PhD - The forest after and before industry. The forest and society in Basse Maurienne in an industr

SUBJECT :
The forest after and before industry. The forest and society in Basse Maurienne in an industrial gap (second half of the 19th century)

Mountain territories are characterised by their sensitivity to environmental and socio-economic changes and by their capacity to adapt to change. This shows the extent to which the environment and local socio-economic organisations are linked. Therefore the mountain terrain offers a choice area of study due to its quality as a growing prism of social functions and social developments. This quality is even clearer as regards forest areas, which occupy a large space in the mountain area, particularly on the slopes of the great Alpine valleys. The afforestation rate was 58.8% in Basse Maurienne and Basse Tarentaise at the start of the millennium. This was afforestation dominated by mature forest and conifers. This kind of colonisation is the result of centralised management by the ONF (National Forests Office - France), which has not always been the case. When we study the history of the forest, cyclical time, linear time, short-term and long-term risk being confused, the different time-frames are not clearly stratified and the "present [is] oddly momentary". Yet, in order to continue to focus on the human side of the question, uses and notions of the forest have been "multiple and often contradictory depending on the different social groups and periods".  Therefore the question of periodisation assumes a particular importance.

This thesis aims to reveal a turning point hidden by the linear vision of both industrialisation and the forest, a point in the middle of the 19th century which marks a gap separating two stages of industrialisation during which the specific nature of the forest question has not been recognised. However, in the long history of breaks and transitions, this kind of situation has not been worked on, yet it is likely to enrich the understanding of the socio-environmental pathways of mountain environments.

It concerns establishing a detailed periodisation of the development of forest/society relationships over a specific territory, Basse Maurienne, conceived as a testing ground. Before it was, for some time, the "Aluminium Valley", Maurienne experienced long-term industrialisation associated with the mining and metallurgy activity in the woods (start of the 17th century - middle of 19th century). During this period, the forest, in which the thicket and beech wood dominated, played a leading role in providing the energy necessary for industrial activity. As much as it could, the local society shaped the wooded areas according to this use. After an extremely little known transition period, which it is a question of revising (end of 19th century - start of 20th century); the Maurienne forest entered a new forestry regime marked by a great control of national forest policies, which coincided with the development of the electric industry. This all leads to the consideration of this interval between two industrial periods as a turning point. It is therefore a question of understanding how the forest/society relationships were organised and, more widely, the society/environment relationships during the second half of the 19th century, which was a period of deindustrialisation and intensification of mountain migrations towards big cities. Therefore the legacies of this transformation and their formation must also be questioned. In light of this aim, comparing varied sources is required: sources of a different nature (administrative, private and oral archives) over several scales (national, regional and local). This work will be compared with environmental science advances with the aim of furthering the understanding of very long-term socio-economic pathways.

Deliverables

Initially several inventories must be undertaken: a bibliographic inventory concerning the forest/society relationships, notably for the period at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries in the large Alpine valleys and in Maurienne and an inventory of sources (Central, forest and communal administration and private sources), as well as an interpretation method.
On this basis, a historiography and an analysis of the forest/society relationships, which is specifically localised, periodised and likely to be correlated with a larger set (long-term nature of society/environment relationships in the large Alpine valleys), including in an interdisciplinary context, must then be undertaken.

There will be opportunities to make use of this research, notably in the context of heritage institutions (the Museum of Grand-Filon, Saint-Georges-d'Hurtières and Maurienne).


ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applicants:
- must hold a Master's degree (or be about to earn one) or have a university degree equivalent to a European Master's (5-year duration)
- Must be able to speak French in order to

Applicants will have to send an application letter in English and attach:
- Their last diploma
- Their CV
- A short presentation of their scientific project (2 to 3 pages max)
- Letters of recommendation are welcome.


Address to send their application:

pierre-marie.judet@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and idex.recrutements@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr