OAFP 9090 - Secularism : a French exception?

Everyone can see how sensitive is the issue of the French “laïcité” today. Likewise, everyone can feel how difficult is to give a clear and coherent definition of the concept and of its practical outlets. Few notions deserve more a precise and cold/cool/non emotional approach through the historical background and the sense of its evolution.

This is the goal of the course: to draw the main landmarks of the changing character of the French laïcité since the French Revolution of 1789 to the recent legislation and political controversies of our time.

Secularism describes a certain type of relationship between the public sphere (the polity) and the sphere of religions. “Laïcité” is the French declination of the modern process of secularism but with some striking specificities. The French “laïcité” entails a relation made of tension and confrontation between the polity and the religions whether Catholicism or Islam. If the process of Secularism has been mainly concerned by the relations between the Republican state and the Catholic Church, today, the question arises in a new context marked by the development of Islam. Secularism or “laïcité” is more than ever at the core of the French political and cultural debate. And it is a highly controversial topic.

This course will be primarily a history course. It is intended primarily to illuminate the issues and debates of our time. Its purpose is to try to provide simple and clear perspectives on a particularly complex issue.

No specific prerequisites for that course. A decent knowledge of the political history of France from 1789 to our time is helpful (in English: Jeremy POPKIN, A History of Modern France (Routledge); in French: Hubert NÉANT, La politique en France, 1815-2015 (Hachette).

The students can read before the beginning of the course this introductory book:

Jean Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité en France, PUF, Que sais-je ?, 5ème édition, 2010 (online)

Each session with :

• A general presentation by the Professor of the theme
• Students presentations
• Collective discussions

The overall grade of the course will be based on three intermediate grades:

• A presentation of 15/20 minutes 50%
• A written exam during the last session of the course (session # 12) 40%
• An oral participation to the debates held during the sessions 10%

Each session of the course (except for session # 12) corresponds to a specific theme. Each theme is connected to a specific period of History from the Revolution to our time. Students will prepare every theme through the short bibliography composed of the main textbooks (to get a broad understanding of the historical background)