ASMCF Annual Conference

Aston University

6-7 September 2016

Transitions

The Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF) will be held at Aston University 6-7 September 2016. The theme of the conference is ‘Transitions’.

Keynote speakers: Sudhir Hazareesingh (Oxford), Andrew Hussey (London) and Nonna Mayer (Sciences Po Paris).

Call for Papers:

Proposals for papers are invited on the theme of ‘Transitions’. Papers may discuss any aspect of France as a country in transition or of related issues across the wider French-speaking world. Historical and contemporary perspectives are both welcome.

France has long been a country defined by dynamic transitions between continuity and change. What forms have these transitions taken or do they take today? How are they generated, interpreted, resolved or opposed, and how are such transitions represented? In an age characterised by ever more rapid change and new uncertainties, how does France negotiate the challenges of transition on a domestic, European or global scale?

Proposals are invited from the wide range of disciplines to be found within the ASMCF. The suggestions for topics listed below are far from comprehensive and contributions addressing other topics under the conference theme are welcomed. Proposals for papers might relate to a broad range of areas – political, social, intellectual, cultural, literary, artistic, linguistic, economic, environmental, technological or other – where it can be argued that France is, or the French are, in transition: 

• The Republic
• Political institutions
• Parties and elections
• Economic policies and problems
• Ideology and extremisms
• National and regional identities
• France in the world
• The exception française
• Migrations
• Ethnicity
• Post-colonial debates
• Citizenship
• Social identities and movements
• The banlieues
• Visual cultures
• Media and social media
• Language(s)
• Literature
• Francophonie
• Youth
• Gender
• Education
• Intellectuals
• Laïcité
• Religions
• Crime and policing
• French tech
• Environmental policies, problems, protests
• Ecocriticism