Call for papers

CfP | Women and the Liberation in metropolitan France and the Empire, 1944-1946

Abstract

Organized by the Conseil scientifique et d'orientation de la Mission du 80ème anniversaire de la Libération, this conference focuses on the two or three years that make up the "moment" of the Liberation, from 1944 to 1946. Its aim is to examine the transformations that took place in women's lives and gender relations - in combat, in political life in the broadest sense and in their activities - in metropolitan France and the Empire. This international meeting will both review the current state of knowledge and highlight new aspects. Since the publication in 1995 of the first issue of the journal Clio, Histoire, Femmes et Sociétés devoted to "Résistances et Libérations", there has been an accumulation of 5 work, but the importance of the Liberation in the period known as the low point of the feminist wave is still little studied. Historiography has focused on the feminists and feminisms of the French Revolution, the long 19th century and the "second wave" (1970s onwards). The conference will provide an opportunity to examine the fighting capacities of women, both Resistance fighters and collaborators, to probe their involvement in politics as new voters in 1945 (including in the colonies and overseas departments) but also as workers or "housewives", and to appreciate their autonomy. In 1995, Françoise Thébaud asked: "Did women have a Liberation?” The general hypothesis put forward for discussion is that these three years or so represented a phase of openness for women, but that continuities remained strong.

[Read more] Call for Papers (PDF, FR-EN, 127 Ko)