Dr Constance Bantman
Lecturer in French
Email: c.bantman@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 3065
Room no: 03 LC 03
Further information
Biography
Graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (1998; Lyon – LSH); Agrégation (2001); PhD (2007; Paris 13 University).
Research Interests
- Franco-British political and cultural exchanges, 19th and 20th centuries.
- Transnational history and international networks.
- History of the anarchist movement and trade unions in France and Britain up to 1914.
- International anarchist terrorism and its policing, late 19th century
Current funded research projects
British Academy Small Research Grant (until March 2013) for a project entitled ‘Transnationalising French Anarchism, 1870-1940’.
Publications
Journal articles
- . (2010) 'The Invention of International Crime: A Global Issue in the Making 1881-1914'. SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD THEORETICAL CRIMINOLOGY, 14 (4), pp. 540-542.
- . (2010) 'Anarchism and Utopianism'. WILEY-BLACKWELL POLITICAL QUARTERLY, 81 (4), pp. 646-648.
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(2010) 'The Recent Historiography of French Anarchism: Terrorists, Networks, Transnationalism, and a Few Polemics'. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Modern & Contemporary France, 18 (3), pp. 383-389.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/44137/
Abstract
This article reviews three recent books on the history of the late nineteenth-century French anarchist movement—one by the French historian Vivien Bouhey and the other two by American scholars, Alexander McKinley and John Merriman. It replaces these works in the context of a renewed interest in the study of the anarchist movement, as an early example of transnational terrorist organisation, and as a relevant field of application for the historiographic concepts of network and transnationalism. In conclusion, it highlights the differences between French and US approaches to the study of anarchism, and evidences the limits of the ‘transnational turn’ in this particular historical field.
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(2009) 'The Militant Go-between: Emile Pouget's Transnational Propaganda (1880-1914)'. Liverpool University Press Labour History Review, 74 (3), pp. 274-287.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/534406/
Abstract
This article is a study of the transnational activism of the French anarchist militant Emile Pouget (1860–1931), from his early days in the 1880s as an agitator and as the editor of the scathing anarchist weekly Père Peinard, through to his key role in the spread of revolutionary syndicalism in France and beyond. Against dominant representations focusing on his substantial journalistic and organizational propaganda exclusively within national boundaries, it suggests that Pouget did start off as a locally-minded militant in the 1880s, but later became aware of the great importance of international organization. This contribution depicts Pouget’s year of exile in Britain (1894–1895) as the turning point leading to a greater international emphasis in his activism. Through Pouget, the usually unheeded transnational ramifi cations of belle-époque anarchism and syndicalism are highlighted, as well as the relevance of militant biography for the study of transnational networks and ideological dissemination.
- . (2006) 'Internationalism without an International? Cross-Channel Anarchist Networks, 1880-1914'. Persee Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 84 (4), pp. 961-981.
Conference papers
- . (2006) 'Internationalism without an international? Cross-channel anarchist networks, 1880-1914'. REVUE BELGE PHILOLOGIE HISTOIR REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D HISTOIRE, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS: 6th European Social Science History Conference 84 (4), pp. 961-981.
Books
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(2013) The French Anarchists in London, 1880-1914. Exile and Transnationalism in the First Globalization.. First Edition. Liverpool UNiversity Press 1
[ Status: In preparation ] - .
(2010) New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/741841/
Abstract
This collection presents exciting new research on the history of anarchist movements and their relation to organised labour, notably revolutionary syndicalism. Bringing together internationally acknowledged authorities as well as younger researchers, all specialists in their field, it ranges across Europe and from the late nineteenth century to the beginnings of the Cold War. National histories are revisited through transnational perspectives—on Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland or Europe as a whole—evidencing a great wealth of cross-border interactions and reciprocal influences between regions and countries. Emphasis is also placed on individual activist itineraries—whether of renowned figures such as Errico Malatesta or of lesser-known yet equally fascinating characters, whose trajectories offer fresh perspectives on the complex interplay of regional and national political cultures, evolving political ideologies, activist networks and the individual. The volume will be of interest to specialists working on the history of anarchism and/or trade unionism as well as the political or social history of the countries concerned; but it will also be useful to students and the general reader looking for discussion of the most recent thinking on the historiography of labour and anarchist movements or those wanting a comprehensive overview of the history of syndicalism.
Book chapters
- . (2010) 'From Trade Unionism to Syndicalisme Révolutionnaire to Syndicalism: The British Origins of French Syndicalism'. in Berry D, Bantman C (eds.) New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism. The Individual, the National and the Transnational Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing Article number 7 , pp. 126-140.
- . (2009) ''Visionaries or Reactionaries? British Anarchism and Modernity'.'. in (ed.) Arts, Politics and Society in Britain (1880-1914). Aspects of Modernity and Modernism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing , pp. 89-105.
Teaching
• FRE2031 Contemporary France II
• FRE3023 Translation English-French II
• FRE3020 French Dissertation and Advanced Oral Skills