¿Los estudiantes olvidados de Europa? La historiografía sobre los estudiantes franceses del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX
| Autor | Antonin Dubois |
| Cargo | École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux (Paris) |
| Páginas | 156-192 |
CIAN-Revista de Historia de las Universidades, 25/1 (2022), 156-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2022.6996
ISSN: 1988-8503 - www.uc3m.es/cian
Europe’s Forgotten Students? The Historiography
of 19th and early 20th Century Students in France
¿Los estudiantes olvidados de Europa?
La historiografía sobre los estudiantes franceses
del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX
Abstract Historians interest in uni-
versity history of the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries has been more limited in
the case of France than for other countries.
This interest has been even weaker with re-
gard to students, a situation that only began
to change at the beginning of the twentyirst
century However pioneering work could
have launched a research dynamic from the
s onwards as the irst part of this article
shows and explains. In its second part, this
paper analyzes the main themes addressed by
the historiography of students in France. After
underlining some of its persistent limitations,
proposals for future research will be made.
Key words France, student, university,
grande école, historiography, Third Republic.
Resumen: El interés de los historiado-
res por la historia universitaria del siglo XIX
y principios del siglo XX ha sido más limitado
en el caso de Francia que en el de otros países.
Este interés ha sido aún más débil con res-
pecto a los estudiantes, situación que solo co-
menzó a cambiar a principios del siglo XXI Sin
embargo, un trabajo pionero podría haber ini-
ciado una dinámica de investigación a partir
de la década de como muestra y explica
la primera parte de este artículo. En su segun-
da parte, este trabajo analiza los principales
temas abordados por la historiograía de los
estudiantes en Francia. Tras subrayar algunas
de sus persistentes limitaciones, se realizarán
propuestas para futuras investigaciones.
Palabras clave Francia, estudiante,
universidad grande école historiograía Ter-
cera República
*antoninduboisehessfr
Recibido:
Aceptado:
02/02/2022
03/05/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2022.6996
Antonin Dubois*
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Institut de recherche
interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux (Paris)
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7744-111X
EUROPE’S FORGOTTEN STUDENTS? THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY 157
CIAN, 25/1 (2022), 156-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2022.6996
In Christophe Charle described French students as des oubliés de
lhistoire forgotten by history1 In fact, at the time, almost no research
on French students between and had been conducted During
the ifteen years following Charles remark a few considerable works were
issued, but the history of students of the nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
tury remained an unexplored ield On the contrary studies on the second
half of the twentieth century especially on the student movement of
were lourishing This slowly began to change with the publication in
of Pierre Mouliniers book on students during the nineteenth century2 In
his paper on French university history published in CIAN in Moulinier
although one of the very few specialists of French students of the period con-
sidered here, offered a very general state of the art on a much longer period.
Therefore he could not go into detail and present the speciicities of French
student history.3 This essay aims to do so, focusing on students in France
between the end of the Napoleonic era and World War II
I argue that France’s students of this period are not forgotten anymore,
but are still largely disregarded by historians who mainly consider speciic
groups and periods. This scarcity of the French historiography is even more
striking in comparison with the research led on students of other time peri-
ods especially from the s onwards and in other European countries5
I will present some explanations for this neglect linked with the history of
French higher education and how historians studied it irst of all the ab-
sence of both strong university and university history writing traditions. This
article accordingly includes students from universities (called étudiants)
as well as other higher education institutions, especially the grandes écoles
1 Christophe Charle, “Les étudiants et l’affaire Dreyfus,” Cahiers Georges Sorel
All translations from French into English are from the author I thank Emily Sharp for her lin-
guistic corrections of my paper.
2 Pierre Moulinier, Naissance de létudiant moderne XIXe siècle (Paris: Belin, 2002).
3 Pierre Moulinier A Review of Recent Research on the History of Universities and Stu-
dents in France,” CIANRevista de Historia de las Universidades no June
available at httpsdoiorgcian all links veriied on
In this paper, “France’s students” or “students in France” refer to all students enrolled
at French higher learning institutions regardless of their nationality while “French students”
only designates students of French nationality.
5 As shown by the introduction and the other articles of this special issue, and, for the
research on the second half of the twentieth century, see among many others Didier Fischer,
Lhistoire des étudiants en France de à nos jours (Paris: Flammarion, 2000), Jean-Philippe
Legois, Alain Monchablon and Robi Morder, ed., Cent ans de mouvements étudiants (Paris: Syl-
lepse JeanPhilippe Legois Marina Marchal and Robi Morder ed Démocratie et citoy
ennetés étudiantes depuis (Paris: Syllepse, 2020).
158
CIAN, 25/1 (2022), 156-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2022.6996
ANTONIN DUBOIS
(called élèves like in the secondary degree The duality between faculties
and grandes écoles is at the core of the French higher education system since
the late eighteenth, and even more so since the early nineteenth century.
After the suppression of the Ancien Régimes universities in fa-
culties were recreated between and as part of Napoleons Impe-
rial University”. Five types of faculties existed: theology, law, medicine, scien-
ces, and letters/arts.6 The Napoleonic system established a complete state
monopoly over the education system. After the liberalization of primary
and secondary education an law allowed the creation
of private institutions of higher learning, which led to the creation of priva-
te catholic “universities” in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Angers, and Toulouse. Already
in the republicans reestablished the state monopoly over the right to
award degrees and to use the name “university”. After long debates, faculties
were inally gathered together into universities in Fifteen universities
existed on the metropolitan soil in the U niversity of Alger was oficially
founded. The grandes écoles are special higher schools aiming to form higher
civil servants, civil and military engineers, teachers. Many of these schools
were established in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and still exist
today, to name only four of the most famous Parisian ones: École des Ponts
et chaussées École des mines École polytechnique a
military school since École normale supérieure current
name since Private schools were also founded during the second half
of the nineteenth century, especially in the industrial and business domains.
Furthermore, the École libre des sciences politiques (Institut d’études politi-
ques de Paris since its nationalization in inaugurated in played
a signiicant role in the formation of the political elite More generally French
elites were mostly, and still are, educated in these schools. Some lycées as
well as private institutions began to develop during the nineteenth century
a two-year program after the last year of secondary school to prepare the
competition (concours) to enter these schools, which became the classes pré
paratoires aux grandes écoles (preparatory classes).
6 Professors of the Facultés des lettres taught literature, philosophy, history, geography,
classical and modern languages, and social sciences courses. Christophe Charle, La Répu
blique des universitaires Paris Seuil chapter Évelyne Héry Les facultés des lettres
de province dans la tourmente des réformes de lenseignement supérieur An
nales de Bretagne et des Pays de lOuest no
Paul Pasquali, Héritocratie Les élites les grandes écoles et les mésaventures du mérite
(Paris: La Découverte, 2021).
George Weisz The Emergence of Modern Universities in France (Princeton:
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