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Dr Alison Carrol
Reader in European History

Marie Jahoda 215

Summary

I am a historian of Modern Europe, and I am interested in the history of borders, borderlands, nationhood, and what it means to belong in modern Europe. Before joining Brunel in 2011 I was Junior Research Fellow at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge (2008-2010) and Lecturer in Modern History at Birkbeck, University of London (2010-2011). In 2010 I was awarded the Etienne Baluze Prize in European Regional History. I have been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel, and in 2023-4 I am a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History, University of Ljubljana and a Fellow of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Committee of the Society for the Study of French History, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Convenor of the IHR's Modern French History Seminar, and a member of the AHRC Peer Review College.

My current research focuses on the long history of the Channel tunnel, and was inspired by the question of where our ideas about borders come from. The starting point of this project is that while borders represent powerful symbols of national identity and historical continuity, they have been imagined and reimagined in a variety of ways, and have functioned differently across time periods and political regimes. I use a case study of the Channel Tunnel to think about what proposals for (and opposition to) a tunnel tell us about shifting ideas about borders, connection and cohesion in France and Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This research has been funded by a Brunel University London Athena Swan award, by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust and by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. The first article based on this research is available to read now in The Historical Journal.

My work on the Channel tunnel was inspired by research on the border region of Alsace in the twentieth century. My book, The Return of Alsace to France, 1918-1939, asks what happened when the region of Alsace returned to France after almost fifty years of annexation into the German Empire: How did France attempt to make this German-speaking region French? How did the Alsatian popoulation see themselves? What did return mean for the region? I argue that return was not completed when French troops entered the region in 1918,  or indeed when return was ratified by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Rather I view return as a process that evolved over the following two decades, and involved a range of actors inside and outside Alsace. In order to investigate the meaning of return, I treated the border as a category of analysis, and analysed the ways in which return was shaped and driven by the national boundary between France and Germany, which lies along the east of Alsace. This book was shortlisted for the European Book Prize (awarded by the Council for European Studies) and I have published a number of articles and chapters on Alsace, most recently in French History, Contemporary European History, and The Conversation.

I am also interested in the relationship between borders, ideas of belonging and heritage. I will be developing this theme with my colleague Professor Astrid Swenson (University of Bayreuth), through a project entitled 'Borders of Belonging. Historical and Creative Methdos in Heritage and Placemaking.' This has been funded by the Humboldt Centre (Bayreuth).

My teaching at Brunel reflects my research, and I have taught a wide variety of optional and compulsory modules on European history and the history of borders, as well as modules on historical methods. I have been honoured to be nominated by my students for prizes at the Student-Led Teaching Awards including Inspirational Lecturer of the Year, Supervisor of the Year and Feedback of the Year, and to have been shortlisted for Feedback of the Year.

Qualifications:

  • PhD in History
  • MA in European History
  • BA (Hons) in History with European Study

Newest selected publications

Carrol, A. (2023) 'Imagining a Channel Tunnel in France after the First World War'. The Historical Journal, 0 (ahead of print). pp. 1 - 20. ISSN: 0018-246X Open Access Link

Journal article

Carrol, A. (2023) 'Navigations of National Belonging. Legal Reintegration After the Return of Alsace to France, 1918–1939', in Dalle Mulle, E., Rodogno, D. and Bieling, M. (eds.) Sovereignty, Nationalism, and the Quest for Homogeneity in Interwar Europe. London : Bloomsbury. pp. 211 - 230. ISBN 10: 1-350-26341-9. ISBN 13: 978-1-3502-6338-3. Open Access Link

Book chapter

Carrol, A. (2021) 'Les passages de la frontière Franco-Allemande en Alsace dans l'entre-deux-guerres', in Depoil, A-L. and Plyer, S. (eds.) Frontière, migrations et mobilités en Alsace de 1870 aux années 1930. ISBN 10: 2868207596. ISBN 13: 9782868207593. Open Access Link

Book chapter

Carrol, A. (2021) 'Crossing borders: the making of France’s eastern frontier in Alsace, 1918–1939'. French History, 35 (1). pp. 70 - 90. ISSN: 0269-1191 Open Access Link

Journal article

Carrol, A. (2020) 'Winemaking and the Politics of Identity in Alsace, 1918-1939'. Contemporary European History, 29 (4). pp. 380 - 393. ISSN: 0960-7773 Open Access Link

Journal article
More publications(17)
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