Under the French Third Republic, the gender of “citizenship” and “philosophy” was masculine. Yet women pioneers managed to obtain university degrees and rise to positions of responsibility from which they had been excluded.
A recent book traces the rich history of Assyriology, from pioneers such as Oppert and Grotefend, through the major institutions that have contributed to its development, to today’s research projects. This is a portrait of a surprisingly contemporary science.
For twenty years, universities and research have been the target of reforms and evaluations. Clémentine Gozlan examines the making of these mechanisms, which are central to the new system of academic governance—in which academics often participate.
In this interview, Michele Lamont explains different facets of her intellectual work. She comments on the cultural sociology she practices and on her urge to both understand how individuals make their lives meaningful and how to make sociology meaningful.
How can we explain the breadth of the mobilization of academics against the plan to modify their status? For philosopher Vincent Descombes, it is the collective identity of the teaching body that is being injured by the current reforms, as well as the very definition of the university as a social form.
An interview with a Chinese political scientist trained in American universities gives us an insight into China’s pragmatic policy of local experimentation. It chronicles how officials in the municipality of Chongqing have seized the opportunity offered by its special status to launch a unique blend of liberal and socialist economic policy.
In response to the reaction of three researchers in Economic Sciences and Sociology published yesterday in La Vie des Idées, Oliver Godechot and Alexandra Louvet here round out and clarify their position regarding academic inbreeding.
Is academic inbreeding an ethic of loyalty or perverse nepotism? In order to determine the extent of the favouritism shown towards a university’s own ‘inbred’ candidates, Olivier Godechot and Alexandra Louvet established a benchmark based on an original source: the theses that were defended between 1972 and 1996. The results are enlightening.
In the age of globalisation, how can one write an open history of the world, of its exchanges, movements, and encounters? A recent issue of the Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine gave a broad overview of the questions raised by “global history” and once more underlined the provincialism of French universities.
