Joseph Harmon

I received my B.A. in History from Rutgers University in 2010, and a M.Ed. with a concentration in Social Studies Education from the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University in 2011. In Fall 2014, I entered the Institute here in the Department of History at Florida State University. I study under the direction of Dr. Rafe Blaufarb.

Major Field: Early Modern Europe

Minor Fields: Modern Europe, the Islamic World, the Atlantic World

I study the impact of the French Revolution on Catholic religious practice during the revolutionary period (c.1788-c.1815). I track the implementation of the religious policies (which ranged from active opposition to indifference to appeasement, determined not only by political aims and the contingencies of the numerous crises in which France found itself during the period, but also with the philosophical and even theological beliefs of power-holders) of the successive regimes at the local level, comparing the interactions  in the three distinct regions of France: the areas around Nancy in Lorraine, Limoges in the Limousin, and Nevers in the Nivernais. I am especially interested in the ways in which the practical needs of local actors encountered the goals of the central power, together forming a civic religion operating underneath the arc of the politico-religious history as it is traditionally understood.

Daniel and Sylvia Walbolt Fellowship, 2014-2019

Legacy Fellowship, 2014-2019

Massena Society Fellowship, 2016 and 2017

"The Revolutionary Nationalization of the Church,” presented at the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era 63nd Annual Conference in Charleston, SC, February, 2017