Dominique Kalifa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dominique Kalifa
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Kalifa in 2017
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| Born | 12 September 1957 |
| Died | 12 September 2020 (aged 63) |
| Other names | Dominique Prosper Kalifa |
| Occupation | Professor, columnist & French historian |
| Known for | crime, transgression, social control, and mass culture |
Dominique Kalifa was a French historian, writer, and university professor. He was born on September 12, 1957, and passed away on his birthday, September 12, 2020. He was well-known for his studies on the history of crime, how society tried to keep order, and popular culture in France and Europe during the 1800s and early 1900s.
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Early Life and Education
Dominique Kalifa was born in Vichy, a town in France. He went to a special school called the École normale supérieure at Saint-Cloud.
Later, he continued his studies under the guidance of a famous historian named Michelle Perrot. He earned his doctorate degree in 1994, which is a very high academic qualification.
Career as a Historian
Dominique Kalifa became a professor at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. He also led the Centre of 19th Century History there. He was a member of the Institut Universitaire de France, a group that recognizes top university researchers.
From 2008 to 2015, he taught at Sciences Po, another important French university. He also spent time as a visiting scholar at universities in other countries. These included New York University, Brigham Young University, and the University of St Andrews.
What He Studied
As a student of Michelle Perrot, Kalifa focused on specific areas of history. He studied the history of crime and how people broke rules in society. He also looked at how society tried to control these actions.
Another big part of his work was studying "mass culture." This means the popular entertainment, newspapers, and trends that many people enjoyed in the 1800s and early 1900s in France and Europe.
Writing and Awards
Starting in 1990, Kalifa also wrote historical reviews for the French newspaper Libération. He wrote about the history of the "underworld," which refers to criminals and their secret world. His book on this topic was translated into other languages like Portuguese and Spanish.
In 2017, he published a book called La Véritable Histoire de la Belle Époque. This book won a special award called the Eugène Colas Prize from the Académie française. The "Belle Époque" was a period of French history known for its beauty and peace before World War I.
He also worked on projects about love, Paris, and how places are imagined. People described him as an expert on the "bas fonds" (which means the lower parts of society or the underworld) and how society imagined these things.
Books and Films
Dominique Kalifa wrote many books about his historical research. These books covered topics like crime stories, the start of private police, and mass culture in France. He also wrote about famous criminals and the history of newspapers.
Some of his books were translated into English, allowing more people to read his work. One of his English books is called Vice, Crime, and Poverty. How the Western Imagination Invented the Underworld.
Film and TV Work
Kalifa also helped create films and TV shows about history.
- He was a co-author for the film A beautiful era: France before 14.
- He helped manage a TV series called Faits divers : l'histoire à la Une (News Items: History on the Front Page). This series was shown on the Arte channel.
- He appeared as a commentator in a documentary about historical crimes called Des crimes almost parfaits.
- He also worked on documentaries like Arsène, In the Belle Epoque of bad boys, and Les Enfants du prison.
Death
Dominique Kalifa passed away on September 12, 2020, at the age of 63. His university colleague, Nicolas Offenstadt, shared a message about him:
Immense tristesse. l'historien Dominique Kalifa n'est plus. Je n'évoquerai pas son oeuvre, on y reviendra beaucoup. Mais à l'Université aussi, dans la discrétion et la robustesse, il a fait tant avancer. Salut et merci, de très profond, Dominique, on n'oubliera rien de rien.
'Immense sadness. The historian Dominique Kalifa is no more. I won't bring up his work, we'll all return to it many times. But at the University as well, in his quiet and strong way, he helped so much progress happen. Goodbye and thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, Dominique, we'll never forget anything.'
