Andrew WM Smith

@smidbob

Historian of Modern France at QMUL

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Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· 27d

Currently reading 'The Providential Man' by Didier Fischer for something I'm writing. Delighted to see that he has dedicated it to... the providential hamster 🐹 🗃

Dedication page "Au hamster providentiel"

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 4

Some sneaky Americana amongst the Delft blue Dutch plates in this resto, apt for today

Delft blue plate showing US constitution signing

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 4

I feel like this relief of Eve with Apple should be captioned: "lol idgaf"

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

I chaired a final panel with discussions of Armenian resistors, Jewish painters, and reconciliation work following WW2, then a final paper on caricatures and colonial discourse. An excellent final #ssfh26 discussion with a big round of applause for the organisers! 🗃

Panel listing for 'cultural and political responses to war and violence'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

Third and final day of #ssfh26 started well, with some fantastic papers about policing and justice, with Claire Eldridge discussing Algerian soldiers & military discipline, Elwin Hofman on the conduct of criminal interrogations, then Romain Jaouen on the policing of Queen spaces in Paris 🗃

Panel listing for 'crime, justice and society on the long twentieth century'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

My last panel of the day was another global framing, with discussions of mobility, climate, and discussions of race in contemporary France #ssfh26 🗃

Panel listing for 'Global France, Race, and Belonging'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

Next panel was when I was speaking! Decided to shake things up by serving roquefort during my paper on the Larzac. Ace papers also from Luc Brunet on ant nuclear protests during Euromissiles, and Ali Touilila on French rap music #ssfh26 🗃

Panel listing for 'Activism, Internationalism, and Francophone Protest culture'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

First panel had papers questioning patterns of state planning & then how car culture shaped French geopolitics. I was also fascinated to hear more about H McDonnell's upcoming book on Bollardière #ssfh26 🗃

Panel listing for 'Between Metropole and Periphery in the Fifth Republic'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 2

Yesterday was day 2 of #ssfh26, with some brilliant panels throughout the day 🗃

Central University building in Groningen

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 1

After a drinks reception, I then decamped with a few folk to a wine bar nearby to enjoy this huge platter and plenty of bitterballen (out of shot) #ssfh26

Meats and cheeses always pleases, as demonstrated in this copious longboard of just such delights

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 1

We then had the first plenary, which was creative, original & outstanding! Rachel Ahrendt spoke about the context, composition & performance of a Molière piece amid peace talks for Nine Years War. How did changing diplomatic relations impact the play? We found out with live performances! #ssfh26 🗃

Plenary talk in a Lutheran church. The speaker stands to the left, while I the centre are a 6 piece string band, as well as a tenor and soprano

Text heavy sheet woth details about plenary: the title was Peace and Justice on the Lyric Stage - Backstage woth Lully's Psyché. There are also call sheet profiles of the two singers, one female soprano, one male tenor

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jul 1

Excellent first day at #ssfh26 in Groningen. After a busy committee meeting, we had lunch and then the first panel session. Papers were replete with contemporary relevance, charting discussions on (the limits of) migration, solidarity, & peace across diff Socialist tendencies pre-1914 🗃

Listing for Panel 1.4 on Socialism, Migration, and Transnationalism before 1914

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jun 30

Behold! My fishy Dutch namesake discovered in Groningen

Fish truck with name André Smit written on livery

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jun 26

There's lots wrong with the world, but this rose has just bloomed in the garden and it's a really beautiful colour

Rose in bloom with light pink and yellow colouring

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Jun 15

Here's a coincidence for you: in my recent book I mentioned the priest Christian Delorme (specifically his work to help amplify voices of indigenous peoples) & am doing a bit more work on his role in 1983 anti-racism march. Bought a copy of his 1985 book & it arrived seemingly addressed to me!

Front cover of 'Par amour et par colère' by Christian Delorme

Signed dedication inside front cover: 'pour toi, André....'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· May 19

"Mmmmmm, this handy premade lasagne maximises my pleasure"

Bentham auto-icon (probably in his old south junction box)

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· May 2

Speaking today at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum to try out the very, very early version of the my new book project. My talk is called: Ideas in Flight - Networks of Franco-British Resistance and the Chant des Partisans

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 25

Here we go, took the picture 16 years ago apparently. Archives départementales de l'Herault, 785W20. Looks from context like it is mid1950s (tucked amongst regional RG reports)

Image of Stalin with the text "the man we live the most" in French above

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 22

Next thing to arrive was a book I'd bought for my daughter for £3 from a second hand shop... which is inexplicably signed?!?!

Only you can save mankind by Terry Pratchett

Open book with signed book plate by author

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 22

Bumper day of post today. First thing to arrive was an ebay order of old 'Le Figaro Magazine' from 1987 (in support of an article I'm working on)

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 14

Love how the cover of this book on Lefebvre is like a French sociology captcha: "Click all of the squares in which the nature of the space has been marked by the capitalist system"

Cover of 'Henri Lefebvre on Space' by Lukasz Stanek. The cover is a series of square frame images in a 3 by 4 grid pattern

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 2

Escortell was a name I came to know well from writing about southern winegrowers, as he was a frequent correspondent in the radical winegrowers' press, and his letters help track some of the disalignment between the winegrowers and the left (as I describe in the article): doi.org/10.1017/S096...

Their continuing predominance provides useful material for understanding the construction of the FN's appeal in the Languedoc.Footnote44 One of the journal's most active political correspondents, hailing from the FN, was Henri Escortell, a pied-noir resident in Carcassonne since 1962.Footnote45 He was the founder of the Carcassonne section of the FN in 1983, and elected a Conseiller Régional in March 1992.Footnote46 In his letters to L'Echo, Escortell speaks of wine growers being manipulated by the left, just as the right manipulated northern farmers. Lamenting the profession's perilous state, he offered a tonic: ‘what the peasants want is to remain proud of their independence and their culture’.Footnote47 Local issues were leveraged to support a narrative of betrayal by government, as with the exaggerated outrage when the bulletin of the Aude's general council adorned its front page with the ill-chosen picture of a smiling young man eating a hamburger with a coca-cola at hand.Footnote48 ‘Audois wine growers, open your eyes’, shrieked Escortell, ‘you were forgotten, despised before 1981 and deceived thereafter; your dignity demands – and especially in the Aude – that this scandalous political class and their accompanying affairs be chased, and that they be held account for their lies and deceptions’.Footnote49 His reaction to a hamburger on a magazine cover may have been overboard, but it illustrated the contours of this flexible narrative of local disaggregation from national left-wing political elites that gathered pace in the early 1980s, with the FN beginning to figure more clearly on the political landscape. The ‘shared symbolic references’Footnote50 of past struggles were capitalised upon by parties keen to politicise the hardships associated with sectoral transformation and national political realignment.

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 2

Here's a screencap of one of his insta posts from earlier in Feb, with Barthès giving Escortell a gift. Understanding that shift from the old myth of the 'Midi rouge' (red south) is, in part, a function of understanding the shifting locus of political power (especially in relation to agriculture)

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Apr 1

*shakes fist* got me before I'd had any coffee!

Email from Libé with subject line 'thanks for your sub'

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 27

Just because your book's out doesn't mean you stop learning! Posted copies to Larzac plateau for interviewees (Michèle Vincent, José Bové & Christiane Burguière) & then Michèle contacted me to tell me a) she'd never seen that image before & b) she's in it! (lower right, blue shirt, black shorts)

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 20

Reading coverage of Marseille in the Municipals and here's a shallow, throwaway observation for you: the bottom of the poster for Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux (left union minus LFI) would make a great Bluesky profile header www.franceinfo.fr/elections/re...

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 16

And here's my copy of his lyric book which, in one of those wonderful surprises, turned out to be a signed copy when I ordered from a 2nd hand book shop in the Midi

Inside cover of same book, showing Marti's signature

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 13

Remember, however, that we are an ongoing open-access @uclpress.bsky.social publication which publishes twice a year. Please do dive in and read this update as well as the wealth of material you'll find within! As always, do get in touch if you’re interested in contributing

Paper Trails: The Social Life of Archives and Collections
An open access 'living book' now available and accepting submissions for: Collection Profiles; Co-Production; Engagement; Research Stories

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 13

I found the sketch featured in this piece a wonderful representation of the type of 'rough handed solidarity' I discuss in my book 'Make cheese not war', and it is such a wonderful image of Guiraud and Tjibaou which speaks to their shared humanity ucldigitalpress.co.uk/BOOC/Article...

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob· Mar 11

Spotted this Saaf Lahndahn linguistic masterpiece on a local FB marketplace ad: Chester draws