USP – Conférence : "Passion patrimoine : plongée dans les vestiges du passé ?"

The success of the "European Heritage Days," the high viewership of the " Passion for Heritage" segment of the television program " Des racines et des ailes" (Roots and Wings) , and the popularity of Stéphane Bern and his Heritage Foundation all testify to the French people's interest in everything that comes from the past. Monuments, archives, and works of art are now the pride of the nation and contribute to its identity. Why such sensitivity to historical remains? How has history, from the French Revolution to the invention of "new heritages," anchored this passion in French tradition? What about its universalization?

Odile Parsis , a qualified teacher of history and a senior lecturer, taught contemporary history at the University of Lille. She specialized in historiography and scholarship in 18th- and 19th-century France, as well as in the question of heritage, memory, and identity in northern France. In 2012, she was elected to the Committee for Historical and Scientific Works, where she served on the Commission for Contemporary History and the Present Day. She has also been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Société Mérimée since 2012.