Seminar by Professor Guillaume Piketty on 'French Resistance, sensibilities and emotions during the Second World War'
Published: 12 January 2023
Friday 27 January 2023 at 4.15pm
War Studies Seminar
Friday 27 January 2023, 16.15-17.45
in the Boyd Orr Builing, room 507 (Lecture Theatre C)
Professor Guillaume Piketty
French Resistance, sensibilities and emotions during the Second World War
For decades, the history of the French Resistance during the Second World War triggered lively debates and disputes, among academics notably (but not only). These discussions have nevertheless tended to obscure or marginalize our efforts to get closer to the personal experience of the resistance fighters themselves.
Professor Guillaume Piketty will deliver a lecture about how the history of sensitivities and emotions can be used to unearth these secrets by making use of sources such as private writings, photographs, drawings, and personal objects created by resisters. They offer a fresh look, from below, at what the commitment to the resistance and the fight that followed represented on a daily basis. They also make it possible to fully approach the resistant fight in prisons and concentration camps.
They further enrich the study of the long and sometimes painful process of transitioning out of resistance. Lastly, they establish a natural link with the sensitive and emotional context in which, even today, the Resistance struggle is celebrated in France.
First published: 12 January 2023