January
2006 Newsletter
This
issue of the newsletter contains several important items, including two notices
concerning the February 23 law passed in
Echoing this month’s Presidential Message, I would like
to draw your attention to the plight of libraries, archives and historical
sites damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Information on how you can help is also located on the FCHS web site.
This issue also contains news from our colleagues,
several calls for papers, information on the Heggoy Prize,
and a request for volunteers from the organizers of the 2007 annual meeting to
be held in
Lastly, I would like to remind everyone to check their
mailing labels to ensure that their membership dues are up to date.
Happy
New Year!
President’s Message
Looking back over 2005 we see a
year of both high and low points for the study of French colonial history.
Among the high points were the launching of H-French-Colonial, which in just a
few months has proved an indispensable source of information about scholarship,
conferences, and, thanks to cross-postings, many related subjects. The past
months have also witnessed the firming up of the program of the Society’s 2006
meeting in
Much less happy was hurricane
Katrina’s devastation of
In recent weeks, French colonial
scholars in
On a happier note, this Newsletter
contains the ballot for the election of the Society’s officers for the next two
years. As you will see, we are fortunate to have an excellent slate of
candidates. Please do take the time to vote!
Best wishes for the new year.
Robert DuPlessis
President
Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize, 2005-2006
Each
year the French Colonial Historical Society presents a book in honor of one of
its founding members, Alf Andrew Heggoy. Book prize recognition includes an award of
US $350 for the best book published during the previous year dealing with the
French colonial experience from the 16th to the 20th century. Books from any academic discipline will be
considered but they must approach the consideration of the French colonial
experience from an historical perspective.
The deadline for this year is
Applicants
or their publishers should send three copies of books published in 2004 to the
chairperson of the book prize committee: Eric Jennings, Department of History,
The
award will be announced at the annual conference of the French Colonial
Historical Society in
Colleagues at Work
Ken
Banks is currently researching French contraband trades and their impact on
imperial perceptions in the 17th and 18th centuries. He is currently a fellow at the Gerder Lehrman Institute and will
be taking up fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society and John Carter
Brown Library in 2006. He welcomes any
contact on this issue. Please send
e-mails to kbanks@unca.edu.
Harriet
Berg is the founder and Artistic Director of the Mme Cadillac Dance Theatre of
Detroit. This organization is the only
theatre company focusing on French colonial music and dance at the time of the
founding of
Nicolas
Landry’s article entitled “Les activités de course dans un port colonial français: Plaisance, Terre Neuve, durant la guerre de sucession d’Espagne, 1702-1713" has been published in Acadiensis, XXXIV, no. 1 (Automne
2004) : 56-79.
Amaury Lorin est
lauréat du prix littéraire Auguste Pavie* 2005 de l’Académie des
Sciences d’Outre-Mer pour son ouvrage
Paul Doumer, gouverneur général de l’Indochine
(1897-1902), le tremplin colonial (éditions L’Harmattan, collection Recherches asiatiques). *Auguste Pavie (Dinan 1847 – Thourie, Ille-et-Vilaine, 1925), explorateur,
consul à Luang Prabang (1886) puis à Bangkok, fit reconnaître par le
Siam le protectorat français
sur le Laos (1893) et fixa
les frontières de ce territoire.
Herman
Lebovics’ book entitled When
the White Man Oppresses Others, It is His Own Freedom He Loses will be
published in 2006 by Duke University Press.
Ronald
Rompkey, Memorial University of Newfoundland, is at
work on an edition of the dispatches sent to the
Sarah
Willis is currently completing her Masters degree at
Notice on the “loi du 23 février”
On
In France, the repatriate community from North Africa
(Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia) is
still numerous and very active. The history of the French presence in North Africa is
still being written by all those who were part of it, by the government,
and also, of course, by historians. The repatriate community still has the feeling that France has forgotten it, that the
country has never borne sufficient
recognition to those who abandoned the only
land they had ever known. This group includes the French who lived in North
Africa, but also the “harki” community, those Algerians who had fought
for French Algeria and had to flee the
country at the time of independence. While the French were repatriated by the authorities, those Algerians faithful to France were left behind
and those who managed to flee never received
the welcome they should have by the French authorities.
Forty years after the events, the
repatriates and harkis are still asking for fair
recognition from
The law pays homage to those people
(as well as those who lived in
The article that is of interest to
us, French colonial historians, and that has opened a very heated controversy
is article 4. It reads (my translation): “University research programs will
grant the history of French overseas presence, notably in
The most disputed section is, of
course, the middle sentence and, in particular, the “positive role of the
French overseas presence.” This sentence has triggered a widespread protest
among the political adversaries of the French government, and among
intellectuals in metropolitan France and the French overseas departments of the
Guy Pervillé
has written a relatively measured assessment of the law and a very thoughtful
reflection on legislation and history (his reaction may be read at
http://www.ldh-toulon.net/article.php3?id_article=571). To him, the law does
not negate the negative aspects of colonization since it recommends “in
particular” the study of the positive role of French colonization. He also
shows that this is not the first law that legislates on how to consider
history, referring to the law of
Pervillé’s
conclusion is that involvement of historians in the discussion is essential
because it prevents the debate from becoming only political. As he writes, “it
is necessary to show that all these laws on memory go far beyond the field of
law and abusively intrude on that of history.” [“Il faut montrer que
toutes ces lois sur la mémoire
dépassent le domaine propre de la loi et empiètent sur celui
de l’histoire”]. He criticizes the petition launched
by Claude Liauzu for opposing only this specific law
instead of fighting against the principle of legislating on how history should
be studied and taught. [Elle s’en prend
à une seule
de ces lois,
sans dire qu’elle n’est pas
la première en son genre]. He fears that the debate might fall into partisan
polemics [le débat risque
de verser dans les polémiques partisanes], while it
would be much more effective to transcend the war of memory and commemoration
instead of fueling it [qui doit
être de dépasser la guerre
des mémoires et non l’entretenir].
Beyond French political polemics, this is indeed
food for thought for the historical community. The text of the
law is available
at http://www.admi.net/jo/20050224/DEFX0300218L.html
(if
the link does not work, google “loi
du 23 février 2005” and
click on the first link). Guy Pervillé’s reaction can be found at http://www.ldh-toulon.net/article.php3?id_article=571. All the articles against the law may be
consulted at http://www.ldh-toulon.net/rubrique.php3?id_article=52
Nathalie Dessens
University of Toulouse-Le Mirail
On
Members of the society might be interested to know
that a similar set of issues has arisen in the United States with legislation
proposed to forward “the Student Bill of Rights” through the US Congress (see,
for example) http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/essays/sbor.html While
purporting to safeguard academic freedom, such legislation would, in fact, give
power over such matters as curriculum, course content, and faculty personnel
decisions to governmental authorities and other agencies outside the faculty
and administrations of institutions of higher learning. For these reasons, the
American Historical Association discussed a “Resolution Opposing Academic and
Student Bills of Rights and Similar Regulations of the Academic Community” at
its recent January 2006 meeting.
Notices
The
London School of Economics has launched a new web resource entitled Archives
Made Easy. The website (www.archivesmadeeasy.org)
serves as an online guide to archives and offers up information on costs and
procedures associated with archival visits.
Researchers of all levels are invited to submit or update reviews of
archives worldwide.
La
revue Politique africaine
publiera en juin 2006 un numéro entitulé
"Mémoires grises. Passés coloniaux recomposés en Afrique et en
Europe" consacré aux mémoires
coloniales et à leurs usages politiques présents, thème qui sera abordé dans une
perspective comparatiste, donnant
lieu à interrogation des phénomènes
de productions mémorielles tant
dans les anciennes métropoles coloniales qu'en Afrique. L'appel à contribution se trouve en fichier joint. Une version anglaise devrait
être bientôt disponible sur le site de la
revue.
The
National Council for History Education will be hosting its annual conference on
the theme “The Americas in World History” in
The
RICHIE network (Résau International de jeunes Chercheurs en Histoire de l’Intégration Européenne/International
Research Network of Young
Calls for Papers
The
Society of Early Americanists (
The
The
History Department of the
Frontiers:
A Journal of Women’s Studies is devoting a special issue to the issue of
intermarriage between Native Americans and non-Indians. Proposals for the special issue, which will
be entitled Intermarriage in American Indigenous History: Explorations in
Power and Intimacy in North America, are due
French Colonial Historical Society
Société d’histoire coloniale française
2007 Annual Meeting
Philip
Boucher, Mickael Ogeron and
Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, the organizers of the 2007
FCHS annual meeting to be held in
French Colonial Historical Society
Société d’histoire coloniale française
Annual Meeting
Logistical Information
Local
arrangements for the
The
FCHS has assembled a group package for for the flight
between
1.
Round trip airline ticket JFK-Dakar-JFK from
2. Double occupancy at the hotel Le Meridien President or Sofitel Teranga with
Continental Breakfast
3.
Visit and hotel stay in
4.
Ground transportation in
Hotel accommodation for participants not interested in
the travel package but who would like to stay in the package hotels should
mention FCHS and Albay Travel services when making reservations. Room rates are
as follows :
|
Meridien President Double $116.00 per person Single $210 |
Sofitel Teranga Double $105.00 per person Single $185 |
|
Trip to Double $115.00 per person Single $130.00 |
|
Members are encouraged to visit www.senegal-tourism.com
for information about going to
Preliminary Program
17 :00-19 :00. Centre de
Recherche Ouest Africain/West African Research Center : Réception-Registration-Orientation
8 :30 – 10 :00 Cérémonie d’ouverture/
Opening Ceremony
Présidence et mots de
bienvenue :
Professeur Sourang, Ministre de l’Education
- Le Recteur de l’UCAD de Dakar/ The Chancelor of UCAD
- L’Ambassadeur de France au Sénégal
- L’Ambassadeur des États Unis d’Amérique au Sénégal
- Le Représentant de
l’AUF
- Robert Duplessis,
Président de la French Colonial Historical Society
Conférence
Inaugurale/Keynote Speech: Amadou Mahtar Mbow, Ancien Directeur Général
de l’UNESCO : Colonisation et Culture/ Colonization
and Culture.
10 :30 –
12 :00 Séance Plénière/Plenary Session UCAD II
Président/Chair :
Pr. Boubacar Barry, UCAD
- Robert DuPlessis,
- G. Wesley Johnson:
- Saliou Mbaye, Ancien Directeur des Archives Nationales du Sénégal :
Les Archives de l’AOF : une Mémoire Partagée.
12 :00 – 14 :
00 Déjeuner / Lunch
Président/Chair : Rokhaya Fall, UCAD,
- Colin
Coates,
- Jean-François Brière,
State University of New York/Albany: Du Sénégal aux
Antilles: Gaspard-Théodore Mollien en Haiti 1825-1831.
- Ken
Donovan, Fortress of
- Dimitris
Michallopoulos, Academic Director, Historical Institute
for Studies on Eleutherios Veniselos
and his Era. “L’Impact de L’indépendance Haïtienne en Europe:
la Reconnaissance du Gouvernement de la Grèce Soulevée par le Président
Jean-Pierre Boyer.”
- Carolyn Podruchny,
- Ibrahima
Seck : Africains et Germaniques à la Rencontre de l’Amérique Française :
l’Exemple de la Côte des Allemands en
-
- Nathalie Dessens: Depictions of early American
16 :00 – 17 :30 Panels concurrents/Competing
Panels
Président/Chair : Geoffrey
Parker, Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History, The
- Cornelius Jaenen,
-
- Ousmane Traoré,
Université de la Sorbonne Paris IV. “Marge de Manœuvre et Pouvoir de Décision
des Souverains Africains dans le Système des Relations Internationales,
Transatlantiques et dans L’Evolution du Capitalisme
Moderne en Afrique 1715-1800.”
Panel 5: La
France, la Méditerranée, l’Océan Indien et le
Pacifique/France, the Mediterranean
Sea, the Indian Ocean, and
the Pacific Ocean.
Président/Chair : Robert DuPlessis,
- Claudio Minca,
“Re-enchanting
- Isa Blumi: Limitations of French Power in the
- Mark
Choate, “Politics and Perception in the European Settlement of
-
Panel 6: Race,
Identité et Colonisation/Race, Identity, and Colonization.
Président/Chair :
Amadou Aly Dieng, Chercheur, Economiste.
-
-