La mémoire socialiste : un cas d'étude sociologique du rapport au passé

Defence date: 8 May 2000Examining Board: Prof. David Hanley, University of Cardiff; Prof. Sudhir Hazareesingh, Balliol College, Oxford; Prof. Steven Lukes, Institut Universitaire Européen, Florence-Università di Siena (Supervisor); Prof. Yves Mény, Institut Universitaire Européen, FlorenceFirst made available online on 2 March 2018L'un des problèmes que présente la notion de mémoire est qu’elle constitue une «notion-carrefour»!: elle renvoie d'abord à un certain nombre de fonctions psychiques grâce auxquelles les êtres humains sont capables d’actualiser des impressions ou des informations passées. A ce titre, la mémoire intéresse la psychologie, la neurophysiologie ou encore la biologie. Dans le champ des sciences sociales, la «mémoire» — à laquelle on adjoint souvent l’épithète «collective» — a fait une entrée remarquée il y a une vingtaine d'années déjà. S'agit-il d’un simple phénomène des temps, d’une mode passagère ou, au contraire, doit-on estimer que cet engouement pour le thème de la mémoire, participe d’une réflexion de fond sur le passé, l'histoire, le souvenir et l'oubli? Cette recherche n'abordera pas directement ces questions, même si elle peut, en passant, y apporter quelques éléments de réponse. S'inscrivant dans une perspective sociologique, ce travail a pour objectif majeur de questionner l’utilisation d’un terme polysémique, qui revêt par conséquent des significations multiples. En d’autres termes, il s’agira de répondre à la question suivante: existe-t-il une réalité sociale que l'on puisse nommer «mémoire collective»?; si oui, quelle est-t-elle?; ou encore, qu'est-ce que la «mémoire collective»?, et comment fonctionne-t-elle

La laīcité, garante du pluralisme culturel et religieux

Aujourd’hui en France, des personnalités médiatiques et politiques de premier plan, jusqu’au plus haut niveau de l’État, attisent les haines et les peurs, agitant le spectre du « séparatisme » et l’épouvantail du « grand remplacement » qui menaceraient la République française « une et indivisible ». De là, la stigmatisation des Arabes, des Noirs, des musulmans, des Asiatiques, des Rroms… Qu’elles soient françaises ou étrangères, les personnes non blanches sont toujours construites comme de potentielles ennemies de l’intérieur, d’autant plus lorsqu’elles tentent de résister à ces discriminations. Cet ouvrage collectif entend déconstruire les mécanismes de racialisation qui sont aux fondements mêmes de l’État-nation et du fonctionnement de ses institutions afin de mettre au jour les liens entre les hiérarchies raciale, religieuse et culturelle établies à l’époque coloniale et celles d’aujourd’hui, à l’origine de discriminations structurelles multiples. Grâce à vingt-trois contributions d’universitaires, de journalistes et de personnalités engagées, Racismes de France démêle les amalgames, révèle les dénis grossiers de la mythologie nationale-républicaine et déploie l’argumentation de l’antiracisme politique pour, enfin, lutter efficacement contre tous les racismes

The farther, the safer: a manifesto for securely navigating synthetic species away from the old living world

Biotechnology has empirically established that it is easier to construct and evaluate variant genes and proteins than to account for the emergence and function of wild-type macromolecules. Systematizing this constructive approach, synthetic biology now promises to infer and assemble entirely novel genomes, cells and ecosystems. It is argued here that the theoretical and computational tools needed for this endeavor are missing altogether. However, such tools may not be required for diversifying organisms at the basic level of their chemical constitution by adding, substituting or removing elements and molecular components through directed evolution under selection. Most importantly, chemical diversification of life forms could be designed to block metabolic cross-feed and genetic cross-talk between synthetic and wild species and hence protect natural habitats and human health through novel types of containment

Association of the PHACTR1/EDN1 genetic locus with spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Background: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an increasingly recognized cause of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) afflicting predominantly younger to middle-aged women. Observational studies have reported a high prevalence of extracoronary vascular anomalies, especially fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) and a low prevalence of coincidental cases of atherosclerosis. PHACTR1/EDN1 is a genetic risk locus for several vascular diseases, including FMD and coronary artery disease, with the putative causal noncoding variant at the rs9349379 locus acting as a potential enhancer for the endothelin-1 (EDN1) gene. Objectives: This study sought to test the association between the rs9349379 genotype and SCAD. Methods: Results from case control studies from France, United Kingdom, United States, and Australia were analyzed to test the association with SCAD risk, including age at first event, pregnancy-associated SCAD (P-SCAD), and recurrent SCAD. Results: The previously reported risk allele for FMD (rs9349379-A) was associated with a higher risk of SCAD in all studies. In a meta-analysis of 1,055 SCAD patients and 7,190 controls, the odds ratio (OR) was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.50 to 1.86) per copy of rs9349379-A. In a subset of 491 SCAD patients, the OR estimate was found to be higher for the association with SCAD in patients without FMD (OR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.53 to 2.33) than in SCAD cases with FMD (OR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.28 to 1.99). There was no effect of genotype on age at first event, P-SCAD, or recurrence. Conclusions: The first genetic risk factor for SCAD was identified in the largest study conducted to date for this condition. This genetic link may contribute to the clinical overlap between SCAD and FMD

The Synthetic Microbiology Caucus: a fresh channel for exploring new ideas, challenging conventional wisdom and fostering community projects

International audienc

How water retention in porous media with cellulose ethers works

Cellulose ethers (CE) are widely used in mortars as water retaining agents; however the cause of retention remains unknown. This paper attempts to clarify the involved mechanisms using several macroscopic experiments (water retention WR standard tests, imbibition and filtration tests). We highlight that WR is not specific to cement but occurs for every porous media. Then, using model porous media and different fluids we point out a critical mechanism of WR with CE solutions: a jamming effect during water transport through the porous medium. This effect may be explained by the presence of polydisperse aggregates which result from native cellulose or hydrophobic interactions. Finally we present a statistical model for filtration which predicts all the qualitative trends observed experimentally. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The 5-chlorouracil:7-deazaadenine base pair as an alternative to the dT:dA base pair

International audience5-Chloro-2′-deoxyuridine as a possible component of a chemically modified genome has been discussed in terms of its influence on duplex stability and DNA polymerase incorporation properties. The search for its counterpart among different deoxyadenosine analogs (7-deaza-, 8-aza- and 8-aza-7-deaza-2′-deoxyadenosines) showed that the stable duplex formation as well as the synthesis of long constructs, more than 2 kb, were successful with the 5-chloro-2′-deoxyuridine and 7-deaza-2′-deoxyadenosine combination and with Taq DNA polymerase

Paralogous metabolism: S-alkyl-cysteine degradation in Bacillus subtilis

International audienceMetabolism is prone to produce analogs of essential building blocks in the cell (here named paralogous metabolism). The variants result from lack of absolute accuracy in enzyme-templated reactions as well as from molecular aging. If variants were left to accumulate, the earth would be covered by chemical waste. The way bacteria cope with this situation is essentially unexplored. To gain a comprehensive understanding of Bacillus subtilis sulphur paralogous metabolism, we used expression profiling with DNA arrays to investigate the changes in gene expression in the presence of S-methyl-cysteine (SMeC) and its close analog, methionine, as sole sulphur source. Altogether, more than 200 genes whose relative strength of induction was significantly different depending on the sulphur source used were identified. This allowed us to pinpoint operon ytmItcyJKLMNytmO_ytnIJ_rbfK_ytnLM as controlling the pathway cycling SMeC directly to cysteine, without requiring sulphur oxygenation. Combining genetic and physiological experiments, we deciphered the corresponding pathway that begins with protection of the metabolite by acetylation. Oxygenation of the methyl group then follows, and after deprotection (deacetylation), N-formyl cysteine is produced. This molecule is deformylated by the second deformylase present in B. subtilis DefB, yielding cysteine. This pathway appears to be present in plant-associated microbes