Associated Doctoral Researchers
Léa Renard
Master of Political Science
Research topic
“The statistical construction of otherness: Socio-Genèse of integration policies in France and Germany (1880-2010)“ (German/French)
Curriculum vitae
EDUCATION
Since Oct. 2013
PhD in Sociology and Political Sciences (Cotutelle de thèse)
University of Potsdam, Germany – University of Grenoble, France (Pacte/IEP)
PhD thesis: “The statistical construction of otherness: Socio-Genèse of integration policies
in France and Germany (1880-2010)”
2011-2013
MA “Politiques Publiques et Changement Social” (“Public policy und social change”)
Major: “Sciences de Gouvernement Comparées” (“Comparative governmental sciences”)
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Grenoble, France
MA thesis: “Gouverner la population nationale par les chiffres: Socio-histoire de la
statistique des migrations en France et en Allemagne au XIXe siècle (1860-1899)“
Sept. 2011 – Febr. 2012
Semester abroad (Erasmus)
MA « Gender, Culture and Social Change »
University of Innsbruck, Austria
2010 – 2011
BA in Sociology
University Pierre-Mendès-France Grenoble II, France
2009 – 2011
BA in Political Sciences
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Grenoble, France
BA thesis: “La matrice féminine: l’essence de la Vie. Discours et représentations des
mouvements provie grenoblois“
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Since Oct. 2013
Doctoral Fellow at the University of Potsdam, Germany and the University of
Grenoble, France (“contrat doctoral”)
April 2012 – July 2012 and Febr. 2013 – Sept. 2013
Chair of Sociology of Gender, University of Potsdam, Germany
Contributed to the German-French research project “Metamorphoses of Equality II”
successively as intern, student assistant and scientific assistant
July 2011
French Sociology Association – Congress 2011, Grenoble, France
Helped to organize the congress
Mai 2010 – July 2010
Association Rhône-Alpes Petits Débrouillards (science workshops), Grenoble, France
Designed and analyzed a survey about the members of the association
Abstract
My PhD project consists of historicizing and deconstructing statistical categories on migration and integration in France and Germany, by focusing on the scientific controversies on these topics in both countries. In order to do so, the project is grounded on the principles of historical sociology and uses a comparative design over time and across two countries. My research questions migration as a public problem per se and integration as a “natural” political answer to this problem. Comparing both countries over time, the research explores the role of official statistics in the nation building process in the second part of the 19th century in France and Germany (1880-1930), as well as in the last decades of the 20th century (1990-2010). To what extent do official statistics contribute to the construction of categories of otherness? How are these categories used as instruments for integration policy purposes? And what does such an integration policy, based on numbers, look like? In the first step, I will explore the fields of migration and integration statistics in both countries for the second period by focusing on the collective actors involved in these fields. Second, I focus on two national case studies: 1. The genesis of the category “persons with migration background”, introduced in 2006 into German official statistics as an analytical category; 2. The French controversy over “ethnic statistics” (2008-2010). Third, I will apprehend discourses on the integration of migrant populations in an historical perspective by focusing on the patterns of interpretation of past and present protagonists. The empirical study is based on content analysis of documents (statistical reports) and semi-structured interviews.