Farmer Sarah - Rural Inventions

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Oxford University Press 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Farmer, Sarah Bennett, author.

Title: Rural inventions : the French countryside after 1945 /

Sarah Farmer.

Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019036720 (print) | LCCN 2019036721 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190079079 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190079086 (updf) |

ISBN 9780190079093 (epub) | ISBN 9780190079109 (on-line file)

Subjects: LCSH: FranceRural conditionsHistory. | France

History1945 | Sociology, RuralFranceHistory.

Classification: LCC HN425.5 .F3715 2020 (print) | LCC HN425.5 (ebook) |

DDC 306.0944dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019036720

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019036721

It gives me great pleasure to thank the people and institutions whose advice, knowledge, expertise, suggestions, friendship, and support I relied on over the years as I worked on this book.

The initial research and writing were funded by the National Humanities Center in Triangle Park, North Carolina, which granted me a residential fellowship in 20082009. The support of the director and staff of the center and the intellectual companionship of the other fellows made it a magical year. The School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine regularly funded research trips to France and provided a subsidy for publication and permission fees for the images reproduced in this book.

My research was facilitated and enriched by the assistance of archivists and librarians in Paris, at public institutions and private organizations. I did much of the work at the Bibliothque nationale de France (BnF) and at the Inathque, housed within the BnF, where the public can consult the national archives of French television and radio. At the Inathque I profited enormously from the expertise of its director, Christine Barbier-Bouvet. Her enthusiasm for my subject and knowledge of the history of French television and radio shaped this project in its early stages. At the section of the Arts du spectacle of the Bibliothque nationale de France, Nolle Giret gave me unhampered access to the archives and papers of Georges Rouquier before they had been formally catalogued. Brigitte Berg welcomed me at Les Documents cinmatographiques, the independent film archives that she directs. At the Dpartement des Estampes et de la photographie, conservator Hlose Consa fostered my access to the collection of original prints of the Mission photographique de la DATAR. The staff of the Association des Gtes de France allowed me to consult the organizations administrative archives and librarians at the Association Maisons paysannes de France guided me to pertinent materials. At the Bibliothque Forney, Marie-Catherine Grichois and Thierry Devynck provided images from the Forneys rich collection of agricultural posters. Thanks to historian Karine-Larissa Basset for the suggestion that I explore the collection of the archives and documentation center of the Parc national des Cvennes in Gnolhac (Gard).

Members and former members of the European cooperative Longo ma made themselves available for extensive interviews in France, Switzerland, and Austria. Particularly helpful were Ulrike Furet, Guido Gorret, Jakob Mytteis, Hannes Reiser, Michael Rssler, and Michael Genner. Antoine Blanchemain, Genevive Savigny, and Patrice and Elisabeth Meynet invited me into their homes for informative discussions of no-ruralit and the politics of agriculture. Raymond Depardon generously gave time to discuss his photographs of his familys farm. He and Nama Kaddour made sure I got the images I needed from Magnum Photos.

I am particularly grateful to scholars and friends who encouraged my desire to venture into new subjects and fields of study. Over many years Vanessa Schwartz has shared her passion for visual history and a willingness to discuss all aspects of my work. Both she and Lynn Hunt urged me to make photography one of the focal points in this study. In Paris, historian of photography Raphale Bertho generously shared her own work, suggested sources, and provided introductions. French historians of rural history and sociology invited me into their longstanding seminar associated with the cole des Hautes tudes in Sciences Sociales: Pierre Alphandry, Franoise Dubost, Martin de la Soudire.

The annual conferences of scholarly organizations provided the opportunity to try out ideas in their early stages: the Society for French Historical Studies, the Western Society for French History, the Society for Architectural Historians. Participation at specialized conferences helped me choose the themes and the structure of my book. Thanks to historians Charles-Franois Mathis and Jean-Franois Mouhot for organizing Une protection de lenvironnement la franaise? held at the University Paris-Sorbonne in 2010. I am grateful to Marc Redepenning, Julia Rssel, and Christoph Baumann for putting together an interdisciplinary conference, Rurality: New Perspectives and Themes, at the University of Bamberg in 2013. In California, colleagues J. P. Daughton at Stanford University and Frank Biess at the University of California, San Diego invited me to present my research at their respective universities.

Every writer needs astute readers to improve their work. I am grateful to the anonymous manuscript reviewers of the journals French History and French Politics, Culture & Society, and to the journals for permission to use material that appeared in the published articles. Lynn Hunt, Jayne Lewis, and Ruth Kluger read drafts of individual chapters. A group of devoted colleagues and friends read the entire manuscript and provided the extensive comments, questions, and constructive criticism that make writing a good book possible: Robert Moeller, Timothy Tackett, Vanessa Schwartz, Mary Woolsey. When it came to publication, I was particularly fortunate that Susan Ferber at Oxford University Press took an early and sustained interest in this project. The anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for OUP gave pertinent, expert advice and Susan provided meticulous, hands-on editing that is rare to find.

Intellectual labor is sustained over the long haul by the exchange of ideas and mutual encouragement shared among colleagues and friends. Of the many people who helped me see this project through I would like to offer thanks to Elizabeth Allen, Michael Bess, Venus Bivar, Adriana Briscoe, Andr Burguire, Ian Coller, Helen Chenut, Denis Charbit, Edward Dimendberg, JoAnne Golden, Arno Gisinger, Jutta Heckhausen, Kevin Olson, Ulrike Luderer, Anne Flipo, Anne Olivier, Laurent Olivier, Anne-Sophie Perriaux, Molly Schneider, Beate Thewalt, and Judy Zevin. My twin sister Elspeth, my brother Daniel, and my parents gave constant support. My mother, Elizabeth Midgley, generously contributed the benefit of her precise thinking and clarity of expression. My father, Thomas Farmer, shared with me his love of history and his conviction of its importance for understanding the world. He would be so pleased to see this book completed.