"Combining good sense and passion..."

I studied history at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, defending my PhD thesis there in 2006. My thesis explored the connections between sport (specifically football), political identity and social identity within coal mining communities, from their heyday to crisis point and their eventual decline.

I didn’t originally intend to go into historical research. Like many, I was more interested in a career in journalism or publishing. But seeing how history and the social sciences work in practice, experiencing the joys of fieldwork and archival research, as well as a few chance encounters and intellectual bonds formed along the way, all helped convince me to continue on this path.

After my PhD, I spent some time teaching in secondary schools, before being offered my first lectureship at the University of Avignon. I thoroughly enjoyed those years in the south of France, during which time I also got to chance to discover new fields, including several that I explored as part of my work as a delegate of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), a research agency within the French Ministry of Higher Education. I also got to experience another crucial element of careers in academia: the work of directing a research institute (the Norbert Elias Centre, an interdisciplinary research centre in the social sciences).

After earning my habilitation in 2021, I applied for a professorship that was opening up at Sciences Po. The university was already home to several close colleagues of mine, whom I felt shared certain intellectual affinities that would help us to undertake a collective project.

I often say, half-jokingly, that what the fields I work in primarily have in common is that they are all in the midst of collapse, or in a period of deep crisis. Of course, that isn’t the case for football! But the rest of my research, which looks at the history of labouring communities and twentieth-century industrial societies, together with the history of socialism in the broadest sense, fits that definition relatively well. Mining, coal, the “working class”, socialism... These are all words and concepts that can seem very far removed from our twenty-first-century concerns. Ultimately, however, they all continue to cast their shadows into the present day and it is precisely that conviction which guides me in my research. Furthermore, what also feeds into my research are the profound theoretical shifts that have occurred in recent decades (within social history, environmental history, issues of identity), which shed new light on all these different areas.

A particularly crucial part of my work at the Centre for History at the moment is a major international project entitled "Deindustrialisation and the Politics of Our Time, DEPOT". This project brings together researchers from six countries across Europe and North America. It aims to study forms of contemporary deindustrialisation from a firmly transnational and comparative perspective, which is often lacking in other approaches to these phenomena. It also aims to consider deindustrialisation from the perspective of its political effects (e.g. marginalisation, the crisis of collective action and, in certain cases, the rise of nationalism). The events of recent years make us think that this research might not only be intellectually rich, but could help to shed light on several major debates within the public sphere.

It’s more than interesting, it’s totally fascinating work! Unsurprisingly, and like all of my predecessors, what I enjoy most about the role is the direct contact I have with students. It’s very gratifying to support them and to see them blossoming into fully fledged researchers, or else taking  what they have learned through their research to embark on new paths.

With Master’s students, the role involves working with all colleagues at the Centre for History to support them in their first proper experience of historical research, and to assist them in defining their dissertation topic. It’s an important time for them and for us. It’s also an opportunity for them to work out whether they want to continue on to further research or to use what they’ve learnt during their Master’s in other avenues, for example in the cultural sector, the media, the civil service or in business. The Master’s in History equips students with a wealth of different skills and opens up very varied pathways.

Meanwhile, at PhD level, students also bring me a considerable amount: through their research topics, their questions, the initiatives they develop etc. It really is a two-way street.

First and foremost, it’s about choosing a subject that is both sufficiently ambitious and sufficiently realistic (particularly in terms of archival access), and a good thesis supervisor. These are two vital elements for succeeding in your PhD, and  candidates need to think very carefully about them in advance.  

There are also academic keys, of course: being organised; having an interest in archives and writing, without which nothing is possible; enjoying debates too. At PhD level, you know longer study history as a stable academic entity; rather, you make history, keeping in mind the shifts and critiques common to all scientific disciplines.

There are also other important keys. The PhD in History at Sciences Po is not the solitary exercise it may be presented as. On the contrary, it has a profoundly collaborative dimension: through discussions within the Centre for History, through the contact you have with other researchers, through your participation in seminars and symposia etc. Those are crucial factors that candidates really need to take into account. At the same time, the PhD is also a chance to gain greater intellectual autonomy and to begin forging your own path as a researcher. That can’t happen without a degree of uncertainty and doubt at certain points. Candidates just have to remind themselves that it’s very normal to have doubts and that their supervisors and the wider doctoral studies team are right there with them during these periods!

We don’t view doctoral candidates as students so much as researchers in the making. It’s therefore totally normal and legitimate that they are fully integrated into the Centre for History. It gives them access to numerous centre resources (shared offices, administrative support etc.). Even more importantly, it allows them to meet and work directly with one another, within seminars, at events we organise, both with other researchers at the centre and with its countless guest researchers. There is a very diverse pool of backgrounds, methods and contacts, which is highly beneficial for PhD candidates.

Combining good sense and passion

Besides the things I already mentioned above – choosing a subject and a thesis supervisor – I think the most crucial thing, in the current context, is to be able to combine good sense and passion. Academia these days is increasingly diverse, international and competitive, which is not to say that it’s inaccessible! All that means you have to be realistic, relatively flexible and accept that your plans may come to evolve over the course of your PhD (that’s the sensible part). At the same time, research is a profession of passion: you should only embark on it if it’s really what you want to do (the Master’s is generally a good test of that). If that genuinely is the case, then read (a lot), explore, don’t be afraid to seek out new avenues and ask new questions and, above all, don’t lose sight of the intellectual pleasure in what you are doing. You’ll see that research is a wonderful career!