrid, a product of crossing many intellectual traditions. M. Laruelle politicizes Russian cosmism, trying to present it as one of the doctrines that shapes modern Russian nationalism. In her political science concept, cosmism, along with еurasianism and аrcticism, appears as one of the three geographical metanarratives of modern Russia. M. Laruelle is quite biased in his political assessments. The French researcher pays undeservedly little attention to V.I. Vernadsky and his teaching about the transition of the biosphere to the noosphere stage.

Koncepcja „patocenozy” a naukowe struktury narracji o pandemii COVID-19. Doświadczenia i perspektywy

The concept of “pathocoenosis” and the scientific structures of the narrative about the Covid-19 pandemic. Experiences and perspectives The author considers to what extent “pathcenosis”, the concept of the Croatian- French historian of medicine Mirko Grmek (1924–2000), can provide a theoretical framework for contemporary and historical research on pandemics. This term denoted the set of diseases occurring in a given population at a given time and the relationships between them. The current COVID-19 pandemic is the impetus for contemporary research. Research on the scientifi c discourse in the reports of the COVID-19 Advisory Team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences allowed for the diagnosis of the theoretical usefulness of pathocoenosis. The area of these analyzes includes historical and medical interpretations, scientifi c myth and social myths about science, scientifi c consensus and the dissemination of science. These studies showed two dangerous tendencies: 1. discrepancies in the understanding of the strategy of fi ghting the pandemic between the multidisciplinary world of science and the state authorities; 2. slight social impact of scientifi c authorities on negationist social attitudes. Both trends have a real impact on the shaping of the pandemic situation. Prospects for the continuation of this research concern, among others searching for the possibility of modifying the concept of „pathocenosis” with the epidemiological consequences of globalization processes, the use of „pathocenosis” as a narrative structure in the historiography of medical sciences, the use of the concept of „pathocenosis” as an inspiration for theoretical approaches in studies on the history of social practices towards health and disease. The prospects for continuing the research carried out also take into account the presence of the socio-cultural context and the dynamics of changes in the pandemic in the scientific discourse. And also the great importance of the narrative of anti-science movements in Poland. All these factors infl uence the nature of the Polish pathocoenosis.

The rise and fall of morphological schemas

Abstract The paper explores the origin and development of the [entre-V] construction in the history of French. By means of quantitative corpus data, it is shown that the [entre-V] construction, particularly in its reciprocal function, is productive in earlier stages of French and progressively disappears over time. We argue that this decrease in productivity is connected to the change in availability of the more abstract [pref-V] construction. While Old French still shows residual stages of Latin prefixation, this system dissolves in the history of French. As speakers have less access to the [pref-V] construction, this also engenders numerous changes in the constructional network of the [entre-V] construction.