Mai 68 Then and Now

It was both an honour and a privilege to welcome back to Edge Hill University one of Britain's leading historians, Professor Robert Gildea, for his recent guest lecture, ‘Mai 68 Then and Now'.

Senior Lecturer in European History and event organiser, Dr Daniel Gordon, was joined by students, staff, alumni, Ormskirk residents, students from the University of the Third Age in Maghull, academics from Liverpool and Manchester Universities and former 1968 activists as Professor Gildea looked back at the events of 1968, and beyond, through the eyes of French activists and drew comparisons with global protests currently taking place.  

A bestselling author as well as Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford and recently elected Fellow of the British Academy, Professor Gildea discussed the external pressures and the subjective experiences of a number of individuals he had interviewed as part of a pan-European project, ‘Around 1968: Activism, Networks, Trajectories', to mark the 40^th anniversary of this now historic generational revolt.  

Professor Gildea's textbooks are a fundamental part of History studies at Edge Hill and so this event provided a unique opportunity for students to hear personally from the leading expert himself.  

During his lecture Robert Gildea examined the events which took place in Mai 68 and their paramount importance in understanding the social history of Contemporary France. Now considered a watershed moment, young people en masse challenged the authorities and the conservative world they had grew up in, leading to a political and cultural revolution around an idealistic belief of freedom and liberation, which is now the modern view of French society.

Professor Gildea concluded his event by drawing parallels between then and now. He established that over a period of time these personal accounts and descriptions enable people to make sense of their own history, as well as providing historians with a further understanding of the world around us and the challenges we face today.  

His lecture was followed by a lively discussion, which continued informally afterwards over tea and coffee.