Discourse, Narrative, and National Identity: The Case of France KYLE A. GREENWALT ‘Michigan State Uniersiy [France provides a ideal content for boginning to understand how schooling acts ‘students undentanding oftheir national identity. In this aril, Kyle Greowalt examines the discursive practices through which a group of French sevondary Students fonsruced their national identity. Following an appraisal ofthe hstorographical Ulerature of ninetenthcentury Fronch nation building, the author proceeds with a ‘phenomenological analysis ofthe dcours aden sed (0 make sense of hl ved experince th teachers and schooling. Gren evaluates th continual presence ‘and salience of traditional versions of Fronch notional ident, suggesting the ned to reconsider the rltionshipe among social solidarity plewaion, and national der {ity and calling ina question the ememporary release of sructral representa Ciena of he nations Fornsive years ago, historian Eric Hlobsbawn (1962) proclaimed, “The prog: ess of schools and tniverstes measures that of nationalis (p. 160). Though this is only ane possible reading of lage body of lerature, Hosa’ text ‘an he read as marking an opening moment in subsequent debates about nationalism, Given both the prominence of compulsory puble schooling in the explanations generated by this body of literature and the evolving sz ‘ss ofthe nationstate ina globalizing worl, the question ofthe relationship between schooling and nation-building remains an iaportant one for educs- ‘ional research. This paper revisits important problems raised by the rch theo- ‘ring around these most commonplace concepts—natin, nationalism, nation Inuldingand explores the viability ofthe national ea in an age of economic and socal change. Tanalyzctheconnectionsbetween compulsoryschooling and nation-building by uring tothe ease of France, an exemplary historical casein the consider ation of nationbuilding. As one promineat historian has noted, “The French fuse so mich abot the nation because it isa living problem, became one whenPiseure, Nerang and National enti they set up the ation as.an ideal, remained one because Hey found they could not realize that ideal” (Weber, 1976, p. 112). This article akes advantage of | that ssn, Aswe shall se, the case of France provides North American read ‘rs wth two important points about which they can gaia muh insight. Fst, France hasbeen the home to an ongoing hstorcal debate about the meaning ff “the nation” that continues to the present day. Secon, and perhaps more limportant for my purposes here, the case of France demonstrates the many ways in which a state apparatus can attempt wo asimilate a diverse population {no a single and homogenous national whole. Indeed, current debates about the role of Mealime in French society can only be understood in light of this ‘national past—a past thae provides a slial comparative perspective for North [American societies that continue to struggle with questions of national ie i, racial equity, and social juste by reviewing the national idea asi has been constituted in France, janship to compulsory public schooling, and the role of dhe school teacher inthis process. then move oa to examine a group of French students Inthe context ofthe local school to show how specially national formas of socal Identification get accentuated. In opposii to the notion that enacted bhisory and civic instruction make a considerable difference in the national ‘dentties constructed by young people, explore the reproduction of naion- lized subjectivties by paying particular atention to the manner in which par ‘icipants draw on experiences aeiside the classroom to appropriate broader iseusive and narrative strategies for constructing and performing a national “Annaional identity is more than words ona passport. National identi need’ to be conceived ss something more than a satieasription, National identity tan sel be seen as something contexcualy performed and reproduced—what Instorian Michael Billig (1995) has called “banal nationalism.” Ukimatey, the “panties” {wish to explore are those that link teachers and students. Hw s {that French stadents “read” the poskionaliy and everyday behaviors of their {ecachers, ad what cv values an behaviors ae learned in the process? This Tocus on the banality of the everyéay—informed, a tis, by my own position sha researcher foreign co the French national context—provides new isights Jno the workings of French public schooling ad, in turn, raises questions for [Noreh American teachers researchers, and teacher educators. Qu'st-ce qu'une Nation? Nation, Nationalism, and Nation-Building in France Tiportant literature subsequent to Hobsbawm's 1962 formulation—by Hobe shawn again (1983, 1903), as well as Ernest Gellner (1988) and Benedict Anderson (1992)—notes dhe erucil role of schooling in both generating and ‘uisaining a national imagination, Within the field of education, there isa ‘ery strony body of international work in history education that has erieally 199,Horeard Educational Revie ‘explored the links between school history and national identity. This work dha emerged from research and theorizing about schooling in North America (Barton & Levstik, 1998; Rosenzweig & Thelen, 1998; Seixas, 2000), East Asia (Kan & Vickers, 2002), the United Kingdom (Barton, 20013, 20018; Daddow, 2006; Shemile, 2000), and continental Europe (Audigier, 2005; Bories, 2000; Lantheaume, 2008; Leew-Roord, 2000; Tutiswe-Guillon, 2007). Implicit in this literature isthe assumption that the school history euvieulim fa erucial vehicle for the nation building endewvor! ‘Within the fed of scholsrship on French nation bulldin, the ealy seminal work of Hobshawm (1983 and 1993), Gellner (1983), and Anderson (1992) has been continued and mos effecively refined by David Bell (2008). Netion- alism, as it has come to be characterized by these four authors, isa project ‘whose mission seeks civic integration-—chat i, nationalism is understood as an explicit program for nation-building. Ulimately, then, a vertical model emerges from chisIteratue: within each state, aset af elite works to bind the population into a united and homogenovs body that shares similar modes of speaking (the elimination of local dialects, of which there were many i nine. teenth-century France) and consumption (the spread af internal markets of trade), where religion is gradually relegated tothe realm of private experience {he “disenchantment” of the world) and where secular bureaucracies work {o forma strong and centralized sate apparatus. Naionaism as thus defined is primarily produet ofthe later nineteenth century, though the groundwork for such pheniomena was clearly developing centuries caller (Marx, 2003}. In thi article Tfolloethe work of Bell (2003) in distinguishing between the terms nation and nationalism. For Bell, the se of the term nation reflects a larger eighteenth-century shift in how people living within the kingdom of France experienced communal Ife. He writes about the tris sie nation, ati, ciilsation, and pub, that each eseibed entity which i not owe es esntence to any religious or politcal authori or indeed to any prnepleexeroal to tsele anything, ech was c- {ined at something tat existed prior o both poles nd ongenied religion Sd that detineted elementary forms of hua elton (py 2) Bell locates the rise ofthe nation among a constellation of other concepts, ll ‘of which sought ro displace the notions ofa divinely ordered and historically ‘anctioned monarchy. Yet it was not until the French Revolution passed the task of governing. to the Third Estate that another crucial shift took place. National sentient. developed through social interactions among the iterate elite, led tothe pare doxialvealization thatthe nation—the united and homogenous body of the [people—did not yet fully exist. Nationalism, a state-based project to be cea: aed hence gained ground. Ax Bell (2003) states: tational snimen! and national are by no means the sume thing, even if ‘modern dheaviss frequently conflate them. More teh 8 eetinent acon 96Diuoune, Neratin, end Nationa entity ani pole program which hats gat not merely to pric o defend, oF strengthen a nation, but actively to construe one, casting isan a materi {nua fosdamnenaly ne form. (P-3) ‘This isan important cstinetion Identification with one's national identity ‘nas ebbed and flowed over time, and sch identification was often subord hate to aher ways of locating onc’ elf within a particular comming In his ‘vay, prior tothe great nineteenth cennnry waves of nation-building, French lites would not likely have probiematized the “difference” of others ling longride them. An intentional program of nation-building changed allthis. Hence, when we speak of nationalism, we must understand that we are tlle ing about a deliberate project whereby uniformity and homogenization are ‘imposed across a poptlation ‘A common national language is certainly a prerequisite for any nationalistic program—one speaks French rather than Breton oF Lemosin. Yet French the: friting about the nation has noted another criterion aswel: collective socal memory. That is, i addition to language, nationalism depends on specific socal practices that mobilize common, national memories and images (Birm- ‘baum, 2001; Hunt, 2004; LeGoft, 1992; Nora, 1986; Rousso, 1991). French Protesancs do not (indeed, according to nationalist programs, should not) remember & specifically French Protestant history, one that places seminal Importance ot the religious massacres of 1572, Indeed, ifthe Saint Barthe- lomew's Day massacre Is remembered at all, nationalists remember it within the context ofa national civil war As Ernest Reman (1996), the founding father of French theorues of the nation, famously argied before am audience at te Sorbonne in 1882 “The eserves nation i that alt nds hae many things in comsen. and dso that they have forgone many things No Feaeh cdzen knows wheter he Ika Bargunian or Visigoth, et every Freneh een has o ave forgoten the masacre of Stine Bartholomew. (p43) Among the primary tools employed by the French sate to unify its popt> latioa’s discourse and collective remembering isthe compulsory elementary school and is ey agents the satitteurs” A variety of tertiary educational Insitutions in latenineteenth-century France, in addition to focusing on the training of teachers, aimed to develop a body of esearch knowledge intended to create a more effective elementary teaching corps (la adage nationale) Pedagogical courses and professorships fst appeared in France at this ime (Weisz, 1983). This focus 0m 4 unified elementary teaching corps marked the principal nation-building ssacegy of nineteenth-century France. Indeed as Weber (1976) has nated, the French “revolutionaries of 1789 had replaced ‘old terms like schoolmaster, regent, and recto, with institu, because dhe [elementary] teacher was intended o iste the nation” (p. 32). hough the confrontational and cofonizing role of the nineteenth-ceneury village ins Infor ca sometimes be overstated, the tteratire nonetheless agrees that this 197Harvard Escalon evico lneteemth-century teacher—almost alvaysa man and, from 1889 on, granted {he satis of acl servant—played a ey role in the spread ofa specif ssational form af collective memory infin de siécle France (Meyers, 1980; Weber, 1976).+ ‘The Ferry Laws of 1881-1882, which provided for Fee, obligatory, and secu lar elementary education forthe French population, brought o each village jin France ‘missionaries forthe republic." The cursiclar subject with the moat general atcbly we 3p What we are going fo do, and the teachers mere ith, they were with esr: Who organized the dent to goto the atria? ‘Thiry Hewes students a the ase, wae only sees. Aerward there were “he tlabor] unions. but dey eame ater Before the unions we ete ony sudenss Thee was less orgaiation, We need the unions to help ws pnt Tt was the students who, with the close cooperation ofthe teachers, ook the initiative to form a representative body Like the Third Estate—which in 1789 took on the tide of National Assembly and then proceeded to obtain support from the clergy and the nobilty—the students of Lyede Jules Verne constituted themselves asa representative assembly, thereby imagining that they represented the common good of the nation (as opposed te their own ‘or theit generation's individual interes). Inviting the support of their teach ersmthose who tractionally exercised power in thee everyday experiences these students borrowed the standard historical narrative of Prench republe ‘anism, theveby making sense of thei own lfe experience: 06Discours, Narato, end National Ientiy Ami-CPE radicalism, which succeeded when the goverment withdrew the reform bill on April 10, 2006, allowed these students an apprenticeship in ‘republicanism, This apprenticeship drew on both the example and support of teachers. Teachers not only helped suidents form the general assembly Dut also ‘ook the opportunity openly encourage and praise the students, while also helping ease the consequences of mising so mach chs time. Liliane noted: “There was a great sldariy ne year hetween cache and stdents beease the teachers, cetin teachers created an Tere site, s0 that we could ge enight ‘pon our courses: Because when the school was ocupie, there were no longer any courses. Therefore, certain teacher tne thi ate to help wage emght oP in our courses, vo hat we Weren't penalized, been it lasted eary 3 month, Certain teacher talked to implied thatthe current generation of students did not go Tar enough. During one class I observed, Madeleine, a history teacher, contrasted the eurrent generation of student with that of May 1968, Ina lecture om the evens ofthat yea, she remacked that the stages atthe University of Nanterre had provoked the government by pushing the Minis {er of Youth and Sports into a svimuming pool uring 2 vst to eampus She almost wistfully told her class tha they could never go that Es, givem the rlar tive precaviousness of their employment prospects In exploring the larger meaning oftheir experiences, many of these partic pants made direct reference tothe early phases ofthe French Revolution. It ‘as this event chat defined ther eivie identity, that served asa mnodelto-which French republicans could reuurn again snl ngain Teak sa, t's pact of the Instory of France, it goes back to tie French Revolution, the fight for socal rights. The French model goes back to 1789, Is really all I can say about ie Similarly, Thierry daimed, When se ou history. understand most of he fet about wy othink We fd same of the worst leaders ofthe county, meal of history, Lads XIV of course of he hing were lt ba A ew people were quite happy, the most part of people were ving in very bed conden Like a county of Ac, tke Somalia today. Andi waa ery Bad county, very rough ite Fr the Pench, ‘And one day. they elcid that as enon --- There thi et of revoir ‘on sl n ou loud and in our fetnge Drawing on a romantciing historical dicours, Thierry saw “he people” on journey toward justice, His isa tniversalling discourse, one that equates the France of Lous XIV with Somalia today. The discourse says that again an gain the people can be reborn through the remembrance and reenactment of revolton, By invoking history, which they generallysaw as an objective discipline, these republican students were similar invoking theishicory teachers, whom they alto sy as generally objective. This, interestingly, went against the grain of how the history teachers saw themselves. The histor) teachers I met st Lycée JulesHarvard Educational Resins Verne were quite aware of the problems involved in doing historical seholar- stip. Yet republican students could have a eilfcule time seeepting thie, as finishing my interview with Evelyne, with Emilie alo presen, when Lucien, «history teacher, broke into our conversation," He was making & point for the suents bur also drawing on his knowledge of the United Sates to make links with me, the American researcher: Ei think is necessary to ery an be ajc you ca i istry I dhink {hat teachers, | ikea history teacher who realy el things ete wee, ‘And then ater I ean decide how to make ef You cj seh Sve they've got pot of wew, bu i they jot tell t however they woul likes dangerous arin Te curtialurs e altesdy oes Stns Yes a. Laven The cuecaum is politically correct. fa the United States there beer tainly moce bey fr example, certain people think tat Rocsevet p> ‘voked the Japanese Braye Yes... This way of twang that allows the teacher tobe for or agaist Something, isa fad] method, foresampl, Lean sy “rie this ely ‘The goal eto be obectne cin: Benin book, thete i the choice of ext. choice of photos. ies not ‘ewe «fo the United States, the view ofthe Indians has chaiged, for example in the cinema i's clear Ia some old fms he nan west ‘changed. And in recent cenauses here ae ot more people recs their ncn ross, ithe cen during the 1990s ted in one dvection, 1c is peshaps easy to imagine why students might have been uncomfortable ‘vith this discussion. fteachers are the ones fiom whom students are to leat Fepublican values, values that are supporedly universal an acknowledgment fof the teacher’ role in filtering the history curriculum is woubling. Teachers are politically oriented, that i true; bt they are oriented toward a universal, Fepablicaa Left—a position that admits no bis, only progress toward the (ane versal) common good." Viewing republicanism as just one valle among oth: cers, and ceachers as only one interest group among others, jeopardizes the way in which chese stndents conceive of thei own national ideatity an the history that produced ie Ics this nagging doubt abous the universality and justness of one’s own set of valucs, choices, and actions that most strongly marked the republican slscourse (and linked it oppositonally to other discourses). Nearly all patil pants expressed this undercurrent of doubt, usualy as a erique of other st ‘dents participation in the antsCPE demonstrations. Thierry sai, ‘Sometimes you se the general asembhy'ke 2 game for exeryboty the adults are very happy co be of stk, because Kt reminds them of May of 8. And the 508isan, Nerve, and Nationa Hetty ‘dren ave very happy because dey think we ae ing 0 ke & May of 68 Emilie observed, “I felt a tile lke everybody was curtied slong by the crowd.” Paulete stated, “The demonstrations were too siperficial.. becatse the people who were demonstrating didn't know why they were demoustsa Ic was for dodging cases, or becaie they liked the demonstration.” x political work could be eared one without fll cousniinent| 10 uaditional republican ial snl the sense tht the meaning of both lived and historical experiences cat and do conflict, left thee republican students ‘eeply ambivalent Discursve Soategy Two: The Social Pluralis—A Discoune About French ‘entity That Recognizes the Prench Meling Pot ‘The opening phase of the French Revolution in 1789 provide! the template with which che republican students understood their own lived expericices in 2005 and out of which they constructed thelr ii this brie cheonology, of course, was the Revolutionary Terror of 1708-1794 Hace, republican students did not simply borrow a schemata tiggested by their classroom textbooks; rather, they omitted certain inconvenient aspects Of the French historical record for the sake of building a usable past. Sich missions can presumably operate on all levels (from the highly intentional to the completely unconscious), but, generally peaking, the set of omission sworke to preserve the continuity of republican France sud it sternal wales ‘These values may be betrayed by cestain historical actors at certain historical moments (eg, the use of tervor dusing the Revolution, collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War Il or the use of torture during the Algerian ‘War), but never are these values dhemscRes implicated by any particular bis torical actor oF event ‘Absent from the republican narrative was a host of events having a seer ingly profound impact on contemporary French society the end of France's colonial empire its postwar economic boom, and the death of its revolution. fy ideal, Likewise ahecnt was the rise of the European Union and its impact ‘on French institutional ite (aw, currency, and employment prospects). Unlike in 1788, when historiography, pedagogy, and mass media Nad ample time to ‘impose 2 particular st of meanings arsind an event, iis clear these more contemporary events exists 2 set of strongly contested meanings ia France— ‘raing strength from the Revolution but altering its received meaning in novel ways "This absence was addressed in the discourse of social pluralism taken up by a second group of students atthe Lycée Jules Verne. Their stories contained 4am implicit critique of the traditional republican discourse and its narrative ‘of revolution. Social pluralist discourse was about a revised form of politics, ‘oftentimes one that tok the form of an incipient mtcalturalism. Most cre 509Harvard EAatonal Revie ly 1L400k form in how these suudents viewed their teachers: a equals whose interests and views were neither objective nor universally shared, rather than 1s strie political mentors. Iisa if these social pliralistpariipants were com memorating the strcet pamphlets created doring May 1968 when stant pro- testers demanded that their teachers relate to them in mote informal ways Five of the eleven partcipants—Frangoise, Sylvie, Marie, Michel, and Audcey--moblized a social plurals: discourse in aur interviews, Interestingly. they were at times quite estcal af the aneiCPE demonstrations as well a of ‘hei teachers. For example, Frangoise told me, “I though it was just the block ade, ic was nothing important really... the CPE, knew it was nt for the his tory of France.” Andrey sated the cae more strongly, especially regarding het teachers and their role as politcal mentors, She commietited, “The French Revolution is aught [asf] W's the anything... wheres it i some thing very hore, eau so Dlody, the ea istry (lang the Re Ion ike thin) actualy fs proving the sentiment of revo, which particulary French. You can see that at the moment, tenchers ae demoiraing ‘We can se in the teachers room. all the mallsare conered with pole er fund [eachers} work eighteen lors 3 werk ies nothing In this way, Audrey ins, in a particularly revealing way, the teaching of history ‘and a teacher's larger socal identi by mobilizing discourse quite eiial of traditional republican vertien!™ ‘A common practice among the social pluralist was t reflect on dine spent with teachers onside dhe elassroom. Four participants referenced tcps abroad, particularly clas excursions, and were clear about the purpose of such tes ‘They helped create certain espri de corps amnong the students assigned 10 4 particular class and also provided the opporaunit fr stidents to get to Know their teachers. These suidents described dir sclationships to teachers in & slightly different manner than the republican stdents di: they viewed the feather not so much as political mentor but asa potential social equal The ‘exenpresent power ofthe teachers in their institutional incarnation was ot so much desired and pursued a it was displaced. Consider Sylvie, who told me bout her class rip to Spain and student hikes along the medieval pilgrinn age route of Sandago de Compostls tn fcc ialtoned the cas to come together ecaite we went rey tlometers ‘ich day anal ofthis walking It Really lowes for everyone a cornton expe ence. We alked with our teachers oo, oublde ofthe cls, therefore, diferent ‘ype of relation, we eu gett low ther. talked ot wi shen ‘This trip to Spain revealed a new side ofthe teachers to their students, a side they were not permicted to see either in elas or inthe assemblies organized during the CPE provests “Marie mentioned this same clas trip. In her case, the trip provided a new perspective on the inner life ofthe teacher. In the following exchange, heDiscourse, Nerve, ned Nationa ety told me that “we {the students) could vst all we wanted we could leave at night, to meet other people, 1 goin bats, in pubs" aware So ike going to the pb, ling yu go OW nigh, tha Wasn't Spite For you? Mane Not really becaze teachers wh [accompanied] us are col cis they ‘ate serfs, bt we sein thee perso tha hey, they Know that me are yong, and we need to goin ars, to go co pares. Two ke 0 ‘gan, and teachers were nice with ws when you retried, twas die {nt The atmosphere was move (eased Treas we worked it but ‘eas ane relaonship withthe teacher, because we know them Beer than before we lef In contrast to the role ofthe teacher in the republican narratives, the social plurlists described teachers at potentially “cool” people oxtside ofthe elas- room, people who are, in Marie's words, “young in general” and "remember that they were [also once) young.” Despite the variety in the discourse of the social pluralist, one erm gen: ceraly Feoceurre in their interviews and immediately engaged my attention: “melting pot.” To many in the United Staes, the phrase is assoclated with attempts to asimilate immigrants and has a negative connotation, Yet sch gatvty was not evident in the interview context withthe French social p= rai, There, co speak of the melting pot (le melingpot as opposed to the more properly Fench phrase le aru fencau) was to spenk of openness (0 pew experiences, new cultures, ad new ponies for Fane ‘Gompace this valorization of the French melting pot with the discourse of the republican student, which was silent about both the headscarf con- Troversiet and the riots in French Bealienes {auburbs) in November 2008. While republican pardeipants someumes inserted references 19 the dangers ‘of extreme nationalism (such as the extreme Right pac), the Font National), they generally made no reference fo either the rots Oto movements to make France a more mulicaltural society. Neither did any of them mention the French melding pot {found thisslence telling. While the republican students iewed their oan acivisn in 2006 as justified by the events of 1789, the social iit concern with inequigyin the French Danlius commemorated a mule teulural nation of France—a notion that has ite root in the anticolonialsn snd Third Worlds of postrar France: For the socal pluralist participants, the shame of the November 2005 vioss was exemplified by the possibiliy that Nicolae Sarkory—who in his role as head of the national police ealled the 2008 rioters “rail” (seum)—could hye elected president of France. Weute, during an informal discussion, wold me thar Sarkozy were tobe elected president, she would immigrate to London {arplace she tad vised on a las tip), where, according to he, "You can see dian people walking down the eet, andl Broadcasting the news.” For her Ihiend and classmate Francoise, the station was similar:Harvard Elveatinal Revie ‘Tha’ what was realy great, with the people caste in my opinion, (London) Isa greateiy We aid this in clase ite fend, she realy Toes Eagloh ad onlon, because for her i's a ig meting pt of exleares,elzations, any people fom al aroun the world This sie, ths view of England veal are: tre forus. London represented a way of Hie and provided a counterpoint to what the social pluralists perceived as a great shortcoming in French society” Reveal ing when T asked these students about the social versity evident in Pat ‘hey replied that they had never been there, A connection to the traditional national power was absent: yet, rather than “al back” on particu: 1, religious, or regional identities, these saidents instead made vse ‘of other lived experiences to reimagine a national community thst would be more open to cultura differences, Michel also used the melting pot analogy bt in a slightly different context Rather than tak about his teachers, Michel tld me about his experience a & stent jonas forthe regional newspaper Pres Orton 1 spend 2 tot of ie seporting on the cultural scene. On the weekends 1 go sce something atthe theater of go meet withthe French pola! pate, c= ent events things ike that You spend dy wh dct, everyday you meet somebody Like the other participant in this study, Michel's discourse addressed rela- Uionships wih adults he met ia the course of bis extrcurriewar interests. In addition to noting interactions with polivieal learers, he scented i joy at ‘meeting “just realy simple people” esac: And you like this job ft? Mice Enoemousy, Because being journals iswork that ther ou exerynbere “Tha i's hard Sill ou meet 1 of diferent people people fom ow of diferent backgroutls: Wi, Black, Aah, Ctl, meting Reseach Tiss importnt fo you? ‘Mice Ws important speak with people who have diferent cuties, In considering this excerpt, the reader should recall that racial discourses strongly counter the republican tradition, indeed, until eecenty, collecting atistis on the racial demographics of France was illegal (and ie sll highly sestscted), So I found Michel’ words quite sting. Among. all the students {interviewed Michel came closest using an explicily racilized discourse, fone that names whiteness as well as blackness, atd thereby started to recog: nie the privilege inherent in being recognized sta “real” (ces white) French For the students I have characterized as the social pluraiss, France isa ‘society in perpetual need af reform. Quite common in their discursive prac tice was the use of another nation —one perceived at more open to differ sigDixcouns, Neratin and National entity lence and 8s a melting pot of peoples—so gain greater insights inc the stare lof contemporary Freuch society. More importantly the overs republican acti ism oftheir teachers (and fellow classmates) was either evtqued ae ignored, ‘with teachers instead viewed a8 concretely embodied and socially positioned iiembers of a traditional republican hierarchy who would hopefully come to recognize stadents a8 social equal. The social plurals experimentation ‘with discourses thar ertque the inherited French taditions of republicanism, ‘bjecive knowledge, and revolutionary progress commemorated a different version of France: one where social progress is allan ideal but where the strier republican route 9 itis reappraised, North American Prospects for Intervening in Collecsve Social Memory Several paradoxes emerged for me, as an American researcher, in my study of| French student experiences. To begin with, I had to abandon the notion that history and elves are separate areas of research and learning. Historically, his tory teachers have been charged with both the tanamision of knowledge and the ineuleation of national values. While these twin purposes have come into Prete by doeuents Pups ave expected to compl withthe teachers agends ‘Teacher nk questions, dey acceptor eet answers completo eoeret Te sind ineeporte he i thir on diene (p13) asHavoard Evetional Review ‘Tutus Gullon notes that in France, as elsewhere, waning for cizenship, public schooling, and theories of knowledge are intimately related in theory yet contradictory in practice. As such, she understands the effects of history teaching and citizenship education as mixed. She goes onto note that French teachers tend to resolve this dilemma by pointing to a certain natural maw ration process: knowledge acquired will in time lead to application of that knowledge, For Tutiaux-Guillon, this resolution implies tha if the French ‘anon isto be reformed, i will have to address nat only the state-mandated curriculum but elasroom pedagogical issues aswel. In this, 1 agree. But what dna interested me in this epresentation of French classrooms its Bindnest to something that I as an outside American researcher, am perhaps in a bet {er position to observe and demonstrate: the compliaentary “curleulat” at ‘work a students “reac” their teachers, “The data presented here demonstrate thatthe power exercived by French teachers i not uniformly experienced by sudenis.Oa the one hand, a group ‘of participants in this study narrated their personal experiences of schoo! ing via the mechanism of a waditional French republican narrative and is attendant discursive features. Thats, the meaning of these participant expe: ences was tied to practices that served to commemorate the founding event ‘of republican France, the Revolution of 1789, The self chat is (re)produced in and through such practices is one that appears 19 me as a positive social ‘good in that i brings into the realm of the posible a notion of citizenship that stresses national solidarity and civie activism. Yet it has lind spot when comes to social diversi. am aspee: I found les than appealing ‘On the other hand, there was aso 2 group of participants in this study who narvated their personal experiences of schooling via an alternative se of di Cursive practices, ones [have tied to-a broad se of events in postwar France. ‘Among the social pluralist, T demonstrate te degree to which they commem- forate a “diferent” national past, one that reapprases the republican tradition sad sepresents2 slighty diferent relationship to teachers’ power in particular nd the adult world in general. This disjunction s operated by means of invoke ing the French melting por, a discursive move that strikes at the very heart of 4 French republican tradition thar often equates pluralism with ig identity poles. The se that is (re)produeed through these practices seems equally pposive in that ic could help to usher in the more hybridized identities on which a postmodern and globalizing world theives. [At the height of the culture wars in the United States, Arthur M. Schle- singer Je (1998) weote: In our word, [he boundaries of government and thos of atonal] coincide less and less, There are Few ely homogenous sates let. rents each dy tdemonsrace the fragityof ational cohesion: Exeryhee you lok, tbls the cause ofthe breaking of nadons. Even ations s stable and eized 28 Britain and France. Begin, and Spl face rising ethic an vac woublee, (op II) otDiscos, Nera, nd Naina entity ‘Ase from presenting dhe troubling notion ofa “civilized” Western Europe {to which we should all ook for guidance, Schlesinger ful to acknowledge just hhow recent an invention the nationatate i, National boundaries and polideal boundaries have rarely overlapped, least ofall in France. To imagine, as She singer does, that we should again look tothe state to mechanistically "cohere™ ‘together is simply to boreow an old and outworn script, one that no longer can meet the demands ofa globalizing society. Indeed, there are other alternatives, ones that do not necessarily originate rot end with the state nd its machinery, One isto return to an idea ist proposed in the nineteenth century by Renan (1996), that “a nation is there- fore a lageseale solidarity... a daily plebiscite” (p58). Seen this way, one ‘comes 19 understand that the nation isan ongoing pre! of recognition and support, one that originates among social actors (individuals and groups) in thote spaces that the state has made relatively autonomous (that iy ctl sock ey). This study has renewed my admiration fora set of educational practices wherein a variety of civ dicotrses attached to the notion of "soci solar J” ean play ou, Such solidarity teaches yudents 10 ake greater cognizance of| ‘what the common good might mean in our inereasingly complex world. Clearly, not every attempt to extend the boundaries ofthe civic imagination isa straightforward attempt a colonization, asimilation, and homogeniza- ton, The nationstate, as polities! entity whose cultural and political Bound. aties perfectly overlap, may be (indeed, nist become) an ideal whowe time fs ‘over Yet one of my purposes here is suggest thatthe nation #aelf need not be discarded inthe process A national ideal chat an balance both plan nd social salidarity seems a worthy goal to pursue ia all forms of evi ie, Including schooling ‘When the intentional and the anal interact—the subject matter to be learned as well as the attendant everyday experiences of life in schools—a nation's heritage can perhaps remain vibrant, Hexibe, and alive. I she United States, this finaly enals teachers, researchers, and teacher educators to ask: ‘Whar is a ation? What is our nation? What parte—if any-—of the nations past(s) do ie wish remembered by students? For what social purposes? ‘Through what actions and relationships that we as teachers undertake snd form? Through what ypes of explicit and implicit curricular experiences? Notes: 1. Te soe othe hinry curcumin bling naonal consumes al notable by {eshacnces Baton (101s, 20015) hss nthe eve af Norther elon 2 See Aden (1098p. 199-201) fora rilian exeation of Renan erated ‘lotion Chart have trons,” rendered i the rant ied hee). The french word iar (a feminine equals nt) relerred spel: {al foam mentary choaleacher Secondary tacherwee flected 0 pfu ‘These two ward for the role of teacher enn hat neteenthcensry oop, [nary and secondary ean were separate aks ctring fey ier ches susHarvard Edeatonat Rese ‘cle. With therefor of 1981 both ckmentary and econ teachers wee hee for ale psn ge, 198), Ste Birnbaum (2001) and Longlos(199) for a dseunion of the overstated por luce fe rine As Meyer (1980) mae: cle there a Sein prt the mal dominance ofthe taj he The Rep was worn ise thesis of eleentay teachers the ecepaion vas snuleeon ergo ey Feit Atte nef the Ferry eon, there were approxi} 3 any ‘nul insu By the eve af Wor Wa their bers were ong ee redonyns are vied throughout this oper fr oth places ad paras, While the French Republic does nt recog ail een ae een to one pbc enti and while is dol that mest of my white French praia wuld hie ‘decribed themscves in thi tanner, the nettles chong the represen ‘sng fort retvona Ea Irie thi iy pian ort Nwth Arcane ‘onal sudiepee tht tn intrested 9 sh ctegorey ad fds her sleet nya Moe import sch tegen os aco he na presi 6. There ae several wach in French fue coreponding to de pe of lear one ‘wil ake, Within exc tne, there are numerous: The mon presi rw Tear the dave gnc eh consi of ere sere: eras economics sand scl siences, sence, Gently pething whi shi school, dere were more eras nthe teary series ad herefore a sgh peepoerance fy iervews as ses feat “These fe sens vunteered o be inervewed In Brg had made conte wth heim by observing eit Engi Tanga cous, and thei eacher reese hes ftom their courct tobe inereve, 18. Tat daw on several normal conversations ha with the arcane wil in the Sek Three ofthe stds interview parcpans are ose from hippo rezone St spuce ind themate eaherence These thee parspant obsess Teter (6 Solana tha the mratnes pat int play neon of soa! ebliy sn india provement. Fatt the patty comiemoraed seen to Gerla the end of rane’ “Tiety Coron Years” of cconomie growth ater Wold Ve ‘i of lobatnon. ne neo! economic poles ©, See Reto (2005p. 10-3) for dante of hw being black American female payed ut in he French eset cote to, Fhe CP was rteded n the frer aw for dhe Equal of Opporunin According {ooger in the Mart 8,200, eon of Le Mathew wou app ni ‘nese of mre than 20 worker out of ks than 28 yeaa age. Tote paso the DreviusUaor Code that deal wih the breaking ofthe eontact wll ao pp using fe two years of work. Aeration face of Mien day wll be equed betwee ‘second andthe sh monahs anda waning ofoe month thereafee” The gover tment er withdrew the CPE 11. The inedent refered o ere happened in aniry 1968, when student radia Dan lel Cohndende approached the minster an tle Mem wy te aiming fans ‘sere cing o provaly umpeed when ies uch my ext eedor ere no being {Wired The mini old Coben tha ithe ha sem pele, be shoudl jtimp in the pool Coir Benit replied that thas he tard anor gen so Her ‘out, Tean hint no acl decuenatin hat Ca end acl as he mie (erie the poo 12, The interactions here were high isrucsne for me, though unas for thes ingener: Normally {nervewed sens onecnane tr pte lunge: Tethers ‘ould eceasenaly omeimi the room bt general wndesogd that mi nero ‘dens ano tee oa ying on the room fo Jong Ae tom sive adDison, Nora, and Nations Hen Aue, Francoise ad Spe lo de tobe interviewed ngethe: Wile attempted tointervew each parc seal in Use canes there were more nance of Hake intra daogue beeen te partcgusn tere itn wine ese fie Dndence between the discusie performances ofeach patcpuny the rowing teres done by each partepa vas ef a3 methodol cont 15. The notion tht republicanism ina Lene delogy na prc he French Revo sion andthe oppsitonsl conta: oof which the epics ps igh Theions of momar, aricoeray and church, To ay at conempocty repblicans se alys "onthe Left would be a conierble simpson as complex poll “We sadensare ocupyng our shools WHAT DO WE WANT? Mader oie ens us he slight conte hunches ute th nouns nt test po So exc nat each her" Students ten a dns pact ate life i we ever Become Fea ese Bonne Chevalier 004, pp 260-23). 15 The ies expres Here would net place Suey ina octal pa amp nce, !nything he samp sepa one woul aces ggest A much tore Conservative pial ide Yet Audrey ike the other soil pice, would spend Ege pat o out interviewing bow other coun sh nied in para the Scandia caus, 16. A tone tus, butia French he wor caress conniation a something more ‘ki tothe Amertcangheto tu November 2005 young French ese of Coen ‘hase bbe ple wer electroeted hey hin powe swt nthe Psa Ile of Cetysous Bos. 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Retrieved November 1,200 om ps Pee innoryenoperin ry/soura/ 1089/0505 he Tusa Cullon N00, Pench school sory contro the mcr te M.Grever 4S is ad tenn try rayne ‘an Manen, M: (200) Reking Hoot experi Cobourg, Ontario: Transcontinental ning Weber E78), Post ite Pech: The werntion of real Prony, 1870-191, ‘afor,Co Staord Unvriy fre Wee fe Mel C: (1905) Ths fy ede sk ke che! nrg ‘etn epee London Falmer Pree — ene" (1088), The omega of woo une Pe Fane, 1863-1914, Princeton, Nf ‘nceon Une Bre Werach W008). Haro elortie rene Cambie, England: Cambridge Un 1 dak the eto tea the Haran drs! Rei or tensions fn several verona ofthis manuscripe Additonal sn especall appreciative 9 ack ‘Sic percwal encouragement and sbolty ae 19