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Berthezène Clarisse – EN

Jan 23, 2024

Clarisse Berthezène

Professor of British History (IUF)

clarisse.berthezene@u-paris.fr

Research | Bio | Medias | Publications | Articles

Research


I joined Paris Diderot University as Professor of British History in 2018. From 2019 to 2023, I served as Vice President of the newly created University Paris Cité, as it merged University Paris Diderot-Paris 7 and University Paris Descartes-Paris 5, and integrated the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP). With more than 60,000 students, and 7,500 staff, Université Paris Cité covers most academic disciplines with a marked focus in the field of health sciences, a unique specialisation in earth sciences, and a tradition of excellence in the social sciences and the humanities. I served as President of the University from April to June 2023.

 

In 2023, I was elected at the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), with a research project on the history of health inequality among women in Europe. Examining data from 1870 to the present, my research focuses on historical dynamics that contribute to large discrepancies in mortality rates and life expectancy for women.

I am a member of the Steering Committee of iWISH, an Interdisciplinary Institute for Women’s Health, created under the umbrella of Université Paris Cité. I am also Head of Global Engagement for iWISH.

My research initially focused on the social and cultural politics of the British Conservative Party (2011, 2015) and conservatism as a political movement from a transnational perspective (2016, 2017). A gendered approach to Liberalism and Conservatism was key to my interest in right-wing women’s political mobilizations (2017, 2020). From May 2019 to September 2019, I was Principal Investigator of European COST project ‘Who cares in Europe?’, which brought together scholars from more than 35 European countries. The aim was to develop an emerging field of research that explores the relationships among voluntary associations, families and states in the creation of social welfare in Europe. It examined how state welfare emerged from the social welfare provided by non-profit, non-state institutions and individuals.

Research supervision

I supervise Masters and PhD students in modern British political and social history in the following fields:

  • Conservatism and the British Conservative Party
  • Women’s movements, gender and politics
  • Volunteering and the voluntary sector
  • History of health inequality from the 1870s to the present

Current doctoral students

  • Clara Chauvel-Thébault
    Title : “Gender and insecurity in London and Paris, 1850-1920 : feeling, expressing, re-acting”.
    Co-supervision with Dr Gabrielle Houbre
  • Joanne Raineau
    Title : “The Women’s Refuge Movement in the United Kingdom, 1971-2000”.
    Co-tutelle with Natalie Thomlinson, University of Reading.
  • Title : “Political or intimate spaces : Lesbians occupying and experimenting in Britain, 1960-1990”.

    Co-supervision with Ariane Mak. 

  • Véronique Ward
    Title : “The network of voluntary associations for the protection of animals in Britain, 1870–1950”.

Completed doctoral students

  • Mathias Kulpinski
    Title : “Working-class masculinities in mid-twentieth-century Britain: An autobiographical inquiry”. Co-supervision with Ben Griffin, University of Cambridge.
  • Caroline Tran Van
    Title : “Medical Student Selection in Britain: Adaptation and Resistance to Mass Higher Education at Two Medical Schools in London: King’s College London and St George’s Medical School (1965 – 2003)”.
    Co-supervision with Keir Waddington, Cardiff University.
  • My current research project aims to offer a gendered social history of health inequality in Europe from the 1870s to the present, based on two case studies in Manchester and Lille. It stems from the European COST project (COST Action 18119) entitled “Who cares in Europe?” that I chaired (as PI) and which brought together scholars from more than 35 European countries for four years (May 2019-September 2023). The aim was to develop an emerging field of research that explores the relationships among voluntary associations, families and states in the creation of social welfare in Europe. It focused on the question of how state welfare emerged from the social welfare provided by non-profit, non-state institutions and individuals.
  • This research programme was the result of a two-year project (2016-2018) led by Laura Lee Downs and funded by the European University Institute examining “European Trajectories in the Quest for Welfare and Democracy: Voluntary Associations, Families and the State, 1870s – 1990s.” The network brought together some 35 scholars from across Europe who seek to question our understanding of European social welfare both historically and socially, by examining the numerous ways in which families, churches, trade unions, municipalities and other private or semi-public associations have interacted with each other and with the state in the identification of social problems and the creation of solutions.
  • I also work on the political mobilisation of Conservative women in the period from 1918 to 1990 and the links between gender, politics and voluntary action. I co-edited with Julie Gottlieb a volume entitled Rethinking right-wing women. Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the present (Manchester University Press, 2017). One of our aims is to publish a volume on the history of right-wing women and social action from a European perspective. I’m also interested in the role Conservative women played in the creation of the European Union of Women in 1953 and the links between the British Conservative Party and the Christian Democratic Parties on the continent.

Research Supervision

I welcome applications from students interested in researching the following areas of twentieth-century British history:

  • popular politics
  • the history of Conservatism and the Conservative Party
  • women’s movements, gender and sexuality
  • volunteering and the voluntary sector
  • History of health inequality
  Doctoral students :
  • Mathias Kulpinski Masculinities and class identities in the United Kingdom, 1900-1939, an autobiographical inquiry. Supervised by: Clarisse Berthezène (Université de Paris) and Ben Griffin (Cambridge)
  • Joanne Raineau Dissertation topic : The Women’s Refuge Movement in the United Kingdom, 1971-2000 Supervised  by: Clarisse Berthezène (Université de Paris) et Natalie Thomlinson (University of Reading)
  • Caroline Seyer : “Militant spaces, intimate spaces: Forms and uses of urban occupation by British lesbians, 1960-1990” (co-supervisor: Ariane Mak)
  • Caroline Tran Van Dissertation topic : The History of Medical Education in the UK from 1945 onwards.
  • Véronique Ward Dissertation topic : La nébuleuse associative de protection de la nature et des animaux et ses réseaux en Grande-Bretagne, 1870–1950.
 
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Bio

Education and Academic Positions

  • 2023-2024: Visiting scholar at the Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University
  • 2023 : Awarded a Chair of Scientific mediation at the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
  • 2019-2023: Chair (PI) or European COST project 18119 « Who cares in Europe? » (35 countries
  • 2018 to the present: Professor, Université Paris-Diderot (then UPCité)
  • 2017, Habilitation à diriger des recherches, Université de Bourgogne : “Vers une histoire transnationale des conservatismes. Mobilisations politiques et transformations de la société civile, 1883 à nos jours”
  • 2004-2017: Lecturer, Université Paris-Diderot
  • 2003 : Ph.D., University Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle : “Les conservateurs britanniques dans la bataille des idées. Le Ashridge Bonar Law Memorial College : des ‘conservateurs fabiens’ à la conquête des esprits, 1929-1954”
  • 1997 : “DEA” in History at Sciences Po, Paris
  • 1996 : “Agrégation” in English
  • 1995 : MA in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
  • Former student at the École Normale Supérieure of Fontenay-St Cloud (1993-1998)

Administrative Responsibilities

  • 2019-2023: Vice President Université Paris Cité and Acting President from April to June 2023
  • 2019-: Deputy Chair LARCA UMR 8225
  • Member of the Scientific Committee of French Society for political history
  • 2019-:  Member of the Franco-British Council
  • 2017-2018: Research, Higher Education and Innovation Attachée at the French Embassy in London
  • Member of the scientific committees of the following journals:
  • 2017-2019: Head of the Political History Group of the LARCA, UMR 8225
  • 2011-2019: Member of the Board of the LARCA, UMR 8225
  • 2014-2019: Elected member of the Scientific Board of the Department of Anglophone Studies
  • 2011-2017: Elected member of the CNU (Conseil national des universités)
  • 2011- 2013 : Member of the conseil scientifique de l’Institut des Humanités de Paris (IHP)
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Media

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    Publications

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    Articles

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