Designing Modern France
Design embodies the complexities of modern national identity. Objects and environments are effective yet under-examined manifestations of the “soft power” which the political scientist Joseph Nye has argued is an important tool within international diplomacy. Part of a larger project assessing how the aspirations and ruptures of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Republics inhabit design practices in glass, wood, wool and metal produced in France’s volatile geo-political borderlands, this talk explores how the last great ocean liner “Le France” launched by President Charles De Gaulle and his wife Yvonne in 1960 projected local and national identity to the global community.
Date: 20 October 2016, 17:30 (Thursday, 2nd week, Michaelmas 2016)
Venue: Rewley House, 1-7 Wellington Square OX1 2JA
Venue Details: Mawby Pavilion
Speaker: Dr Claire O'Mahony (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Department for Continuing Education
Organiser: Graduate School (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: gradschool@conted.ox.ac.uk
Hosts: Dr Sandie Byrne (Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford), Dr Christine Jackson (Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford), Dr Cathy Oakes (Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford)
Part of: Graduate Seminar Programme in the Arts and Humanities
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/events/view/arts-and-humanities-seminar-designing-modern-france
Booking email: gradschool@conted.ox.ac.uk
Cost: -
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Sarah Kelly