Pauline Chevillotte

Please tell us about your research project.
My doctoral research explores a particular configuration of the postcolonial French state through the lens of the so-called Outre-mer territories—those colonies that remained under French control after the main waves of decolonisation. Based on a one-year ethnographic fieldwork with police officers and gendarmes stationed in Guadeloupe, and drawing on interdisciplinary literature from history, sociology, and political science, I investigate how the police and gendarmerie implement personnel policies that constitute a form of demographic engineering. These practices contribute to the reproduction and renewal of postcolonial hierarchies and have a profound impact on the nature of police work. My thesis is supervised by Emmanuel Blanchard, Professor at Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I am a fourth-year PhD candidate at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin. I am affiliated with the Centre for Sociological Research on Law and Penal Institutions (CESDIP), and currently a visiting researcher at the Norbert Elias Centre in Marseille. I am in the final writing stage of my dissertation.

First impressions of Oxford/the University?
Warmly welcomed in this city of research centres and libraries, I find Oxford to be the ideal environment for approaching the long and demanding process of writing.