Unthinking French History: Colonial Studies beyond National Identity

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-143
Author(s):  
Peter Hicks

French reception of the fully bilingual exhibition ‘Nelson & Napoléon’ was limited, and — in parallel with much British coverage — in good part focused on questions of national identity in ways that ignored or undermined the organizers' intentions. This chapter reflects on the absence of official commemoration in France of the Napoleonic bicentenaries. It discusses the complex role of Napoleon in French history, memory, and public history today.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
Domenico Francesco Antonio Elia

The paper analyses the origins of Italian national identity in opposition to the «otherness» of the African peoples subject to colonization between the end of the 19th century and the 1920s. The paper takes into consideration background studies in the history of pedagogy, among which, Gabrielli (2013, 2015) and colonial studies as Del Boca (1988) and Labanca (2002) in order to investigate the development of racial stereotypes outside the school. Racial stereotyping increased in advertising and emerged in trademark images of Italian companies so that it influenced the idea of otherness between 1890 – i.e. the conquest of Eritrea – and 1922 – i.e. the advent of Fascism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 9-52
Author(s):  
O. Shmorhun

The article is devoted to the study of the role of historical tradition and national memory in the formation of modern types of ethno-national identity and mechanisms of consolidation of citizens at the stage of formation of the French state of the modern type. In this regard, various versions of French history were analyzed by representatives of historical and historiographical schools, which still compete with each other for the status of creators of a generally accepted interpretation of important historical events. It was found that consistently patriotic motivation, which ensures the formation and realization of the innovative potential of the people and social activity of this creative core of the nation, aimed at overcoming any crisis challenges, is formed only on the basis of maximum meaningful synthesis of existing interpretations of French history. In particular, the effectiveness of memory policy is ensured by the fact that symbols, traditions and historical monuments that positively influence the dynamics of national-patriotic motivations and feelings are inevitably (and often, quite consciously) filled with qualitatively new meanings and values. The complete failure of neoliberal and left-wing radical critiques of Holism's theory and practice has been proved, the conservative elements of which, in particular the appeal to the heroic past, are not at all identical with medieval archaism and almost neo-Nazi political preferences. On the contrary, the typological similarity of Bonapartism and Hollism is due precisely to their ability to effectively oppose reactionary and revolutionary extremism, which is equally destructive to the nation-state. In this regard, the exceptional relevance of the use of historical memory to form their own traditionalist and authoritarian charisma (in their relationship) by the creator and first president of the Fifth Republic Charles de Gaulle in the process of his opposition to anti-national provocations of far-right and far-left.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (61) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Maria Luísa Leal

Resumo: Como é que três escritoras oriundas de Angola e Moçambique representam, em três romances escritos em 2009 e 2011, o movimento de retorno forçado a Portugal em 1975? Como se articulam memórias individuais e história? Quais as implicações da focalização narrativa? Estas e outras questões decorrem do quadro histórico e teórico representado nos romances: o do Portugal colonial e pós-colonial. O conceito de “retorno” permite aprofundar a questão da identidade individual e nacional e avançar algumas reflexões sobre um tema que ganha se cruzarmos diferentes ferramentas teóricas: estudos pós-coloniais, imagologia, estudos de género e narratologia.Palavras-chave: retornados; identidade; subjetividade; colonialismo; pós-colonialismo.Abstract: How do three women writers from Angola and Mozambique represent, in novels written in 2009 and 2011, the historic movement of forced return to Portugal in 1975? How are individual memoirs and history articulated, and what are the implications of narrative focus? These and other questions are the result of the historical and theoretical framework represented in the novels: that of colonial and post-colonial Portugal. The concept of “return” allows us to deal with individual and national identity issues, and suggest some reflections on a theme that gains ground if we cross different theoretical tools: Post-Colonial Studies, Imagology, Gender Studies and Narratology. Keywords: returnees; identity; subjectivity; colonialism; post-colonialism.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-285
Author(s):  
Lorna Milne

In the context of contemporary French debates opposing history and memory, both frequently related to representations of national identity, this essay compares two popular novels by metropolitan French women, each centred on the symbolic power of a famous Paris monument. Strong plots, humour and attractive characters engage the reader in these alternative explorations of French identity, its ‘lieux de mémoire’ and the different narratives that sustain and inflect it. Claude Izner’s Mystère rue des Saints-Pères (2003), set in 1889, places the Eiffel Tower at the centre of a strikingly cosmopolitan society. Alix de Saint-André’s Papa est au Panthéon (2003) questions the patriarchal structures of conventional commemoration and suggests that identity may be based on mistaken assumptions about the past. Both novels portray the historical roots of contemporary identity as inclusively multi-cultural, and undermine neat distinctions between history and memory. Further distinguished from current political and intellectual debates by their enjoyable lightheartedness, these texts make a thoughtful contribution to the range of narratives of French identity.


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