French Science Festival - Between shores and depths: An oceanic exploration

On the occasion of the Science Festival 2024, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme invites you to explore the many concepts of the ocean.

The event will feature a vibrant mix of discussions, artistic and multimedia installations and documentary screenings in order to illuminate diverse perspectives on the ocean and our enduring relationship with this multifaceted environment.

From 7 to 11 October, the meeting will be accompanied by an ocean walk, offering visitors the chance to see and hear the vibrant underwater world.

5:45 pm | Welcome words from Claire Bordes, FMSH vice-presidente of the FMSH

6:00 pm | The ‘lure of the seaside’ under ecological pressure 

Isabelle Bruno, member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and Grégory Salle, director of research at the CNRS.

Examining sandy beaches as both desirable social spaces and vulnerable ecosystems, the Beachaccess network studies the conflicts over appropriation and use they face in the context of climate change and rising sea levels.

6:30 pm | The great cetaceans: between exploitation and fascination

Fabien Clouette, novelist, film-maker and anthropology researcher at the CNRS, and Jérémie Brugidou, film-maker and Doctor of Arts.

Exploring the links between coastal societies and large whales, the Charisma project looks back at the history we share with these animals that hold such a special place in our physical, imaginative and social worlds, and analyses the complex relationship we maintain between exploitation and fascination. The presentation of the project is based on film and sound material collected during ethnographic fieldwork.

7:30 pm | The call of the sea

Pierre Schneider, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Artois.

From the Nile to the Tiber via the ‘Eritrean Sea’, Pierre Schneider takes us on a journey through the conditions of navigation and the cults paid to river and maritime divinities in ancient times with the journal Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2022).

8:00 pm | Memory of the sea, ocean of papers

Jean-Sébastien Guibert, Senior Lecturer in History and Maritime Archaeology at the University of the West Indies.

When the history of shipwrecks reveals the hidden sides of the history of the West Indies: economic and military maritime traffic, dangers and risks, ports and anchorages, sailors and cargoes. Jean-Sébastien Guibert will be presenting his book Mémoire de mer, océan de papiers. Naufrage, risque et fait maritime à la Guadeloupe (late XVII^e - mid XIX^e centuries), published by Presses universitaires de Bordeaux in 2021.

8:30 pm | How did the Indian Ocean come into being?

Emmanuelle Vagnon, CNRS researcher (Laboratoire de médiévistique occidentale de Paris, Université Paris 1).

To introduce the screening of the documentary based on her book La Fabrique de l'Océan Indien. Cartes d'Orient et d'Occident (Antiquité-XVIe s.) (Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2017), Emmanuelle Vagnon takes us on a journey through more than twenty centuries of Babylonian, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic and other cartography.

9:00 pm - 10:00 pm | Projection - « La fabrique de l’océan Indien »

A film written by Céline Ferlita and Emmanuelle Vagnon, based on the book ‘la fabrique de l'océan Indien’ edited by Emmanuelle Vagnon and Eric Vallet Publications de la Sorbonne.

À travers un parcours visuel et sonore, cette exposition met en lumière les projets de recherche soutenus, édités ou diffusés par la FMSH. Photos, projections et installations multimédias vous invitent à explorer les océans sous un nouvel angle, en offrant des analyses et clés de lecture sur les enjeux contemporains qui leur sont liés, tels que la gouvernance des ressources marines, les dynamiques sociales des communautés côtières, ou encore les impacts culturels et économiques du changement climatique.

En partenariat avec la Cité internationale des arts, nous avons également le plaisir de présenter l'installation artistique de Maxine Weiss, qui interroge la manière dont l'environnement naturel est devenu un construit culturel majeur de la société moderne.