Name 
Dr. Alison Carrol
College Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall)
What is your field of history? The political history of modern France. I am especially interested in the history of the left (particularly the Socialists) and in issues of identity and ‘Frenchness’.
My doctoral thesis (Ph.D.) looked at the Socialist Party’s role in the reintegration of Alsace into France after almost half a century of annexation to Germany (1871-1918). It was concerned with the way that the party tried to mediate between centre and periphery (Paris and Alsace) to ease the province’s reintegration. In the process they developed a sense of Frenchness that drew upon regional, political and national attachments.
I am now starting a new project about the French Empire, focussing on the relationship between the province of Alsace and Algeria. This will look at migration between Alsace and Algeria, the development of settler culture in Algeria and how the idea of Empire took root on a local level in France, and picks up the themes of Frenchness and identity that I covered in my Ph.D.
How did you come to specialise in this area? I was interested in both French and German political history as an undergraduate, so Alsace, which switched between French and German rule four times between 1870 and 1945, offered a way to study the means by which political ideas are transmitted across national borders, as well as the way that parties develop regionally and nationally, and the importance of national ‘containers’ for the development of politics. This raised issues of identity - particularly the way that national, regional and political identity overlap, which led me on to the issues of identity and citizenship that I’ll be taking up in my new project.
What sort of source material do you tend to use, and what are its strengths and weaknesses? I use a wide range of sources, including prefectural reports on the situation in Alsace, the personal papers of leading Socialists, election statistics, municipal (town) records on local policy, Socialist Party congress reports, posters, newspapers, memoirs and official publications. This gives me a range of perspectives, so it allows me to look at different aspects of the Socialists’ work and different elements of the process of reintegration. But one major weakness of my source base is actually a reflection of Alsace’s contested history - a lot of sources were destroyed during the Wars that led to it passing between French and German rule, so for example after War broke out in 1939 the Socialists destroyed all of their records to avoid them falling into German hands - regional administrative staff started to do the same, but (luckily for me) they only managed to destroy a small section. This means that there are a few gaps. Also, because of Alsace’s border position, lots of official and party political sources were produced in French and German and quite often they say different things in each version. This is interesting, but it can mean that it is difficult to put this together when I’m writing without leaning towards either the French or German version of the source.
Which individuals, events or forces are especially important in your area of history? Individuals, events and forces are all important in this area of history. First, individual politicians are important, but I try not to lose sight of the relationship between these politicians and the people that they represent (or claim to represent), as their statements reflect their individual views, or those of their party, and they can’t be viewed as speaking for the wider population.
Events are also important. I was attracted to Alsace because of its position in Europe, so the Franco-Prussian War and First and Second World Wars and the resulting changes of sovereignty in Alsace (France to Germany in 1871, Germany to France in 1918, France to Germany in 1940, Germany to France in 1945) had a significant impact on politics and daily life in the region.
Finally, forces had a major impact - in particular, nation building, the rise of nationalism, the development of socialism, increased regionalism, and changing attitudes towards gender all affect political life in Alsace.
How has your field developed over the course of your career?
Historians have increasingly looked at identity and the way that it is formed. For France, this has involved revising the view that nation building involved a centralising state extending its values outwards to the backward countryside, and treating it as a two-way process, with local elites (whether political, religious, etc) acting as mediators between centre and periphery. The result has been to consider identity as locally defined, fluid and continually evolving- so Frenchness doesn’t mean the same thing to someone in Alsace as it does to someone in Brittany, and within one region it can mean different things to people of different class, ethnicity or gender, or vary between town and countryside.
Which areas of your field most urgently need further exploration? 
Historians are starting to look more at the importance of borders, but there is room for detailed studies of different borders in France and across Europe. In France, work on the role of borders in defining the nation state and the relationship between borders and identity would be particularly fruitful. There is also room for more research on the Socialist Party in France, the way that it took root, its local responses to national questions and its municipal policy in the interwar years.
What characterises good history? I think that the best history tackles complex ideas and issues, and presents them in a way that is clear and easy to understand.
How did your understanding of history change during your time as a university student? Studying history as an undergraduate made me think a lot more carefully about the way that history is written - for example about issues of objectivity and the way that sources are used - and it also introduced me to the wide range of historical writing and approaches to history.
Where should somebody interested in your area of history go for further information? Books on modern France would be the best place to start. Rod Kedward’s La Vie en Bleu (2005) offers a good survey of twentieth century France. The journals French History and French Historical Studies also publish a lot of important articles and contain book reviews/ reviews of recent literature on French history that can be helpful. The internet can also be useful, in particular
H-France contains books reviews and discussion forums that offer a useful introduction to French History.
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