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UE201 - Rumor and War: History and Society in the Twentieth Century
Lieu et planning
-
Campus Condorcet-Centre de colloques
Centre de colloques, Cours des humanités 93300 Aubervilliers
Salle 3.10
1er semestre / hebdomadaire, vendredi 10:30-12:30
du 16 octobre 2026 au 5 février 2027
Nombre de séances : 12
Description
Dernière modification : 7 mai 2026 20:54:49
- Type d'UE
- Séminaires DE/MC
- Disciplines
- Histoire
- Page web
- -
- Langues
- anglais
- L’enseignement est uniquement dispensé dans cette langue.
- Mots-clés
- Communication Dynamiques sociales Émotions Génocides (études des) Guerre Histoire Histoire culturelle Historiographie Information Médias Mémoire Méthodes et techniques des sciences sociales Mobilisation(s) Nazisme Shoah Sociohistoire Violence
- Aires culturelles
- Europe Transnational/transfrontières
Intervenant·e·s
- Caroline Mezger [référent·e] maîtresse de conférences, EHESS / Centre de recherches historiques (CRH)
Over the course of a century marked by epic conflict and social change, a long-since discredited form of communication repeatedly gripped contemporaries: rumor. Drawing from a multidisciplinary literature and a rich reservoir of primary sources, this seminar interrogates the intersection of rumor, violence, and war from two perspectives. On the one hand, it examines various twentieth-century contexts — including World War I and II, the Nazi and Soviet dictatorships, postwar reconstruction, the Cold War, and diverse (post-) colonial societies — to analyze rumor as a form of deliberation and self-emplacement in moments of crisis. On the other hand, it employs a diverse secondary literature to explore how scientists from various disciplines — such as history, anthropology, sociology, and social psychology — came to understand the rumors that had enveloped their societies. The course thereby examines the theoretical and methodological possibilities and implications of studying informal, often ephemeral, forms of communication, while offering opportunities to discuss key themes in twentieth-century history: war and mass violence, dictatorship, colonialism and postcolonialism, media and the public sphere, memory studies, and the history of emotions. In its exploration of historic conceptions of “truth,” moreover, the course aims at a critical historicization of contemporary debates surrounding “fake news” and “postfactuality.”
The sessions will include the following themes:
- Introduction: Truth and Falsehood in War
- Violence, Propaganda, and Disbelief: Rumors and Legends of World War I
- Censorship, Emotions, and World War I’s “Information Ecosystems”
- Rumor and Totalitarianism I: Informal Communication and Identity in the Soviet Union
- Rumor and Totalitarianism II: Sense-Making under Nazism and Fascism
- Rumor and the Holocaust: Communication, Knowledge, Denial
- World War II, Surveillance, and Allied “Rumor Control”
- Lies, Myths, and Europe’s Postwar Reconstruction
- Cold War Conspiracies
- Rumor and (Post-) Colonial Violence: Anthropological Approaches
- Sociologies of Rumor
- “Fake News,” Postfactuality, and Contemporary Politics
Master
-
Séminaires de recherche
– Histoire - Histoire du monde/histoire des mondes
– M1/S1-M2/S3
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – exposé oral, participation en classe -
Séminaires de recherche
– Histoire - Histoire et sciences sociales
– M1/S1-M2/S3
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – exposé oral, participation en classe
Renseignements
- Contacts additionnels
- -
- Informations pratiques
The course is open to all master's and doctoral students interested in its themes. The sessions will be held in English; the readings will be either in English or in French. An openness to reading and discussing in English is therefore expected.
For further information, please contact: Caroline Mezger (caroline.mezger@ehess.fr).
- Direction de travaux des étudiants
- -
- Réception des candidats
- -
- Pré-requis
- -
Dernière modification : 7 mai 2026 20:54:49
- Type d'UE
- Séminaires DE/MC
- Disciplines
- Histoire
- Page web
- -
- Langues
- anglais
- L’enseignement est uniquement dispensé dans cette langue.
- Mots-clés
- Communication Dynamiques sociales Émotions Génocides (études des) Guerre Histoire Histoire culturelle Historiographie Information Médias Mémoire Méthodes et techniques des sciences sociales Mobilisation(s) Nazisme Shoah Sociohistoire Violence
- Aires culturelles
- Europe Transnational/transfrontières
Intervenant·e·s
- Caroline Mezger [référent·e] maîtresse de conférences, EHESS / Centre de recherches historiques (CRH)
Over the course of a century marked by epic conflict and social change, a long-since discredited form of communication repeatedly gripped contemporaries: rumor. Drawing from a multidisciplinary literature and a rich reservoir of primary sources, this seminar interrogates the intersection of rumor, violence, and war from two perspectives. On the one hand, it examines various twentieth-century contexts — including World War I and II, the Nazi and Soviet dictatorships, postwar reconstruction, the Cold War, and diverse (post-) colonial societies — to analyze rumor as a form of deliberation and self-emplacement in moments of crisis. On the other hand, it employs a diverse secondary literature to explore how scientists from various disciplines — such as history, anthropology, sociology, and social psychology — came to understand the rumors that had enveloped their societies. The course thereby examines the theoretical and methodological possibilities and implications of studying informal, often ephemeral, forms of communication, while offering opportunities to discuss key themes in twentieth-century history: war and mass violence, dictatorship, colonialism and postcolonialism, media and the public sphere, memory studies, and the history of emotions. In its exploration of historic conceptions of “truth,” moreover, the course aims at a critical historicization of contemporary debates surrounding “fake news” and “postfactuality.”
The sessions will include the following themes:
- Introduction: Truth and Falsehood in War
- Violence, Propaganda, and Disbelief: Rumors and Legends of World War I
- Censorship, Emotions, and World War I’s “Information Ecosystems”
- Rumor and Totalitarianism I: Informal Communication and Identity in the Soviet Union
- Rumor and Totalitarianism II: Sense-Making under Nazism and Fascism
- Rumor and the Holocaust: Communication, Knowledge, Denial
- World War II, Surveillance, and Allied “Rumor Control”
- Lies, Myths, and Europe’s Postwar Reconstruction
- Cold War Conspiracies
- Rumor and (Post-) Colonial Violence: Anthropological Approaches
- Sociologies of Rumor
- “Fake News,” Postfactuality, and Contemporary Politics
-
Séminaires de recherche
– Histoire - Histoire du monde/histoire des mondes
– M1/S1-M2/S3
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – exposé oral, participation en classe -
Séminaires de recherche
– Histoire - Histoire et sciences sociales
– M1/S1-M2/S3
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – exposé oral, participation en classe
- Contacts additionnels
- -
- Informations pratiques
The course is open to all master's and doctoral students interested in its themes. The sessions will be held in English; the readings will be either in English or in French. An openness to reading and discussing in English is therefore expected.
For further information, please contact: Caroline Mezger (caroline.mezger@ehess.fr).
- Direction de travaux des étudiants
- -
- Réception des candidats
- -
- Pré-requis
- -
-
Campus Condorcet-Centre de colloques
Centre de colloques, Cours des humanités 93300 Aubervilliers
Salle 3.10
1er semestre / hebdomadaire, vendredi 10:30-12:30
du 16 octobre 2026 au 5 février 2027
Nombre de séances : 12