Preliminary Programme

Wed 11 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 12 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.00 - 18.30

Fri 13 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 14 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

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Wednesday 11 April 2012 16.30 - 18.30
S-4 RUR04 Power, Actions and Mass Movements in Western Europe Countryside in the Age of Revolutions (1760-1860)
Maths Building: 204
Networks: Rural , Politics, Citizenship, and Nations Chair: Nadine Vivier
Organizers: - Discussant: Nadine Vivier
Laurent Brassart : Power, Social Dynamics and Political Change in the Northern France Rural Protest during the French Revolution
From 1789 to the Directory regime in 1795, Picardy and Northern France countryside were the theater of many rural riots. Georges Lefebvre and many scholars have emphasized in differents works how these rural mass movements were distinctive in their plan, their rythms, their uses and practices [A. Ado, F. Gauthier, ... (Show more)
From 1789 to the Directory regime in 1795, Picardy and Northern France countryside were the theater of many rural riots. Georges Lefebvre and many scholars have emphasized in differents works how these rural mass movements were distinctive in their plan, their rythms, their uses and practices [A. Ado, F. Gauthier, G.R Ikni, J.P. Jessenne]. I will first enlighten in what extent these rural mass movements can be either complementary either contradictory.
For three important mass movement between 1789 and 1794, using judicial archives and personal papers of different rural actors, i will focus on the social dynamics of the riots in the community : Who are the leaders ? What’s the role of women, social networks, cultural and social elites in these riots ? From an agro-system to another, according to the nature of the riot, i will enlighten the changing social diversity of rioter and leadership.
The second issue of my paper concerns slogans, uses and practices of these different movements. Do they belong to a typical revolutionary culture or a traditional peasant culture ? Why do they change from a movement to another ? Can a plan of « Popular Politics » transcend this diversity of revendication and organization ?
What are the interactions between rural riots and others movements and powers ? I will show in what extent in northern France revolutionary soldiers and urban jacobin movements can influence rural struggles. In this rural world, national news and local rumours spread and the links between parisian « sans-culottes » and landless peasants give birth sometimes to a rural jacobinism.
At last, using central State and local authorities archives, in a reflective approach, i will examine the repertories of action used by the State to deal with rural riots in Northern France and Picardy, and particulary the way of institutionalization of the rural protest in 1793-1794. (Show less)

Domenico Cecere : The Language of Complaints, Grievances and Riots. Political Issues of the Peasant Movements in Calabria (1760-1770).
The huge famine that struck Italy in 1763-1764 gave rise to many disturbances in the Kingdom of Naples. In Calabria, many rural communities rose up against the provincial authorities and blocked corn exports and requisitions in aid of the capital or of the main cities of the two Calabria districts. ... (Show more)
The huge famine that struck Italy in 1763-1764 gave rise to many disturbances in the Kingdom of Naples. In Calabria, many rural communities rose up against the provincial authorities and blocked corn exports and requisitions in aid of the capital or of the main cities of the two Calabria districts. A careful reading of the sources, however, lets us discern conflicts within the rural community, catch sight of the rift that sometimes went through them. By focusing on the language of complaints and grievances that often went with riots, it is possible to assess the complexity of the local political life as well as the villagers’ familiarity with the most important affairs relevant to community life, such as duties allocation, food sale, and admission to municipal offices.
Thereby a study of rioters’ values, of their view of social and political relationships, of their representation of some socio-economic phenomena emphasized by the food shortage can be carried out. Besides, exchanges between royal or high officers’ edicts and pleas made by lower orders of the rural villages and towns can be highlighted; therefore, it is also possible to underline their skill in seeking a dialogue with legal authorities, by employing a language influenced by a high ideal of justice, and by showing great concern for the founding values of the old regime. (Show less)

Sandro Guzzi-Heeb : New Perspectives and New Questions in the Studies about Social Movements in the Alps (18th and 19th Centuries)
In the last decade we can observe in Switzerland and in the alpine area a loss of interests for the history of social movements. This evolution is probably a consequence of the difficulty to find new approaches to these phenomena after the promising studies of the 1980ies and 1990ies.
The aim ... (Show more)
In the last decade we can observe in Switzerland and in the alpine area a loss of interests for the history of social movements. This evolution is probably a consequence of the difficulty to find new approaches to these phenomena after the promising studies of the 1980ies and 1990ies.
The aim of my paper is to propose a reflection on new perspectives in the study of what was called « popular politics ».
Comparing recent publications on the alpine area with other interesting researches, I will try to underline the perspectives offered by the use of big genealogical and social databases and by network analysis.
These tools allow us to go beyond the traditional study of single upheavals and revolts to analyse deeper long-term dynamics in local politics, to shed light on political groups and factions, on local social and political « milieus », with different cultural characteristics as well as different identities. Genealogical data and network analysis make it at the same time possible to verify the influence of kinship structures, ritual kinship, patronage and social networks. (Show less)

Frédéric Vesentini : Power and Rural Populations in Belgium during the 1845-48 Crisis
The second half of the 1840’s saw all of Europe plunged into a crisis which was to upset the political, demographic and social landscape for years to come. In Belgium, “the Flanders crisis” plunged part of the Belgian population, essentially rural, into a famine situation.
Based on judicial archives, this paper ... (Show more)
The second half of the 1840’s saw all of Europe plunged into a crisis which was to upset the political, demographic and social landscape for years to come. In Belgium, “the Flanders crisis” plunged part of the Belgian population, essentially rural, into a famine situation.
Based on judicial archives, this paper first of all intends to study the security arrangements the government put in place to maintain order, with the target question being management of gatherings and crowds, a security obsession during the crisis. These problems of security arrangements measure the State’s capacity, and the means at its disposal, to intervene in rural areas in the mid 19th century. The question of the populations’ reactions refers, for its part, both to their reaction to the temporary measures taken during the crisis and to more broadly-based strategies used by local communities aimed at perpetuating traditional modes of social regulation faced with an increasingly centralized State. (Show less)



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