Just my quick, pretty spontaneous responses to the five questions Richard listed in his last email, to get the discussion going:
1) Should it be open to all graduate students in our field (PhD and MA)?
I think so, especially because many MA students will go on to pursue a PhD, or will at least consider that as an option, and these individuals might benefit from participation in the forum.
2) What about those pursuing digital humanities, public history, or library science?
Maybe. Public history, yeah, why not, but I'm not so sure about the other two branches. The question is, where do we stop, why would we then exclude people doing French lit with an Enlightenment focus? (On another note, why would we exclude people studying at Canadian universities, etc.? There are a couple of rabbit holes that I'd be wary to go down.)
3) Should there be limitations on the level of the institution or should we be as inclusive as possible to non-R1 universities?
I think we should be as inclusive as possible in that respect. Anything smacking of R1 elitism is understandably unpopular.
4) What exactly is our field? Is it revolutionary Atlantic or long-eighteenth century (from Louis XIV to Napoleon? What about Restoration or 1848?)
I think this forum should (or could) appeal to anyone doing MA or doctoral research in which the Grand Siècle, Enlightenment France plus the Revolution plus Napoleon, and/or any French imperial activities up through the Napoleonic period occupy a significant place. Very broadly speaking.
5) We then have the practical concern of how to disseminate knowledge of the forum to those who did not participate in the conference. (Twitter, word of mouth at conferences, H-France, etc.?)
I don't have any ideas beyond what's already listed in parentheses, unless someone wants to scour history department websites from across the country and seek out the contact details of any graduate students who might be interested. But I'm afraid the time cost of such research would outweigh the benefits, given how little enthusiasm this forum seems to have sparked so far, as measured by the number of posts...
Just my quick, pretty spontaneous responses to the five questions Richard listed in his last email, to get the discussion going:
1) Should it be open to all graduate students in our field (PhD and MA)?
I think so, especially because many MA students will go on to pursue a PhD, or will at least consider that as an option, and these individuals might benefit from participation in the forum.
2) What about those pursuing digital humanities, public history, or library science?
Maybe. Public history, yeah, why not, but I'm not so sure about the other two branches. The question is, where do we stop, why would we then exclude people doing French lit with an Enlightenment focus? (On another note, why would we exclude people studying at Canadian universities, etc.? There are a couple of rabbit holes that I'd be wary to go down.)
3) Should there be limitations on the level of the institution or should we be as inclusive as possible to non-R1 universities?
I think we should be as inclusive as possible in that respect. Anything smacking of R1 elitism is understandably unpopular.
4) What exactly is our field? Is it revolutionary Atlantic or long-eighteenth century (from Louis XIV to Napoleon? What about Restoration or 1848?)
I think this forum should (or could) appeal to anyone doing MA or doctoral research in which the Grand Siècle, Enlightenment France plus the Revolution plus Napoleon, and/or any French imperial activities up through the Napoleonic period occupy a significant place. Very broadly speaking.
5) We then have the practical concern of how to disseminate knowledge of the forum to those who did not participate in the conference. (Twitter, word of mouth at conferences, H-France, etc.?)
I don't have any ideas beyond what's already listed in parentheses, unless someone wants to scour history department websites from across the country and seek out the contact details of any graduate students who might be interested. But I'm afraid the time cost of such research would outweigh the benefits, given how little enthusiasm this forum seems to have sparked so far, as measured by the number of posts...