Christian Jacobs
@christianjacobs.bsky.social
Historian interested in social movements and ideas, colonial histories, and transimperial histories in the 19th and 20th century | Book: "The Politics of Culture. Far-right, Feminist, and “Immigrant” Movements in France, ca. 1965 to 1985" | He/him
2) Change through culture replaced political visions that saw the state as the main vehicle of political change. Activists employed culture to distinguish themselves from specific models of state politics, such as the French imperial state, Leninst state socialism, or “Third World” nation-states.
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
2) Change through culture replaced political visions that saw the state as the main vehicle of political change. Activists employed culture to distinguish themselves from specific models of state politics, such as the French imperial state, Leninst state socialism, or “Third World” nation-states.
I identify two contexts that shaped concepts of culture more broadly.
1) Decolonization redefined political key concepts such as culture. Across all three movements, decolonization was the most used reference when activists gave examples for what culture meant to them.
1) Decolonization redefined political key concepts such as culture. Across all three movements, decolonization was the most used reference when activists gave examples for what culture meant to them.
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
I identify two contexts that shaped concepts of culture more broadly.
1) Decolonization redefined political key concepts such as culture. Across all three movements, decolonization was the most used reference when activists gave examples for what culture meant to them.
1) Decolonization redefined political key concepts such as culture. Across all three movements, decolonization was the most used reference when activists gave examples for what culture meant to them.
The women's liberation movement, “immigrant” movements, and a far-right movement around the group GRECE.
What did culture mean to the movements and when and why did they use the concept? I draw on sources from quotidian political struggles and concrete protest actions to answer these questions.
What did culture mean to the movements and when and why did they use the concept? I draw on sources from quotidian political struggles and concrete protest actions to answer these questions.
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
The women's liberation movement, “immigrant” movements, and a far-right movement around the group GRECE.
What did culture mean to the movements and when and why did they use the concept? I draw on sources from quotidian political struggles and concrete protest actions to answer these questions.
What did culture mean to the movements and when and why did they use the concept? I draw on sources from quotidian political struggles and concrete protest actions to answer these questions.
Everybody is talking about culture – and nobody agrees on what it means. If you want to think about why, you can check out my book published this week. “The Politics of Culture“ is about how three political movements used the concept of culture in France between the late 1960s and the early 1980s:
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Everybody is talking about culture – and nobody agrees on what it means. If you want to think about why, you can check out my book published this week. “The Politics of Culture“ is about how three political movements used the concept of culture in France between the late 1960s and the early 1980s:
By the end of the decade, activists had become disillusioned with developments on the continent, and Africa was no longer seen as a place of hope (as depicted in Sans Frontière, 1979). These changing perceptions had implications for activism on the ground in France.
November 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM
By the end of the decade, activists had become disillusioned with developments on the continent, and Africa was no longer seen as a place of hope (as depicted in Sans Frontière, 1979). These changing perceptions had implications for activism on the ground in France.
My argument in two images: In the early 1970s, activists portrayed African anti-imperialists as the avant-garde of an imminent world revolution (see Révolution Africa's poster of Amílcar Cabral).
November 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM
My argument in two images: In the early 1970s, activists portrayed African anti-imperialists as the avant-garde of an imminent world revolution (see Révolution Africa's poster of Amílcar Cabral).
I'm excited to see that @routledgehistory.bsky.social has published an expanded version of the special issue, 'The Cold War of Labour Migrants'. In it, my article, 'From anti-imperialism to multiculturalism' explores the global intellectual history of migrant activists in 1970s France.
November 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I'm excited to see that @routledgehistory.bsky.social has published an expanded version of the special issue, 'The Cold War of Labour Migrants'. In it, my article, 'From anti-imperialism to multiculturalism' explores the global intellectual history of migrant activists in 1970s France.
Check out this very interesting CfP on "InterQueer: Crossing Queer and Intersectional Lenses in Historical Practice" if you are interested in "how queer and intersectional approaches can help us to interpret the past in a fuller and more complex manner."
gender.eui.eu/wp-content/u...
gender.eui.eu/wp-content/u...
October 15, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Check out this very interesting CfP on "InterQueer: Crossing Queer and Intersectional Lenses in Historical Practice" if you are interested in "how queer and intersectional approaches can help us to interpret the past in a fuller and more complex manner."
gender.eui.eu/wp-content/u...
gender.eui.eu/wp-content/u...
Grußformel für euren Alltag: "In der Hoffnung, dass es Euer Hochwohlgeboren gelungen wird, diese Angelegenheit endlich zu einem mir günstigen Abschluss bringen zu können, verbleibe ich mit viele Grüßen"
Hier gehts natürlich darum, dass jemand sein Geld zurück haben will.
Hier gehts natürlich darum, dass jemand sein Geld zurück haben will.
September 30, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Grußformel für euren Alltag: "In der Hoffnung, dass es Euer Hochwohlgeboren gelungen wird, diese Angelegenheit endlich zu einem mir günstigen Abschluss bringen zu können, verbleibe ich mit viele Grüßen"
Hier gehts natürlich darum, dass jemand sein Geld zurück haben will.
Hier gehts natürlich darum, dass jemand sein Geld zurück haben will.
I found this photo of Charles Atangana on wiki commons, without any date. Does anybody here know a way to date and contextualize this photo? Maybe through the uniforms (are they German or French)?
from wikicommons: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
from wikicommons: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
September 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
I found this photo of Charles Atangana on wiki commons, without any date. Does anybody here know a way to date and contextualize this photo? Maybe through the uniforms (are they German or French)?
from wikicommons: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
from wikicommons: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
I am biased because he was a great colleague at grad school but I do think @hamremar.bsky.social "Fascists of the World, Unite?" is a very important contribution to debates about fascism internationalism in history and politics today. Do check it out and order it in your libraries.
September 2, 2025 at 12:46 PM
I am biased because he was a great colleague at grad school but I do think @hamremar.bsky.social "Fascists of the World, Unite?" is a very important contribution to debates about fascism internationalism in history and politics today. Do check it out and order it in your libraries.
Still loving the first days in a new archive.
August 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Still loving the first days in a new archive.
ANOM has the cutest images that tell you what not to do in the archive.
August 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
ANOM has the cutest images that tell you what not to do in the archive.
I am very excited to spend the next weeks in new archives working on something new.
Ps: Let me know if you are around Aix/Marseille.
Ps: Let me know if you are around Aix/Marseille.
July 23, 2025 at 11:46 AM
I am very excited to spend the next weeks in new archives working on something new.
Ps: Let me know if you are around Aix/Marseille.
Ps: Let me know if you are around Aix/Marseille.
Reminds me of this old Foucault meme..
June 4, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reminds me of this old Foucault meme..
One of the things that surprised me the most during my PhD research were the many political readings of Bob Marley in French activist periodicals when he died in 1981. For Sans Frontière, the "magazine of immigration," the issue after "the son of Jah died" was their most sold issue.
May 11, 2025 at 10:11 AM
One of the things that surprised me the most during my PhD research were the many political readings of Bob Marley in French activist periodicals when he died in 1981. For Sans Frontière, the "magazine of immigration," the issue after "the son of Jah died" was their most sold issue.
Today was the first session of a seminar I teach in Potsdam on "France and Migration in the 20th Century" in this very potsdamy building. Architecture-wise differently a change of scenery in comparison to the brutalist beauties at FU.
April 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Today was the first session of a seminar I teach in Potsdam on "France and Migration in the 20th Century" in this very potsdamy building. Architecture-wise differently a change of scenery in comparison to the brutalist beauties at FU.
A good day to browse through the papers.
April 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
A good day to browse through the papers.
Ich freue mich schon sehr nächste Woche auf diese spannende Konferenz @fzh-hamburg.bsky.social. Kommt vorbei, wenn ihr euch für die extreme Rechte und Räume interessiert und in Hamburg seid: zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de/veranstaltun...
March 6, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Ich freue mich schon sehr nächste Woche auf diese spannende Konferenz @fzh-hamburg.bsky.social. Kommt vorbei, wenn ihr euch für die extreme Rechte und Räume interessiert und in Hamburg seid: zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de/veranstaltun...
German citizenship question 4:
February 11, 2025 at 11:03 AM
German citizenship question 4:
what a week, huh? Berlin, it's thursday*!
January 30, 2025 at 2:26 PM
what a week, huh? Berlin, it's thursday*!
Still library-hopping
January 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Still library-hopping
Library-hopping in Barcelona
January 14, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Library-hopping in Barcelona
