Philippe Rygiel

Does International Law matter

We look here at the work and action pertaining to the regulation of migrations of international lawyers belonging to the Institut de Droit International (IDI) during the four decades before the First World War. We show that interest for the rights of foreigners in western states and the circulation of people derived both from the liberal agenda these lawyers shared and the will to regulate the interactions between states that could produce conflict. The idi devised during that period a coherent set of rules and recommendations insisting on a minimal protection of refugees, and the necessity of granting foreigners and nationals equal civil rights. The position of power the members of this liberal network shared enabled them shortly before the First World War to ensure that some of these provisions became shared legal norms, even if for a short time and only for some European states.

Histoire@numérique, Resistance is futile""

Nous vivons, et depuis plusieurs annees, au sein d’un univers numerique. Se pose alors pour l’historien la question du type d’histoire et de la nature des materiaux qu’il s’agit de mobiliser afin de proposer un recit historique pertinent a l’âge numerique. Cela suppose aussi que soient reflechies les pratiques des historiens pris eux-memes dans un univers numerique qui, de maniere rapidement changeante, oriente deja leurs pratiques autant qu’il definit les modes de circulation des discours historiens. Plusieurs debats, peu engages encore, apparaissent donc aujourd’hui necessaires. Il nous faut repenser les competences et donc la formation des praticiens de l’histoire, mais aussi les voies de la participation de l’historien aux nouveaux espaces publics qui surgissent aujourd’hui.

L’inchiesta storica in epoca digitale

Conditions under wich historians are working are transforming rapidly in the digital age. Access to archives and printed material, writing techniques and data-processing methods are quickly evolving as well as the ways historical information is accessed by historians and the general public. Traditional definitions of the discipline seem unable to allow us to apprehend the nature of some or most of these changes. By focusing not on the final products of historical activities, but on the actual tasks accomplished by historians, and their social environment, we aim here to provide a conceptual framework that allows us to better understand what is at stake for historians of the digital age.

What became of the second generation? The children of European immigrants in France between the world wars

Due to the absence of aggregated data, not much is known about the social or geographical mobility of migrants and migrant families who settled in France in the 1920s and 1930s. This article presents two case studies to consider the social mobility of the sons of European immigrants who settled in the Cher department. Frequent but slight upward mobility was the rule. Whereas the fathers were mostly semi-skilled or unskilled workers, their sons often moved to skilled factory jobs. Still belonging to the working class, they had bettered their positions and social status. The possibility of extending this conclusion to other parts of France is discussed.