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Politics and place: French Revolutionary ideals and historical geography. Annual Meeting of the Historical Geography Research Group, Institute of British Geographers, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 30 June–2 July 1988
Journal of Historical Geography, 15, 1 (1989) 107-109
Conference report Politics and place: French Revolutionary ideals and historical geography. Annual Meeting of the Historical Geography Research Group, Institute of British Geographers, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 30 June-2 July 1988
No report on a British conference on the after-effects of the French Revolution would be proper without immediate reference to Richard Cobb, that inveterate imbiber of French culture and utterer of countless mots justes. It so happened that, just before leaving London for Cambridge, I read his preface to W.J. Fishman's latest book, East End 1888 (London 1988) where Cobb (p. ix) warns against the heedless commemoration of anniversaries, however remarkable they may be. Thus, "centenaries are best avoided. I don't think 1888 in the East End has much to tell us about 1988, and I am sure that the bicentenary of 1789 would be best kept uncommemorated; but it won't be." It was therefore not surprising that Cobb himself was not in Cambridge for this meeting in the distinctly unrevolutionary and quite delightful surroundings of Emmanuel College, where some forty historical geographers and a sprinkling of historians met to consider some aspects of the legacy of the Revolution. Mike Heffernan (Loughborough) and Alan Baker (Cambridge) are to be congratulated on assembling an interesting variety of papers on what turned out to be a range of only looselyrelated issues. At the very least, pace Cobb, the meeting seemed harmless enough and in fact the twenty papers were for the most part of high quality. The organisers had clearly decided not to impose too strict a limit on the types of paper and had allowed participants to define their own contributions and to relate them as they wished to the theme of the conference. This meant that the meeting to some extent lacked focus and cohesion; but it had the advantage that we turned to discussions of what the Revolution was all about, and to definitions of what was meant by "libertY, ~galitd, fraternitY" only at the end of the conference, so saving us from the deathly effects of too close an attention to terminology. Most papers were from British or American contributors and few tackled the interpretation of the Revolution itself head-on; some ignored it, and hence the theme of the conference, entirely. It must also be said that whilst the quality of French papers was not notably of a higher standard, the presence of French scholars added to the liveliness of debate. It took, indeed, one of the doyens of French historical geography--Xavier de Planhol from Paris IV--to point out in his concluding remarks that it was just possible that the French Revolution exercised a fascination in foreign parts--not least just over the Channel--that exceeded its real legacy. Nevertheless, it was commonly agreed that the impact of the Revolution had been too little studied in the context of historical geography, both in the sense of the diffusion of Revolutionary ideas 0305 7488/89/010107+03 $03.00/0
107
9 1989 AcademicPress Limited
108
CONFERENCE REPORT
through France, and in the impact of the Revolution on the geographical homogeneity of society, particularly whether and to what extent the events of 1789 marked a real rupture in economic, cultural and regional patterns. The aim of this report is not to review all the papers given in detail but rather to highlight those contributions that had kept the theme of the conference firmly in view. The meeting began with some typically thoughtful comments by Paul Claval (Paris IV) who emphasised both the richness of the historiography of the Revolution and the ways in which interpretation of its meaning and impact have evolved. Over the last thirty years, for example, two trends were identified by Claval: first, "the ideological dimensions of the prevalent interpretations since the mid-nineteenth century were for the first time recognised" a n d , as a result, the "ideological components of the Revolution itself were perceived as significant". Secondly, Claval identified the growing interest of foreign scholars in the Revolution, citing in particular E. Hobsbawum and E.P. Thompson, but also Soviet scholars such as Boris Porsjnev. Claval also provided an interesting overview of the way in which questions of geography gradually gained recognition. The meeting then turned to a set of papers focussed on detailed archival work, contributions indeed which proved to be the most rewarding of the meeting. Thus, John Merriman (Yale) led us on a well-researched and illustrated tour of the French suburbs in the first half of the nineteenth century, concentrating upon the image and reality of criminality: one awaits his forthcoming book with impatience. Next, Mike Heffernan (Loughborough) skillfully focussed our attention on the organisation and influence of the book-trade and its importance in the spread of knowledge and ideas. Drawing on his own detailed research, he emphasised the distinctive role of the itinerant colporteurs, the often hostile attention they attracted from the authorities, and the causes of their gradual disappearance. By their very nature, the colporteurs were not characterised by an occupationalfraternitd, but the papers by Alan Baker (Cambridge) and Mark Cleary (Exeter) turned attention directly to this aspect of the Revolutionary theme. Baker gave us another example--on this occasion firemen--from his work in Loir-et-Cher, providing a neatly argued and well documented view of aspects of social organisation that have hitherto been rather neglected. Cleary reported his work on syndicalism in the Landes between 1920 and 1936, making some particularly valuable points about the importance of land-holding--in this case m~tayage--in explanations of peasant protest. While these examples of fraternit~ were indeed largely confined to men, Eleanore Kofman (Middlesex Polytechnic) nevertheless made a spirited, and entirely appropriate, attempt to introduce the notion of sororitd, lest we forget that in this, as in some other domains, the role of women has been little analysed or understood. A further batch of papers continued to focus attention on regional casestudies, but with the rather broader aim of investigating the influence of the Revolution on a wide sphere of activity during the nineteenth century. Thus, Colin Heywood (Leicester) looked at Troyes from 1789 to 1871, a town with a large working-class population, a tradition of political violence dating from 1789 and a hard core of militants with "advanced opinions": this understandably meant that the "notables in Troyes felt themselves to be sitting on a powderkeg during the nineteenth-century". In Nantes, by comparison, social structure was rather more varied and reflected the city's long involvement in the Triangular trade: Angela Fahy (Miami) concentrated on the period 1815-1848 and emphasised the occupational and political diversity of the city's middle classes. Two further studies of French cities--Susan Jones (Cambridge) on
CONFERENCE REPORT
109
Poitiers and Peter C o m p t o n (Liverpool) on Bordeaux--looked at questions of improvements in public health in the nineteenth century which, whilst rather removed from the main theme of the meeting, probably did more for certain sorts of Ogalitd than many political movements. The importance of the Revolution spread, of course, rapidly beyond France and a number of papers looked, however loosely on occasion, at the translation of these ideas abroad. Thus, David Robinson (Syracuse) argued persuasively that "to a large extent the very basis of the political ideology, the administrative structure, and the cultural milieu of early-republican Spanish America was modelled upon French designs. The French Revolution and its Anglo-American antecedent provided Latin Americans with concrete examples of what could be accomplished with bold actions, and a firm belief in principles of independence, self-determination and collective enterprise." Rather less powerful effects were found by Leog Jele~ek (Prague) in his discussion of Bohemia and Mike Broers (Leeds) of Piedmont, whilst Humphrey Southall and Gillian Rose (Queen Mary College, London) implied comparisons between the sentiments of the Revolution and the realities of the Friendly Society Movement in England between 1794 and 1840. Felix Driver (Exeter), by comparison, made a detailed case-study of the impact on English social policy in the mid-nineteenth century of the French reformatory colony at Mettray. Remaining papers ranged widely in theme. Robin Butlin (Loughborough) introduced us to his recent work on the history of historical geography, looking here at France before 1940 and providing detail that was clearly news to our Parisian visitors; and Josef Konvitz (Michigan) turned to the symbolism of cartography in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in relation to evolving notions of the nation-state and the role of Paris. In a most interesting and well-researched paper, Nick Atkin (Reading) looked at the teaching of history in Vichy France. Thus, the emphasis on the Revolution of 1789 was thought to have undermined a sense of patriotism among the young and an illfated attempt was made to promote the values of "Travail, Famille, Patrie ", by a combination of the revision and censorship of textbooks, the evocation of great traditional figures such as Joan of Arc and Saint Louis, and giving additonal emphasis to local history. Finally, two papers from French colleagues brought us up to the present. Catherine Rhein (C.N.R.S., Paris) looked at the present structure of secondary schooling in the Paris region, within a broad context of the pursuit of equality in education; while Jacques Levy and Marie-Flore Mattei (Paris) looked both at present perceptions of the Revolution itself and at the ways in which the spatial pattern of current political behaviour in France mirrors past conflicts. The meeting ended with a remarkable tour d'horizon by Xavier de Planhol, paying particular attention to the phasing of economic, social and regional changes in France since the mid-eighteenth century and the very variable extent to which they may or may not be thought to pivot around the events of the Revolution itself. On a lighter note, he was clearly captivated (though not one assumes with culinary interest) by the Emmanuel College ducks and enlisted the affection of the rest of us by bestowing on our host, Alan Baker, the title of honorary sapeur-pompier of Loir-et-Cher. But, in deference to this Journal's editor, one should perhaps say that this latter remark was something of a canard.
Queen Mary College, University of London
PHILIP E. OGDEN
The Nineteenth-Century Canadian City: Internal Change and External Links
The Centre of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh, is organising a conference on the nineteenth-century Canadian city to be held in Edinburgh from 4 to 7 May 1989. Details about the meeting may be obtained from Judith P. Weisinger, Centre of Canadian Studies, 21 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD, UK.
7th International Conference of Historical Geographers
Arrangements are being made to hold the 7th International Conference of Historical Geographers in Israel from 23 to 31 July 1989. The meeting will focus upon "Ideology and landscape in historical perspective" but there will also be sessions on other subjects within the framework of historical geography. The Conference will be based in Jerusalem and there will be field excursions to other parts of Israel. Registration for the meeting should preferably be made by 1 March t989. Those interested in participating are invited to contact Dr D. Gavish, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.
Historical Geography and Settlement Research
Siedlungsforschung Archdologie, Geschichte, Geographie is a German interdisciplinary journal focussed upon the historical settlement geography of Central Europe. It was first published in 1983. Each annual volume includes articles treating a particular theme: volume 4 (1986) was concerned with transportation networks and their impact upon cultural landscapes and volume 5 (1987) with urban house-types and housing conditions in medieval and modern Central Europe. Articles published in German have English summaries. In addition to articles, the journal includes bibliographies of settlement research in archaeology, history and historical geography, covering Central Europe comprehensively and other European countries selectively. Details about subscribing to Siedlungsforschung may be Obtained from Dr Dietrich Denecke, Geographisches Institut der Universtfit G6ttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 5, 3400 G6ttingen, W. Germany.
110
Conference report Politics and place: French Revolutionary ideals and historical geography. Annual Meeting of the Historical Geography Research Group, Institute of British Geographers, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 30 June-2 July 1988
No report on a British conference on the after-effects of the French Revolution would be proper without immediate reference to Richard Cobb, that inveterate imbiber of French culture and utterer of countless mots justes. It so happened that, just before leaving London for Cambridge, I read his preface to W.J. Fishman's latest book, East End 1888 (London 1988) where Cobb (p. ix) warns against the heedless commemoration of anniversaries, however remarkable they may be. Thus, "centenaries are best avoided. I don't think 1888 in the East End has much to tell us about 1988, and I am sure that the bicentenary of 1789 would be best kept uncommemorated; but it won't be." It was therefore not surprising that Cobb himself was not in Cambridge for this meeting in the distinctly unrevolutionary and quite delightful surroundings of Emmanuel College, where some forty historical geographers and a sprinkling of historians met to consider some aspects of the legacy of the Revolution. Mike Heffernan (Loughborough) and Alan Baker (Cambridge) are to be congratulated on assembling an interesting variety of papers on what turned out to be a range of only looselyrelated issues. At the very least, pace Cobb, the meeting seemed harmless enough and in fact the twenty papers were for the most part of high quality. The organisers had clearly decided not to impose too strict a limit on the types of paper and had allowed participants to define their own contributions and to relate them as they wished to the theme of the conference. This meant that the meeting to some extent lacked focus and cohesion; but it had the advantage that we turned to discussions of what the Revolution was all about, and to definitions of what was meant by "libertY, ~galitd, fraternitY" only at the end of the conference, so saving us from the deathly effects of too close an attention to terminology. Most papers were from British or American contributors and few tackled the interpretation of the Revolution itself head-on; some ignored it, and hence the theme of the conference, entirely. It must also be said that whilst the quality of French papers was not notably of a higher standard, the presence of French scholars added to the liveliness of debate. It took, indeed, one of the doyens of French historical geography--Xavier de Planhol from Paris IV--to point out in his concluding remarks that it was just possible that the French Revolution exercised a fascination in foreign parts--not least just over the Channel--that exceeded its real legacy. Nevertheless, it was commonly agreed that the impact of the Revolution had been too little studied in the context of historical geography, both in the sense of the diffusion of Revolutionary ideas 0305 7488/89/010107+03 $03.00/0
107
9 1989 AcademicPress Limited
108
CONFERENCE REPORT
through France, and in the impact of the Revolution on the geographical homogeneity of society, particularly whether and to what extent the events of 1789 marked a real rupture in economic, cultural and regional patterns. The aim of this report is not to review all the papers given in detail but rather to highlight those contributions that had kept the theme of the conference firmly in view. The meeting began with some typically thoughtful comments by Paul Claval (Paris IV) who emphasised both the richness of the historiography of the Revolution and the ways in which interpretation of its meaning and impact have evolved. Over the last thirty years, for example, two trends were identified by Claval: first, "the ideological dimensions of the prevalent interpretations since the mid-nineteenth century were for the first time recognised" a n d , as a result, the "ideological components of the Revolution itself were perceived as significant". Secondly, Claval identified the growing interest of foreign scholars in the Revolution, citing in particular E. Hobsbawum and E.P. Thompson, but also Soviet scholars such as Boris Porsjnev. Claval also provided an interesting overview of the way in which questions of geography gradually gained recognition. The meeting then turned to a set of papers focussed on detailed archival work, contributions indeed which proved to be the most rewarding of the meeting. Thus, John Merriman (Yale) led us on a well-researched and illustrated tour of the French suburbs in the first half of the nineteenth century, concentrating upon the image and reality of criminality: one awaits his forthcoming book with impatience. Next, Mike Heffernan (Loughborough) skillfully focussed our attention on the organisation and influence of the book-trade and its importance in the spread of knowledge and ideas. Drawing on his own detailed research, he emphasised the distinctive role of the itinerant colporteurs, the often hostile attention they attracted from the authorities, and the causes of their gradual disappearance. By their very nature, the colporteurs were not characterised by an occupationalfraternitd, but the papers by Alan Baker (Cambridge) and Mark Cleary (Exeter) turned attention directly to this aspect of the Revolutionary theme. Baker gave us another example--on this occasion firemen--from his work in Loir-et-Cher, providing a neatly argued and well documented view of aspects of social organisation that have hitherto been rather neglected. Cleary reported his work on syndicalism in the Landes between 1920 and 1936, making some particularly valuable points about the importance of land-holding--in this case m~tayage--in explanations of peasant protest. While these examples of fraternit~ were indeed largely confined to men, Eleanore Kofman (Middlesex Polytechnic) nevertheless made a spirited, and entirely appropriate, attempt to introduce the notion of sororitd, lest we forget that in this, as in some other domains, the role of women has been little analysed or understood. A further batch of papers continued to focus attention on regional casestudies, but with the rather broader aim of investigating the influence of the Revolution on a wide sphere of activity during the nineteenth century. Thus, Colin Heywood (Leicester) looked at Troyes from 1789 to 1871, a town with a large working-class population, a tradition of political violence dating from 1789 and a hard core of militants with "advanced opinions": this understandably meant that the "notables in Troyes felt themselves to be sitting on a powderkeg during the nineteenth-century". In Nantes, by comparison, social structure was rather more varied and reflected the city's long involvement in the Triangular trade: Angela Fahy (Miami) concentrated on the period 1815-1848 and emphasised the occupational and political diversity of the city's middle classes. Two further studies of French cities--Susan Jones (Cambridge) on
CONFERENCE REPORT
109
Poitiers and Peter C o m p t o n (Liverpool) on Bordeaux--looked at questions of improvements in public health in the nineteenth century which, whilst rather removed from the main theme of the meeting, probably did more for certain sorts of Ogalitd than many political movements. The importance of the Revolution spread, of course, rapidly beyond France and a number of papers looked, however loosely on occasion, at the translation of these ideas abroad. Thus, David Robinson (Syracuse) argued persuasively that "to a large extent the very basis of the political ideology, the administrative structure, and the cultural milieu of early-republican Spanish America was modelled upon French designs. The French Revolution and its Anglo-American antecedent provided Latin Americans with concrete examples of what could be accomplished with bold actions, and a firm belief in principles of independence, self-determination and collective enterprise." Rather less powerful effects were found by Leog Jele~ek (Prague) in his discussion of Bohemia and Mike Broers (Leeds) of Piedmont, whilst Humphrey Southall and Gillian Rose (Queen Mary College, London) implied comparisons between the sentiments of the Revolution and the realities of the Friendly Society Movement in England between 1794 and 1840. Felix Driver (Exeter), by comparison, made a detailed case-study of the impact on English social policy in the mid-nineteenth century of the French reformatory colony at Mettray. Remaining papers ranged widely in theme. Robin Butlin (Loughborough) introduced us to his recent work on the history of historical geography, looking here at France before 1940 and providing detail that was clearly news to our Parisian visitors; and Josef Konvitz (Michigan) turned to the symbolism of cartography in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in relation to evolving notions of the nation-state and the role of Paris. In a most interesting and well-researched paper, Nick Atkin (Reading) looked at the teaching of history in Vichy France. Thus, the emphasis on the Revolution of 1789 was thought to have undermined a sense of patriotism among the young and an illfated attempt was made to promote the values of "Travail, Famille, Patrie ", by a combination of the revision and censorship of textbooks, the evocation of great traditional figures such as Joan of Arc and Saint Louis, and giving additonal emphasis to local history. Finally, two papers from French colleagues brought us up to the present. Catherine Rhein (C.N.R.S., Paris) looked at the present structure of secondary schooling in the Paris region, within a broad context of the pursuit of equality in education; while Jacques Levy and Marie-Flore Mattei (Paris) looked both at present perceptions of the Revolution itself and at the ways in which the spatial pattern of current political behaviour in France mirrors past conflicts. The meeting ended with a remarkable tour d'horizon by Xavier de Planhol, paying particular attention to the phasing of economic, social and regional changes in France since the mid-eighteenth century and the very variable extent to which they may or may not be thought to pivot around the events of the Revolution itself. On a lighter note, he was clearly captivated (though not one assumes with culinary interest) by the Emmanuel College ducks and enlisted the affection of the rest of us by bestowing on our host, Alan Baker, the title of honorary sapeur-pompier of Loir-et-Cher. But, in deference to this Journal's editor, one should perhaps say that this latter remark was something of a canard.
Queen Mary College, University of London
PHILIP E. OGDEN
The Nineteenth-Century Canadian City: Internal Change and External Links
The Centre of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh, is organising a conference on the nineteenth-century Canadian city to be held in Edinburgh from 4 to 7 May 1989. Details about the meeting may be obtained from Judith P. Weisinger, Centre of Canadian Studies, 21 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD, UK.
7th International Conference of Historical Geographers
Arrangements are being made to hold the 7th International Conference of Historical Geographers in Israel from 23 to 31 July 1989. The meeting will focus upon "Ideology and landscape in historical perspective" but there will also be sessions on other subjects within the framework of historical geography. The Conference will be based in Jerusalem and there will be field excursions to other parts of Israel. Registration for the meeting should preferably be made by 1 March t989. Those interested in participating are invited to contact Dr D. Gavish, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.
Historical Geography and Settlement Research
Siedlungsforschung Archdologie, Geschichte, Geographie is a German interdisciplinary journal focussed upon the historical settlement geography of Central Europe. It was first published in 1983. Each annual volume includes articles treating a particular theme: volume 4 (1986) was concerned with transportation networks and their impact upon cultural landscapes and volume 5 (1987) with urban house-types and housing conditions in medieval and modern Central Europe. Articles published in German have English summaries. In addition to articles, the journal includes bibliographies of settlement research in archaeology, history and historical geography, covering Central Europe comprehensively and other European countries selectively. Details about subscribing to Siedlungsforschung may be Obtained from Dr Dietrich Denecke, Geographisches Institut der Universtfit G6ttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 5, 3400 G6ttingen, W. Germany.
110