Inventer l'Europe

ongoing

"Our project aims to make 4th grade students think about both the modern idea of ​​Europe and the origins of the EU. For this objective, we cannot avoid a return to the 18th century. Indeed, whether the founding fathers of the Union - Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, all those whom the British historian Alan Milward called the ""European saints"" - or its architects, all summoned Montesquieu and Voltaire as a source of 'inspiration. So to use the words of Tzvetan Todorov in his essay The Spirit of Enlightenment (2006) “Without Europe, no Enlightenment, without the Enlightenment, no Europe”? The Enlightenment thinks and says Europe. The Age of Enlightenment gave rise to a European art of living and a feeling of belonging to the same culture. With the ideas of the great philosophers mixed with the circulation of fashions and witticisms, as well as the travels of enlightened men, the Enlightenment is a prestigious creation of Europe. Thinking about the Europe of this century means giving students a glimpse of questions that are still relevant today, which are those of European identity as a breeding ground for possible European citizenship, as a first step towards political unity. Jean Monnet, French politician and economic advisor, defended European integration throughout his life. His ideas inspired the Schuman Plan aimed at pooling French and German national production of coal and steel. From the mid-18th century, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, new technologies spread rapidly throughout Europe. Our project aims to put into practice ""pedagogies of memory"" by visiting memorial sites of the history of the industrialization of Europe, an essential part of European heritage, shaping the history, landscapes and lives of Europeans. for two centuries."