The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic and global antiracist movement following the murders of Adama Traoré, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others have sharpened the need for the type of programming that the Western Society for French History’s mission promises to offer. In order to create a lasting institutional framework for this programming, in 2020 the society established WSFH engagé.e.s. The word “engagé.e.s” has a dual significance. First, in a general sense, it refers to Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist notion of active political and ethical commitment to critical social issues that we approach both as authorities with power and privilege, and as students who have much to learn from others both in and outside of the academy. Second, grammatically, “engagé.e.s” denotes not just the Western Society for French History as an entity, but its individual members who are engaged—first singularly and then collectively—in the mission of combatting structural inequalities as well as all forms of oppression and discrimination in our field and beyond.
WSFH engagé.e.s is lasting structure through which mission-related programming will be woven into the fabric of the Society’s activities and continue in perpetuity. For each conference, planners (including local arrangements, program committee, Society executives) are charged with organizing WSFH engagé.e.s events. Conference planners are encouraged to use their creativity in imagining these events and to connect them, when possible and in appropriate ways, with cultural and historical specificities of the place in which the conference takes place including engagements with Indigenous and other historically significant local populations. WSFH engagé.e.s events can also be proposed and planned by the Society’s Governing Council, executives, DEI committee, or general membership outside of the confines of the annual conference. WSFH engagé.e.s events can therefore be in-person or virtual and take many forms including, but not limited to:
Plenaries
Workshops
Teach-ins
Performances (music, dance, theater, other)
Excursions
Community engagement activities
WSFH engagé.e.s events, whatever their form and location, aim to reflect the Society’s mission to:
Be actively committed to achieving equity and inclusion in the production and transmission of knowledge about the Francophone world
Think critically about injustice in the academy and to develop tools and practices to combat structural inequalities in the profession and academic institutions
Seek to empower its members to work to eliminate oppression and discrimination in the field, as well as in their classrooms, home departments, and university administrations
The Bridges Project
engagé.e.s. is excited to announce an initiative launching in 2023 aimed at opening up dialogue, resources, and options for our community. Our goals are twofold:
To provide resources for people trained or training in French and Francophone history who wish to explore any career options or transitions.
To create bridges between people trained in French and Francophone history in the name of personal fulfillment, professional growth, and public value.
Information about events, resources, and opportunities will be posted online here, as well as circulated through various French history channels, broadly conceived.
If you want to learn more about the Bridges Project, to join in, or have ideas, please write to us: Nimisha Barton (nbarton1@uci.edu) & Sarah Griswold (sarah.griswold@okstate.edu)
The Mentorship Program
The Mentorship Committee supports the Western in its commitment to equity and inclusion in Francophone studies. To that end, the Mentorship Committee focuses primarily on coordinating mentor pairings at the WSFH’s annual conference. Prior to each conference, we send out a call for both mentors and mentees. In years where the Western does not have a conference, we will put out a call during the Fall Semester. The committee also participates in some of the society’s programming related to supporting members of the WSFH community.