Thesis on the history of the Merchant Navy
A thesis linked to the Objectives and Performance Contract
As part of its Contract of Objectives and Performance (2023/2027), the ENSM wishes to explore the history of the Merchant Navy Officer Training Schools in France.
Pauline Pélissier has been selected to write a thesis on the history of the Merchant Navy under the supervision of Carole Christen, University Professor of Contemporary History at the IDEES/CNRS Laboratory – University of Le Havre Normandie. She also benefits from the support of Mr Thomas Vaisset, lecturer in contemporary history at the University of Le Havre-Normandie, previously attached to the Service Historique de la Défense, whose work focuses on the military and merchant navies.
Pauline comes from the centre of France, in the Allier region. She decided to study for her bachelor’s degree in history / art history and archaeology, and then in the history of science for her research master’s degree. Pauline then specialised in scientific, technical and natural heritage. So why did she choose to do this thesis? The Allier region has close links with the French Navy, which led to her interest in maritime history and heritage. Pauline explains: “So I knew a lot about the Merchant Navy, but I didn’t know much about it! I’m delighted to be able to carry out this research, which will enable me to add to my knowledge of the subject”.
This three-year project will shed light on the ‘History of maritime education and the training of Merchant Navy officers in France (19th-20th centuries)’.
It’s a long-term project, and one that can only be achieved by bringing together people from the historical, maritime and heritage worlds. In short, it’s a cosmology of players that will provide information on the period Pauline is working on, whose sources have until now remained largely unexploited.
The young woman has begun promising archival research, at the Archives Nationales, the Service Historique de la Défense, and through a grand tour of France’s departmental and municipal archives: the aim is to open up multidisciplinary perspectives on her thesis.
Pauline is building a solid foundation for her dissertation by going back in time, despite the gaps in her historiography, by drawing on social history, administrative history, the history of education and vocational training, the history of science and technology, and the material history of the educational role of objects.
What does it mean to write a history thesis ?
“One of the essential activities involved in writing a thesis is collecting our study material. This involves identifying archive collections, then going through them so that we can analyse them with the aim of comparing them with the sources that come from them.
As far as I’m concerned, this means organising a lot of travel. In addition to the Paris sites (the Service Historique de la Défense in Vincennes and the Archives Nationales in particular), I have currently identified 17 departmental archive centres and 14 municipal archive centres likely to hold collections relating to my research, making a total of 22 towns to visit. After identifying all the references I could consult by searching the online inventories or contacting the archivists directly, I made my first visit in April to the old and local archives of the town of Dieppe. I discovered a number of documents that will no doubt supplement the material on the town’s hydrographic school available elsewhere, in particular at the Seine-Maritime departmental archives, where I will be visiting shortly, and also at the Dieppe château-museum, which holds a number of collections relating to maritime education.
During my next visit, I will be looking at the archives of the schools that were located in the Hérault region and visiting the collections of three departments. ”
Pauline Pélissier
A study day to talk about it
Pauline took part in a study day to present her work. The event, known as the Doctoriales en histoire contemporaine, was organised by Carole Christen, University Professor of Contemporary History at the IDEES/CNRS Laboratory – University of Le Havre Normandie, and Jean-Numa Ducange, University Professor of Contemporary History, Nineteenth-Century Social and Political History, France and German-speaking countries.
The aim of the day was to bring together doctoral students enrolled at the Universities of Le Havre and Rouen who share an interest in social history and political history, in particular the history of workers and/or industry.
“The day brought together Carole Christen’s and Jean-Numa Ducange’s doctoral students in Le Havre. We took it in turns to present the latest developments in our research in 15 to 20 minutes, generally from a methodological angle.
The whole point was also to get together to discuss the various problems that we might encounter in the course of our long-term research, since we are all at different stages of the thesis (for example, I’m in my 5th month of the thesis when other PhD students are in their 5th year).
For my part, I presented the themes that are currently emerging in my work in relation to the sources that I have been able to identify so far. I finished by presenting the questions I’m currently asking myself when dealing with these sources. “