Rites protestataires et tensions démocratiques en France à l'âge romantique (1820 - 1848)

Abstract

This article deals with the constitution of an « oppositionnal public
space » before the advent of democracy, during the French constitutional
monarchy. In the light of recent works, it shows how traditional usual
rites (banquets, funerals, rough music) are performed as political forums
which subvert the standards of the representation. As the official public
space was restrained, they become rites of civic control and explicit
protest against the powers. By mixing different social groups, by awarding
public honors, by celebrating explicitly or implicitly the sovereign people,
they reveal important tensions regarding political representation. The
mobilized lower classes see in these rites an opportunity to become visible
and symbolically sovereign, whereas the organizers of theses rites in the
1820’s, liberal politicians, denied this sovereignty.