Birth of the research project: Route 66 as a subject matter

5 août 2010

I have been fascinated by the United States of America for quite a long time. At first, my fascination had the form of an obsession with the American way of life which I thought was extremely fashionable when compared to the French lifestyle. I started to be interested in the United States at quite an early age through the movies, the TV shows and the music. As a teenager, what I cared about was merely centered on the American culture, the American lifestyle and everything revolving around the star system. As one might say, I was spellbound to the American Dream and fantasizing about all the clichés attached to it. Thus my enthusiasm for American studies originated at that time. My hunger to know more about this country led me to study the American civilization. And as I took greater interest in the history of the United States, I came to realize what was even more fascinating about it: this country deserved such fame and success as a nation and a world power. It occurred to me that the United States was a great nation, beyond its enjoyable lifestyle, its advance in technology and its culture; it was a nation that had fought its way through to be what it is like today, a nation with great values, and a nation with a thrilling history. Having this idea in mind, I wanted to know more about United States history and explore the roots of this nation- how it emerged and how it developed to become what we know today.

Indeed, our lives are ruled by American standards, whether we like it or not. We are influenced by the United States, in our cultural trends, in our lifestyle and we easily succumb to their offerings. I thought it would be interesting to find out where that came from, and what in the history of the US could explain how it reached this status of world power dominating the lives of millions of people all over the world.

Moreover, I studied a year in Oklahoma (USA), during which I attended a captivating class dealing with the Westward Movement and the Conquest of the West. It enthralled me because this phase of United States history actually embraced much of the existence of the country. Indeed, ever since the United States was independent, it craved for expansion and its history is one of constant movement westward. Hence, studying the frontier would actually provide a good overview of the whole history of the United States, as it overlapped with other major historic events.

That I should do a Master, specializing in American studies only seemed natural to me, due to this growing fascination for the United States. The class on the Westward movement had really aroused my interest and desire to keep on studying this phase of American History. So my first idea regarding this research publication tended to be focused on the frontier and how its effects were still felt nowadays in American society. But I realized this was too loose a subject to deal with. Not only was the time period too long, it would also have been difficult to provide an authoritative description of what the American society is today.

After reading «Les Lieux de Mémoire» by Pierre Nora, I was quite thrilled by the idea of working on the notion of "Lieux de Mémoire" (= Places of Memory) in the USA. I didn't really know where to start or what to consider as such in American history or culture. I quickly discarded the idea of working on a general scale, i.e. finding out whether there were actually some "Lieux de Mémoire" in the United States, and how they were created or maintained. I realized this would actually be too extensive and wouldn't allow me to focus on those "Lieux" in depth. So I tried to find a way to link the idea of "Lieux de Mémoire" with my previous idea - that of the frontier or westward movement and the current society. "Route 66" came to my mind. I didn't know much about it though, but what little information I had, made me think that it could be worth considering as a potential "Lieu de Mémoire".

At first, the only thing I knew about Route 66 was that it was a road, basically crossing the United States from East to West and that it had something "mythic" about it. Or so was the way everyone seemed to qualify this road. It is true that I was myself also very enthusiastic about this road and I tended to consider it as some sort of "dream road". My own desire to travel all around the United States turned Route 66 into the road which would allow me to cross the United States right through. Moreover, it conveyed the image of the United States as I had seen it in the movies and how I pictured it to be. In that way it had something of a myth to me.

But it especially was something of a myth in the sense that it was associated with the idea of an adventurous road trip or daring bikers, going from old motels to old service stations through a more or less deserted road where there is no guarantee that you will reach the next stop. I pictured Route 66 as a symbol of old-school America, full of home-made clichés. It was also a myth in my mind because I knew it was revered by most Americans and was a common word in the American consciousness. At that time, I only considered the fact that so many Americans were attached to Route 66, because it represented some sort of relic of the past American way of life, of the "good old days" and that several images or clichés were linked to it. That is the reason I picked Route 66 as an interesting case study for my research project on "Lieux de Mémoire".

J'ai toujours été fascinée par les Etats-Unis. J'avais tout d'abord une espèce d'obsession pour le American Way of Life, que je trouvais particulièrement plus attrayant que le mode vie français. Ce que nous percevons des Etats-Unis nous est transmis par les médias, la télévision, le cinéma et la musique. Donc, comme toute adolsecente, je ne voyais que le star système, Hollywood,l'American Dream; et j'étais conditionnée par la culture américaine qui a envahit le monde entier. Il faut dire que nos vies sont plus ou moins contrôlées par les standards américains, qu'on le veuille ou non. Les Etats-Unis font sentir leur influence partout : la mode vestimentaire, les habitudes alimentaires, la culture - musique, cinéma, télé. Cette emprise est vraiment forte, et nous y prenons part tout naturellement.

Puis j'ai commencé à vraiment m'interesser de plus près à ce grand pays dominateur. J'ai donc étudié la civilisation et la litérature. C'est à partir de ce moment, que j'ai pû me rendre compte que ce pays avait plus à offrir que des standards de mode. J'ai compris tout d'abord que si les Etats-Unis dominaient tellement le monde, c'était qu'ils le méritaient, car ils s'étaient battus pour contruire cet empire et devenir la grande nation qu'ils sont aujourd'hui. Tout dans leur Histoire est une preuve de cette soif de réussite, d'expansion et de grandeur.

J'ai étudié un an en Oklahoma (Etat au-dessus de Texas) dans un camous américain, ce qui m'a permis de gouter à la vie américaine et d'être confronté de plus près à tout ce que j'ai évoqué. La-bas, j'ai suivi un cours passionnant sur la Conquète de l'Ouest. ce cours était très interessant car il m'a montré que toute l'Histoire des USA n'est en fait qu'une histoire de conquête perpetuelle de nouveaux territoires et espaces. Tous les grands événements historiques se rattachent d'une façon ou d'une autre à une phase de la conquête de l'Ouest. Etudier la Conquête de l'Ouest, c'est en fait entrevoir la quasi totalité de l'Histoire des USA.

D'où ma première idée quant à ce projet de recherche. Je voulais découvrir d'où venait cette soif de conquête et quelles traces de cet esprit entrepreneur se retrouvait encore de nos jours chez les Américains. Mais c'était trop vague, trop large; cela n'aura pas été faisable en 2 ans.

Puis j'ai lu "Les Lieux de Mémoire" de Pierre Nora et j'ai eu une nouvelle inspiration. Etudier un "lieu" qui soit représentatif de la mémoire nationale des USA.

Après une longue reflexion, je me suis dit que la Route 66 représentait bien les USA, puisque elle faisait communément partie du 'mythe' des USA. Je ne pensait pas si bien dire...

A l'époque je ne savais pas grand chose de cette légendaire route; si ce n'est qu'elle était très populaire et qu'elle correspondait à tous les clichés Old School qu'on associe avec les USA. J'ai découvert que c'était bien plus que ca....