Adrian O’Connor
Curriculum Vitae
Adrian O’Connor
Education:
Ph.D. – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, European History (Dec. 2009)
Dissertation: Reading, Writing, and Representation: Politics and Education in
France, 1762-1794
B.A. – (Summa cum Laude) – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (May 2003) European Intellectual History (Honors) and Humanistic Philosophy
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa (2003)
Teaching and Professional Experience:
Assistant Professor:
Fall 2011 – Present: University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Visiting Assistant Professor:
Fall 2010 – Spring 2011: University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Substitute Assistant Professor:
Spring 2010: Brooklyn College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
Courses Taught (since Fall 2010):
Western Civilization I & II Medieval Culture
The Enlightenment The French Revolution 19th Century Europe 20th Century Europe History of Assassination World War II & the Holocaust Theory of History
Research Interests:
Early Modern and Modern Europe; The French Revolution; Seventeenth and eighteenth century European culture; Civil society and sociability; Political culture and political practice; History of citizenship and political identity; History of education and scholarly life; History of Philosophy.
Publications: (* = Peer Reviewed Publication)
* “The Educational Proposals of the French Revolution: A Case Study in the Intellectual and Cultural History of Expectations” in Historicising the French Revolution, edited by C. Armenteros, T. Blanning, I. DiVanna, and D. Dodds, 224-244. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008.
* “Nature, Nurture, and the Social Order: Imagining Lessons and Lives for Women in Ancien Régime France,” French Politics, Culture & Society 30, no. 1 (2012): 1-22.
* “Between Monarch and Monarchy: the education of the dauphin and Revolutionary politics, 1790-1791,” French History 27, no. 2 (June 2013): 176-201.
* “‘Source de lumières & de vertus’: Rethinking éducation, instruction, and the political pedagogy of the French Revolution” [forthcoming in Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 2014]
* “‘The Science of Liberty is not so simple’: teaching democratic thinking in revolutionary France,” [forthcoming in a special issue of Partnerships: a journal of service-learning and civic engagement devoted to the theme “Teaching Democratic Thinking,” 2014]
* “From the classroom out: educational reform and the state in France, 1762-1771” [accepted for publication in French Historical Studies]
Book Reviews:
Yann Lagadec, Jean Le Bihan, et Jean-François Tanguy, eds., Le Canton: un territoire du quotidien? Actes du colloque organisé à l’université Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne, 21-23 septembre 2006, (Rennes, France, 2009), French History 26, no. 2 (June 2012): 262-263
Works in Progress:
In Pursuit of Politics: Education and Revolution in Eighteenth Century France: a book-length study of the debates over education and educational reform in France between the early 1760s and mid-1790s. These debates are examined as an avenue of inquiry into broader French contests over political culture, practice, and legitimacy and, more specifically, into the attempts to establish a participatory and representative government during the early years of the French Revolution.
“From those it does concern: letter-writing and participatory politics in the French Revolution, 1789-1792”: a study of correspondence as a mode of political participation during the early years of the French Revolution.
Conference Papers:
“'Through the bonds of sentiment': Fraternitéand the possibility of politics in the French Revolution,” Conference of the European Society for the History of Political Thought, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 17-19 September 2014
Panel organizer and participant, panel entitled “Making Room for Debate and Disagreement: Participatory Politics in Revolutionary France, 1789-1792,” American Historical Association, Washington D.C., 5 January 2014, other participants included Micah Alpaugh (University of Central Missouri), Robert Blackman (Hampden-Sydney College), and Sophia Rosenfeld (University of Virginia)
“‘A source of moral existence, and so truly indispensable’: Letter-Writing, Participatory Politics, and the General Will in Revolutionary France,” American Historical Association, Washington D.C., 5 January 2014
“A line too finely drawn: éducation, instruction, and the place of festivals in the political pedagogy of the French Revolution,” Society for the Study of French History, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, 14-15 July 2011
“The Suspensive Veto’s Success: Letter Writing, Participatory Politics, and the General
Will under the Legislative Assembly,” Society for French Historical Studies, Charleston, SC, 10-12 February 2011
“Teaching in a Failed State: Pedagogy, Performance, and Political Allegiance in Revolutionary France, 1792-1794,” History of Education Society, Philadelphia, PA, 24 October 2009
“‘La science de la liberté n’est pas si simple’: Educational Reform and Revolutionary Politics in the Thought of Honoré de Mirabeau,” Society for French Historical Studies, St. Louis, MO, 26-29 March 2009
“The Educational Proposals of the French Revolution: A Case Study in the Intellectual and Cultural History of Expectations,” Historicising the French Revolution, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 15-16 November 2007
“‘L’Éducation devant préparer des Citoyens à l’Etat’: The question of national education in France during the 1760s,” Barnes Club Annual Conference, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 1 April 2006
“L’Art de Former les Hommes: the suppression of the French academies and universities, 1793,” Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, Lakeland, FL, 17-19 February 2005
Awards and Fellowships:
USFSP College of Arts & Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, AY 2011-2012
University of South Florida St. Petersburg Faculty Merit Award, 2012
University of Pennsylvania Arts and Sciences Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2008-2009
Institut Français de Washington, Gilbert Chinard Fellowship, 2008
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Graduate Fellowship, 2007-2008; 2006-2007; 2005-2006; 2004-2005; 2003-2004
University of Pennsylvania Graduate and Professional Student Association Conference Travel Award, February 2009, November 2007, February 2005
University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship, Summer 2007
Miscellaneous Professional Activities & Publications
“Culture & Cataclysm: From the Trenches to Total War,” inaugural lecture in the “Thinking Through…” lecture series sponsored by the Department of History & Politics at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, 4 September 2014
“Painting a Political Space: the French Revolution and the origins of the modern museum,” invited talk, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, 10 February 2014
“The Enlightenment,” Letters, The Times Literary Supplement, 12 July 2013, 6.
“Elizabeth and the Unification of the Church of England,” Cathedral Church of St. Peter Speaker Series, St. Petersburg, FL, 4 March 2012
“From Depression to Blitzkrieg: Economics and Politics in Inter-War Europe,” Florida Humanities Council, St. Petersburg, FL, 5 March 2011
“Why (and how) Democracy? Collective decision-making and the origins of modern democracy,” Faculty-in-Residence talks, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, 3 November 2010
Updated September 2014
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