International Research Network of Young Historians
of European Integration (RICHIE)
Induction Meeting of Richie association (3 november 2005)
The meeting has on its agenda the set up of the Richie workshops, and included fifteen people. On this occasion, Laurent Warlouzet was elected President, succeeding Katrin Rücker.
Presence of researchers who had not taken part in the March conference shows that the network is now quite well known, and that the spread of information is satisfactory. The links established with HEIRS and other researcher associations (Sciences Po PhD students, various mailing lists), and the communication work of everyone, have enabled the network and its mailing list to be known amongst a large public of PhD students, in France and abroad. Certain professors have also passed on the message to their students, thus showing their support.
The idea of workshops was supported by everyone. For the moment, four groups are being set up:
- Europe's economic history (organised by Laurent Warlouzet)
- Notion of commitment and European militancy: what reasons, experiences, environment lead one to get actively involved in the European construction? (organised by Christophe Le Dréau)
- Europe and the Cold War: what interactions were there between the Cold War and the European construction? (organised by Émilia Robin- Hivert)
- History of Europe's Defence (organised by Jenny Raflik)
Meeting allowed all interested people to sign up to a group, and to discuss their general organization. It is expected that the workshops will start meeting soon. A coordination is planned between the groups, and the website could act as a relay for a wider distribution of information about the work done.
The use of a limited mailing-list should allow exchanges between researchers, despite geographical distances.
Several new ideas of activities for the network were suggested:
- Exchanging notes on lectures, chapters;
- mock vivas;
- common projects of oral history (holding interviews with several people, consulting in advance of interview to choose questions);
- Exchanging documents.
Those activities could extend the direct cooperation between members of the network.Unresolved Questions
The webmaster, Émilia Robin, informed us that certain projects are still not finished, for technical reasons (limitations of current website: online directory of researchers (in common with HEIRS), online forums of discussion, possibility of collaborating directly with website, etc. Their development remain on the agenda.
It is important that all members of the network get involved, in order to help the workshops and to encourage exchanges. In particular, the information of the mailing-list rests for the moment on a small number of individuals, and does not cover all European countries. It is essential that everyone gets involved by relaying information to the mailing-list.
In addition, an important amount of translation for the website has been done. For the moment, it rests solely on the work of Garret Martin for the English version, on Christian Wenkel for the German version, and Guia Migani for the Italian version. Their task would be made easier if the translation work was shared with other members of the network. All volunteers are welcomed (contact the webmaster).
Report by Jenny Raflik