Marie Cartier

This book argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-20th century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Before Stonewall when homosexuals were still deemed mentally ill, these bars were the only place where many could have any community at all. This book explores this community as a site of a lived corporeal theology and political space. It reveals that religious institutions such as the Metropolitan Community Church were founded in such bars, that traditional and non-traditional religious activities took place there, and that religious ceremonies such as marriage were often conducted within the bars by staff. It examines how these bars became not only ecclesiastical sites but also provided the fertile ground for the birth of the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights before Stonewall.

women, gay bars, and theology before Stonewall

Baby, you are my religion

Baby, You Are My Religion argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-20th Century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Before Stonewall—when homosexuals were still deemed mentally ill—these bars were the only place where many could have any community at all. Baby, You are My Religion explores this community as a site of a lived corporeal theology and political space. It reveals that religious institutions such as the Metropolitan Community Church were founded in such bars, that traditional and non-traditional religious activities took place there, and that religious ceremonies such as marriage were often conducted within the bars by staff. Baby, You are My Religion examines how these bars became not only ecclesiastical sites but also provided the fertile ground for the birth of the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights before Stonewall.

Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall

Baby, You are My Religion

Christian Baudelot

Christine Detrez

Il court sur l'état de la lecture en France les propos les plus alarmistes. Et l'on a raison de s'en préoccuper: c'est un enjeu national. Encore faut-il éviter, sur une matière aussi sérieuse, les propos de café du commerce. Voici du solide: une enquête de quatre ans auprès de 1200 élèves. La plus ample et méthodique qui ait jamais été entreprise en France. Les résultats sont surprenants. Oui, les jeunes lisent. Ils lisent au collège, et surtout, à ce stade, ils lisent pour eux-mêmes. Mais la rupture avec le lycée est nette. Au collège, lecture personnelle et lecture scolaire se recoupent largement. Au lycée, elles se différencient et ne font pas nécessairement bon ménage. Plus longtemps les élèves séjournent à l'école et moins ils lisent pour eux-mêmes. On peut réussir dans les études et ne pas lire. On peut aussi lire et ne pas réussir. L'école forme pourtant des lecteurs, même si beaucoup s'écartent du modèle littéraire traditionnel. Un livre dérangeant et nuancé. Un instrument remarquable pour connaître ce que nos enfants ont réellement en tête.

Et pourtant, ils lisent--

Olivier Masclet

Yasmine Siblot

Isabelle Coutant

The Poplars housing development in suburban Paris is home to what one resident called the “Little-Middles” – a social group on the tenuous border between the working- and middle- classes. In the 1960s The Poplars was a site of upward social mobility, which fostered an egalitarian sense of community among residents. This feeling of collective flourishing was challenged when some residents moved away, selling their homes to a new generation of upwardly mobile neighbors from predominantly immigrant backgrounds. This volume explores the strained reception of these migrants, arguing that this is less a product of racism and xenophobia than of anxiety about social class and the loss of a sense of community that reigned before.

Marie Cartier

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