Resources
Reading
Brittany
Histoire littéraire et culturelle de la Bretagne (Literary and Cultural History of Brittany)
A monumental work that traces the literary and cultural history of Brittany from Celtic times to the present day. (Out of print, available to read in libraries.)
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BALCOU Jean et LE GALLO Yves (dir.), Histoire littéraire et culturelle de la Bretagne (Literary and Cultural History of Brittany, Paris-Genève, Champion-Slatkine, 1987
L’histoire de la Bretagne pour les nuls (The History of Brittany for Dummies)
An illustrated history of Brittany, from prehistoric origins to the third millennium, based on recent historical research.
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CORNETTE Joël, L’histoire de la Bretagne pour les nuls (The History of Brittany for Dummies), Paris, First Éditions, 2022
Émile Masson, professeur de liberté (Émile Masson, Professor of Freedom)
A magnificent portrait of Émile Masson, a Breton libertarian thinker and passionate defender of the freedom of individuals and oppressed peoples. (Out of print, available in libraries.)
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GIRAUD J.-Didier et GIRAUD Marielle, Émile Masson, professeur de liberté, Chamalières (Émile Masson, Professor of Freedom), Canope, 1991.
Democracy
Démocratie : histoire politique d’un mot aux États-Unis et en France (Democracy: the political history of a word in the United States and France)
Today’s so-called “democracies,” created by anti-democrats, are electoral regimes in which true popular power is despised.
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DUPUIS-DERI Francis, Démocratie : histoire politique d’un mot aux États-Unis et en France (Democracy: the political history of a word in the United States and France), Montréal (Québec), Lux éditeur, coll. « Pollux », 2019.
La démocratie aux marges (Democracy on the margins)
Graeber refutes the Western origin of democracy, asserting that it arose on the margins of power, linked to anarchy.
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GRAEBER David, La démocratie aux marges (Democracy on the margins), Paris, Flammarion, coll. « Champs », 2018.
Le discours de la servitude volontaire (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude)
La Boétie demonstrates that tyranny is based on voluntary servitude and that freedom depends on refusing to obey.
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LA BOETIE Étienne de, Le discours de la servitude volontaire (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude), Paris, Payot, coll. « Petite bibliothèque Payot », 1993.
La démocratie sans maîtres (Democracy without masters)
Critique of representative democracy as illusory, plea for a citizen-led, horizontal overhaul of power.
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NIANGO Matthieu, La démocratie sans maîtres (Democracy without masters), Paris, Robert Laffont, coll. « Nouvelles mythologies », 2017.
La haine de la démocratie (The Hatred of Democracy)
Analysis of contemporary critiques of democracy and rediscovery of its subversive power in the face of ideological excesses.
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RANCIERE Jacques, La haine de la démocratie (The Hatred of Democracy), Paris, Fabrique, 2005.
State
La société contre l’État : recherches d’anthropologie politique (Society versus the state: research in political anthropology)
The state creates social hierarchy: political power engenders alienation and gives rise to classes and exploitation.
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CLASTRES Pierre, La société contre l’État : recherches d’anthropologie politique (Society versus the state: research in political anthropology), Paris, les Éd. de Minuit, coll. « Reprise », 2011.
De l’ethnocide (On Ethnocide)
Ethnocide is systematic cultural destruction carried out by the state: it kills the “spirit” of peoples while preserving their bodies.
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CLASTRES Pierre, « De l’ethnocide » (On Ethnocide), L’Homme, no 3‑4, vol. 14, 1974, p. 101‑110.
Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur (Portrait of the Colonized, Preceded by the Portrait of the Colonizer)
An illuminating analysis of the condition of the colonized and the mechanisms of thought at work among the colonizers.
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MEMMI Albert, Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur (Portrait of the Colonized, Preceded by the Portrait of the Colonizer), Paris, Gallimard, 1985.
Sur l’État : cours au Collège de France, 1989-1992 (On the state: lectures at the Collège de France, 1989–1992)
Bourdieu criticizes “state thinking,” reveals its illusions, and offers tools for understanding the real mechanisms of domination.
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BOURDIEU Pierre, Sur l’État : cours au Collège de France, 1989-1992 (On the state: lectures at the Collège de France, 1989–1992), Paris, Raisons d’agir : Seuil, coll. « Cours et travaux », 2012.
The Art of Not Being Governed. An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
Zomia is an area of insubordination in Southeast Asia where 100 million people reject the state and invent strategies of resistance.
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SCOTT James C., The Art of Not Being Governed. An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, Paris, Points, 2019
Minorities and society
Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights
A subtle and in-depth reflection on the rights that societies claiming to be democratic should grant to their national minorities.
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KYMLICKA Will, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Orientalism
“The Orient” is a Western construct that says more about the West than about Eastern societies themselves.
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SAID Edward W., Orientalism, Pantheon Books, 1978.
Multiculturalism and “The Politics of Recognition
A philosophical perspective on the recognition of minority groups coexisting within the same state.
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TAYLOR Charles, Multiculturalism and “The Politics of Recognition”, Princeton University Press, 1994.
La Différence (Difference)
Wieviorka proposes a typology of identities and advocates moving beyond the dilemma of republican equality versus communitarianism.
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WIEVIORKA Michel, La Différence (Difference), Paris, Balland, 2006.
Nationalism
Banal Nationalism
A seminal book that shows that the most widespread form of nationalism in the world comes neither from national minorities nor from the far right, but from nation states.
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BILLIG Michael, Banal Nationalism, London Thousand Oaks (Calif.) New Delhi, Sage, 1995.
Theories of nationalism: A critical introduction
French nationalism
The cult of the nation in France: inventing nationalism, 1680-1800
David Bell shows how, from the 17th century onwards, nationalism and religion shaped French identity and political unity.
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BELL David Avrom, The cult of the nation in France: inventing nationalism, 1680-1800, Cambridge (Mass.) London, Harvard University Press, 2001.
Le mythe national : L’histoire de France revisitée (The National Myth: French History Revisited)
A critique of the French national narrative and a plea for a thoughtful, diverse, and global history.
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CITRON Suzanne, Le mythe national : L’histoire de France revisitée (The National Myth: French History Revisited), Paris, Éditions de l’Atelier, 2008.
Ils ont fait la France : contre-enquête. De Clovis à Charles de Gaulle (They made France: counter-investigation. From Clovis to Charles de Gaulle)
A book that reveals the controversial writings of French “great men” that French history generally ignores.
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LE MAT Jean-Pierre, Ils ont fait la France : contre-enquête. De Clovis à Charles de Gaulle (They made France: counter-investigation. From Clovis to Charles de Gaulle ), Fouesnant, Yoran, 2015.
Un berceau bleu, blanc, rouge : le nationalisme ordinaire et l’enfance ("A blue, white, and red cradle: ordinary nationalism and childhood,")
Dès l’enfance, routines quotidiennes et famille socialisent les enfants français au nationalisme ordinaire, et façonnent leur vision « naturelle » de la nation.
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THROSSELL Katharine, « Un berceau bleu, blanc, rouge : le nationalisme ordinaire et l’enfance », Raisons politiques, no 1, vol. 37, 2010, p. 27‑38, [https//doi.org/10.3917/rai.037.0027].
Nous et les autres (Us and the others)
The book explores the link between “us” and “them,” diversity and humanity, through French thinkers, to understand how to live together.
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TODOROV, Nous et les autres (Us and the others), Seuil, 1992.
Militant texts and manifestos
Pour un municipalisme libertaire (For Libertarian Municipalism)
Poétique, IV : Traité du Tout-Monde (Poetics, IV: Treatise on the Whole World)
Indignez-vous ! (Be indignant!)
Websites
Research centers
Collectives and initiatives
European Free Alliance
Regions and Peoples in Solidarity
Droit des minorités nationales
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Podcasts & videos
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