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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Besançon at the decolonization time : the decolonization process studied a medium-sized French ciy from 1945 to the 1960s

subject

description

This doctoral thesis aims at assessing the impact of the decolonisation process on the population of Besançon. The study of an urban community involves taking an interest in various historiographical fields (such as the political and cultural history of both colonisation and decolonisation, as well as the Cold War). From a people's history perspective, our purpose is to grasp how people experienced decolonisation (how they understood, felt, thought, acted). This research covers the period from 1945 up to the 1960s. A two-angled approach has been applied, including comparisons on local and national levels and a thorough investigation of Besançon's social environment in and of itself. The diversity of sources (official sources, organised groups, press articles, interviews) and their comparison have allowed us to draw several conclusions. The example of Besançon demonstrates that the decolonisation process affected French society, even in areas that could be considered peripheral. It was actually less the replica of the nation's reality following a Parisian leadership than the sharing of a series of collective experiences on a nation-wide scale. These shared experiences may allow for variations, undoubtedly not restricted to the area of Besançon, which do indeed reflect local characteristics: the strength of social Catholicism, left-wing Catholics joining forces with Communists, the radical choices of key protagonists (e.g. the Rapiné trial). Finally, the Algerian War so dramatically influenced Besançon's experience of decolonisation that it created a singular history, different from the national narrative on some specific points.