Thèses de sociologie et romans à thèse

Are the rhetorical markers in sociological discourse specific and of a «scientific» nature? To tackle this delicate question, let us start by drawing up the generic characteristics of sociological texts. Let us compare these characteristics with those of a literary genre: the French «roman à thèse» from the beginning of the XX^th century. This old-fashioned and decried literature will serve as a driving bolt in order to demonstrate that a formalism sometimes asserted as scientific, does not guarantee scientific character, but just conformity to editorial requirement. To conclude, if the difference between sociological these and novel is not embedded in the text itself then, what eventually make its «scientific nature»? May be just the fragile conditions of its production and reception: debate and criticism of the sources if effectively implemented. But is this always the case?     

Singulières archives

Archives, although fundamental to historical research, are rarely appreciated in terms of their place in epistemology. The concept of «archive»-usually given in the singular-has, however, been treated by several philosophers, including most recently Paul Ric?ur. This paper focuses on Ric?ur's latest work,La Mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli, to analyse Ric?ur's use of the term «archive» and its resonances with the work of Michel Foucault and Michel de Certeau. It investigates, as well, how the concept of archive, closely linked to that of witnessing or testimony, presents certain difficulties from the vantage point of historical epistemology, and proposes another use of the term, one involving greater attention to the historicity and materiality of the «archive» in the interests of a more textual and hermeneutic interpretation.     

La Sociologie de la Musique de Max Weber Après un Siècle

In this article, the author wonders how the research program sketched out by Weber in early 1910 appears to us today, but also how it would appear if we wished to return to it one hundred years later, making the necessary modifications while remaining true to its spirit. To this end, the author envisions each of the three fundamental components of Weber’s program successively (the particular evolution of Western music, Weber’s emphasis on musical “techniques” and the fact that for Weber, the motor of change is rationalisation) and places them in the context of Weber’s work and of our contemporary concerns.     

France,Patrie, Nation: figures de lutte et discours national (XVIème–XIXème siècles)

This article explores the conceptual changes and semantic shifts of ‘patrie’ and of nation from the Renaissance up to the French Revolution and the First Empire. It emphasises the causes and consequences of both concepts' occurrence and tries to discover their fundamental differences synchronically and diachronically. A brief comparison with other European countries allows us to understand that both concepts are not typically French and highlights the very fact that they are interactive, discontinuous, and at the same time evolutionary, since they are successively inserted in a specific historical context. Above all, ‘patrie’ and nation turn out to be used more often during national and international political conflicts, even though they did not have the same connotation and register. It is therefore interesting to consider precisely what characterises both concepts, and to reflect upon the origins of the modern meaning of nation.     

Indigènes after Indigènes: post-war France and its North African troops

This article focuses on North African soldiers who served in the French army of occupation in western Germany after its liberation in 1945. Taking as its starting point Rachid Bouchareb's 2006 film, Indigènes, the article contrasts claims the film made about the memorial exclusion of the colonial soldier with his surprising centrality to French accounts of their own military exploits. Using publications issued by the army for its internal readership and archival records of the military occupation's day-to-day activities, the author argues for a modified understanding of the French Republican notion of assimilation that is able to take account of the prolific representation of the North African soldier, and his accommodation, in Cold War Germany.