North American Studies in France and Europe: State of the Art and Future Prospects

Descriptif
In 1980, François Furet established the first visiting chair in North American studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in partnership with the French-American Foundation. And in 1984, with the election of Jean Heffer as permanent full professor, the Center for North American Studies (CENA) came into being. Despite pioneering efforts in some English departments and the creation of the first university chair in North American history at the Sorbonne in 1967, there was significant disparity between the importance of the USA in the contemporary world and the weakness of North American studies in France. Over the last thirty years and under the supervision of Jean Heffer and François Weil, the CENA has become one of the leading institutions for North American scholarship in France and Europe. Its professors, researchers, and graduate students wish to mark this 30-year anniversary with an international conference that both takes stock of past research and look into new heuristic and interdisciplinary approaches in history, anthropology, sociology, geography, and political science. The goal is to further promote North American studies, which have remained marginal in the French academic world, and to participate in transatlantic dialogue with scholars of the United States and Canada.
Conference organized for the thirtieth anniversary of the Centre d'Études Nord-Américaines (Center for North American Studies), in partnership between EHESS and Fondation Singer-Polignac.
June 4, 2014: Amphithéâtre François Furet, EHESS, 105 bld Raspail, 75006 PARIS
June 5-6, 2014: Fondation Singer-Polignac, 43 ave. Georges Mandel, 75116 PARIS
Official Opening
09:30 – 11:00 AM: Official Opening Mr. Pierre-Cyrille Hautcœur, President of the EHESS; Mr. Yves Pouliquen, President of the Fondation Singer-Polignac; Mr. Philip Breeden, Minister Counselor for
Keynote Lecture by François Weil : “The CENA at 30”
11:00 - 12:00 AM: Keynote Lecture François Weil (EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains, Recteur de l’Académie de Paris, Chancelier des Universités): “The CENA at 30”
Does North America Exist?
Wednesday, June 4 02:00 - 05:00 PM: Session 1 - International Perspectives on North American Studies Coordinators: Elsa Devienne (Ph.D. student), Thomas Grillot (researcher), Paul Schor (associate
North American History Outside of the United States
Session 1 - International Perspectives on North American Studies Coordinators: Elsa Devienne (Ph.D. student), Thomas Grillot (researcher), Paul Schor (associate professor) North American studies
“Recasting Relegation: Foibles and Fruits of Studying Urban Marginality in America”
Loïc Wacquant, University of California at Berkeley
“Toward a Reciprocal Anthropology: A Dialogical and Comparative Approach between France and the Uni…
Anne Raulin, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Sophiapol et IIAC/EHESS-CNRS
Discussion
Discussant: Sébastien Chauvin, University of Amsterdam
“History, Theory, and the Problem of the American Democratic State”
William J. Novak, University of Michigan
“Perfectionism from Civil War to Civil Rights: For an Interdisciplinary Reframing of Contemporary A…
Nicolas Martin-Breteau, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains
Discussion
Discussant: Daniel Sabbagh, Sciences Po, CERI
“Cliometrics Today”
Alexia Blin, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains, and Pierre Gervais, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3, CREW
“Philanthropy and American History”
Olivier Zunz, University of Virginia
From Analytical Narratives to Cliometric Models
Jean Heffer, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains
At the Urban Scale: The Control and Appropriation of Social Space
Yann Philippe, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CENA/Mondes Américains, et Aurélien Gillier, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains
Discussion
Discussant: Renaud Le Goix, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, Géographie-Cités
Intertwining Scales: The Caribbeanization of the Americas
Manuel Covo, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains, and Romy Sánchez, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CRALMI/Mondes Américains
"Rethinking Continental Space: North America as Imperial Playground"
Alexandre Dubé, Washington University in St. Louis
Discussion
Discussant: Jean-Frédéric Schaub, EHESS, CRBC/Mondes Américains
"Petitions, Local History, and National Narrative"
Daniel Carpenter, Harvard University and Romain Huret, Université Lumière Lyon 2, CENA/Mondes Américains
"The Paradigmatic City? Chicago and the American Urban Experience"
Andrew J. Diamond, Université Paris-Sorbonne
“North American History from a West Coast/Pacific Perspective (1780s-1840s)”
Emmanuelle Perez, EHESS, CENA/Mondes Américains
“Writing the History of North America from Indian Country. The View from the North-Central Plains, …
Raymond J. DeMallie, Indiana University, and Gilles Havard, CNRS, CENA/Mondes Américains
Discussion
Discussant: Richard White, Stanford University
Intervenants et intervenantes
Historien-chercheur. Directeur d'étude à l'EHESS, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (en 2014)