Call for papers

Colloquium Foreign Students, Intellectuals and Artists in France in May-June ‘68.

11 and 12 February 2021 Paris, Centre d’histoire sociale des mondes contemporains / Campus Condorcet -Aubervilliers 93000

The historiography of the '68 years has recently favoured a global approach to social movements, emphasizing movement and exchange between countries and continents. This historiography is very rich, as is the one concerning more specifically the French May. Nevertheless, there are still some blind spots, or some areas that have not been explored. One of these is the role of foreign students, or more broadly foreign intellectuals and artists (writers, artists, musicians, teachers, etc.) in France in MayJune ‘68. This presence of foreigners in France has been the subject of studies when it comes to immigrant workers, whose significant participation in the May movement is now known. But the presence of students and/or intellectuals, and therefore their participation in the movement, is still largely ignored. Many of them studied in the French capital, or in other university towns in the area. They represented 5.7% of the total student population in 1968-1969, and this number sharply increased from the end of 1968. They were African (North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa), European (German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Greek, British), South American, Israeli, North American (United States or Quebec), Palestinian. They generally adhered to the French May while implementing specific logics linked to the political and social conditions of their country of origin. [Read more (PDF, 160Ko)]

Deadline: 2020/09/30