North America from the Top Down: Visions of New France

Conférence dans le cadre du colloque "North American Studies in France and Europe: State of the Art and Future Prospects" (4-6 juin 2014), organisé pour le 30e anniversaire du CENA (Centre d'Etudes Nord-Américaines).

Présentation du colloque

In 1980, François Furet established the first visiting chair in North American studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in partnership with the French-American Foundation. And in 1984, with the election of Jean Heffer as permanent full professor, the Center for North American Studies (CENA) came into being. Despite pioneering efforts in some English departments and the creation of the first university chair in North American history at the Sorbonne in 1967, there was significant disparity between the importance of the USA in the contemporary world and the weakness of North American studies in France. Over the last thirty years and under the supervision of Jean Heffer and François Weil, the CENA has become one of the leading institutions for North American scholarship in France and Europe. Its professors, researchers, and graduate students wish to mark this 30-year anniversary with an international conference that both takes stock of past research and look into new heuristic and interdisciplinary approaches in history, anthropology, sociology, geography, and political science. The goal is to further promote North American studies, which have remained marginal in the French academic world, and to participate in transatlantic dialogue with scholars of the United States and Canada.

The conference will be divided into five thematic sessions. The speakers' papers will be pre-circulated, and after being presented, will be commented upon by discussants. Three keynote lectures will also be given. The conference will be held in English.