Romain Castellesi is a lecturer in contemporary history at the Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale. His work focuses on the social and labour history of deindustrialisation in France and the western world. More generally, his research focuses on the study of the history and memories of the working classes in the face of the economic crisis. He is the author of Savoir commencer une grève. Résistances ouvrières à la désindustrialisation dans la France contemporaine (« How to start a strike ». Workers‘ resistance to deindustrialisation in contemporary France), published by Agone in 2025.
I am currently extending my research by exploring the metamorphoses of working-class identities, in particular through oral surveys in the industrial areas of Nord and Pas-de-Calais in France. By studying a variety of sectors (miners, dockers, car workers and women textile workers), I’m looking to build up a history of the French industrial recession through the prism of this region, which is emblematic of French working-class history, but also part of the social history of European integration and the international workers’ movement. A favourite area for historiography of the formation of the working class, the story of its de-formation remains incomplete. Yet social indicators (poverty, suicide, precariousness, public health) are among the most alarming in Europe in some areas, and the region is the epicentre of the spread of the far-right vote.
More broadly, I’m looking at deindustrialisation in France, particularly through the mobilisation of women workers in rural areas.
Website:https: //histoire.univ-littoral.fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Romain-CASTELLESI-CV-1.pdf
