CENA

Thirty years of North American studies in France

The Center for North American Studies (CENA), an affiliate of l’Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) was founded in 1980 to remedy the lack of academic studies of North America in France. Despite pioneering efforts in some English departments and the creation of the first long-term chair in North American history at the Sorbonne in 1967, there was significant disparity between the importance of the U.S.A. in the contemporary world and the weakness of North American studies in France.