Écrire l’histoire de l’Ouest américain en France, 1917-1969

Abstract

This paper looks at the modes of historical narratives of the American West in France between 1917 and 1969. A typology of the actors of this narrative construction is attempted which enables to bring to light the absence of a scientific field that would be « history of the American West » as well as the multiplicity of interventions on the topic by the few historians of the United States, by historians of other places and times who find in the American West a useful theoretical tool, and by authors writing from outside of the field of history who claim an expertise that is not academic. An analysis of the transatlantic circulation of knowledge in the history of the American West shows the overarching domination of Turner’s work – and thus the Frontier hypothesis – and of his followers, with the risk of silencing alternative voices. This is plainly apparent in the pages devoted by French historians to the American West in the 19th Century, generally characterized by lyricism and simplism.

Keywords

• historiography
• American West
• Turner (Frederick Jackson)