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Council for European Studies Fellowship Report

Jarvis, Katie

My project concerns the Dames des Halles during the French Revolution. My research focuses on the political activism and cultural representation of these Parisian merchants. During the Revolution, the Dames struggled to maintain their Old Regime position as ritual representatives of the people by appropriating revolutionary practices and discourse. Although the Dames des Halles proved to be critical political actors in several journées, historians have yet to undertake a comprehensive study of their revolutionary activism. In order to throw into relief the complexity of female political practice during the Revolution, I analyze, on the one hand, the economic, religious, ritual, and gendered elements of their political activism. On the other hand, I study how other revolutionary actors visually and textually deployed the Dames’ image for their own political ends. Working at the intersection of popular politics, popular culture, and economics, I intend to study the Dames des Halles’ political activism and the simultaneous renegotiation of their public identity throughout the course of the Revolution.

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Title
Perspectives On Europe

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Academic Units
Council for European Studies
Published Here
May 4, 2011