John Mullen, Université de Rouen - Teaching blog: April 2024

Friday, April 19, 2024

Last class L3 - Slides and podcast Jeremy Corbyn

You will find here a recording of the class on Jeremy Corbyn:

Just click here.

You will find here the accompanying slides:

Just click here.

And you will find here the section of the class where I looked in more detail at an extract from his speech:

Just click here.

Monday, April 15, 2024

orals - text commentary - reminders

Reminder :

The questions you always need to ask yourself for each document, before you begin to write your commentary, are the following.

WHO? (is expressing themselves. What is significant about the person, which will help us understand what this document is doing?)

TO WHOM? (are they trying to communicate - remember there is often more than one audience)

WHEN? (What is important about the fact that it was at this time and not another? At one point does this document come in key processes)

WHAT? (is the essential content of the document? Also, what do they NOT say which we might expect them to say?)

WHY? (are they saying all this: what is their objective? Are they trying to move the audience, motoivate the audience, persuade someone who does not agree?)

HOW? (do they try to reach their objective? - Irony? Emotional language? Scientific arguments? Religious feeling? Mockery? Rhetorical devices?) What methods do they NOT us, which we might have expected them to use? Why not, in your opinion?

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER? (If the document promises, or predicts or warns, did these elements come true?)

HOW TYPICAL IS THE DOCUMENT? (Is it an innovative declaration of a new movement, or one more cliché from that time period, or what?)

WHAT DIFFERENCE DID IT MAKE? (Where does the document fit in to longer historical processes?)

In any exercise you are unlikely to find something to say on every one of the above questions for each document, but the list gives you an idea of where you should be looking.

Reminder :

Analysis of vocabulary/ style/ lexical fields. These can occasionally be useful to help explain the objective of a document and how that objective is attained. However, listing words used without saying why this is useful is a mistake. I should say that at least 80% of the time, when I see the expression « lexical field » in a commentary on a civilisation document, it is not good.

Reminder :

Take time to think about the objective of the author of each document: this needs to be at the centre of your analysis. Talk about the objective of each document from the very first time you mention it.

Reminder :

Students often quote the documents too much. This takes up a lot of valuable time. You may quote from the documents a particularly important phrase, or a particularly difficult phrase, to help you explain. It is not a good idea to quote dozens of phrases.

Slides/podcast Margaret Thatcher

You will find here the class on the life and works of Margaret Thatcher:

Just click here.

You will find here the section of the class looking at a particular extract of her 1975 speech:

Just click here.

You will find here the slides we saw in class:

Just click here.

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Séminaire utile pour agrégatifs

If you are likely to be preparing the agrégation for 2025, you will have seen that the new programme for British civi is about various radical movements, mostly over the 19th century.

By coincidence, the seminar for May 2024 organized by Eriac and taking place in the afternoon of 16th May turns out to be very useful in connection with this theme. I will be speaking about a historian, Eric Hobsbawm, who is central to the historiography of the subject, and Wassila will be speaking about her research on 19th century activists women.

Jeudi 16 mai 2024 (15h00-18h00)
Wassila Boutchich, « Lumière sur les femmes militantes britanniques des années 1848-1868 »
John Mullen, « La conception de l’histoire d’Eric Hobsbawm – ses fortunes depuis 50 ans »
Thomas Posado, « Le syndicalisme comme prisme de la crise politique vénézuélienne (1999-2021). Présentation d’un ouvrage »

RV A 506. All welcome.

Corbyn

I will shortly be putting the recording of the class on Margaret Thatcher up on this blog. Next week is the last class, and we will be looking at Jeremy Corbyn. You can find here a book review I wrote about the subject:

https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/pdf/2256

A few years back, a Swiss radio station interviewed me about Corbyn:

Lʹantisémitisme sʹinvite dans la campagne électorale au Royaume-Uni
https://www.rts.ch/audio-podcast/2019/audio/l-antisemitisme-s-invite-dans-la-campagne-electorale-au-royaume-uni-25091582.html

Et France Culture a demandé à moi et à une collègue nos analyses de la mouvance Corbyn

https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/le-magazine-de-la-redaction/momentum-le-bras-gauche-de-jeremy-corbyn-le-renouveau-travailliste-au-royaume-uni-6963328