ED Sciences Physiques et de l'Ingénieur
Impact of the forest on the water behavior of the Lascaux cave massif, Dordogne (France)
by Marie LARCANCHE (I2M - Institut de Mécanique et d'Ingénierie de Bordeaux)
The defense will take place at 14h00 - Amphi B A29 351 Cours de la Libération - A29 33400 Talence
in front of the jury composed of
- Colette SIRIEIX - Professeure des universités - Université de Bordeaux - Directeur de these
- Albane SAINTENOY - Maîtresse de conférences - Université de Paris-Saclay - Rapporteur
- Rémi VALOIS - Maître de conférences - Université d'Avignon - Rapporteur
- Roger GUERIN - Professeur des universités - Université de Paris-Sorbonne - Examinateur
- Jean-Christophe DOMEC - Professeur - Bordeaux Sciences Agro - CoDirecteur de these
This dissertation is part of a project aimed at understanding the interactions between vegetation and karst hydrogeology upstream the Lascaux cave, France. The study is based on field measurements of electrical resistivity in the soil and deep layers of the limestone massif and tree sap flow, complemented by climate and soil water content data. The results highlight seasonal variations in karst water flow, as well as differentiated responses between superficial and deep horizons, linked precipitation and drought cycles. Comparison between electrical resistivity, tree sap flow and water content reveal close links between tree dynamics and soil moisture depending on the location of the trees and the geological nature of the soil. Tree removal around the cave led to a decrease in evapotranspiration and a local increase in water content, confirmed by a decrease in karst resistivity and an increase in the discharge at emergence. Daily measurements show the influence of vegetation cover and transpiration on resistivity variations, with a buffering effect under the trees. Temporal lags between sap flow and resistivity suggest deep water transfers due to root activity. The study highlights the impact of forest management on underground hydrogology as influenced by the effects of climatic conditions and temperature corrections of electrical resistivity.
ED Sociétés, Politique, Santé Publique
English Medium Instruction (EMI) - Exploring Literacies in French Higher Education: Policy, social, and pedagogical issuesEnglish Medium Instruction (EMI) - Exploring literacies in French higher education: political, social, and pedagogical issue
by Barbara WARSINSKY (Laboratoire Cultures, Education, Sociétés)
The defense will take place at 14h00 - Salle des commissions Département langues et de cultures Bâtiment DLC 3 place de la victoire 33000 Bordeaux
in front of the jury composed of
- Martine DERIVRY - Professeure des universités - INSPE Université de Bordeaux - Directeur de these
- Anne-Marie BARRAULT-METHY - Maîtresse de conférences - Université de Bordeaux - Examinateur
- George ALAO - Professeur des universités - INALCO - Rapporteur
- Claire CHAPLIER - Professeure des universités - Université de Toulouse - Rapporteur
- Jérémy PICOT - Maître de conférences - Université de Strasbourg - Examinateur
Abstract in English English Medium Instruction (EMI) has become a force in international higher education. In Europe specifically, it grew first as a way to implement the ERASMUS student exchange program and then as part of the development of the European Higher Education Area. At the same time, the neoliberal political economy was encouraging such developments, and teaching in the English language was seen to benefit the internationalization of higher education. The northern European countries adopted EMI more quickly than the southern European countries, including France. While research has grown since the 1990s, French higher education remains relatively under-researched. In the first part of a mixed methods research design, a two-year ethnographic study at one French higher education institution explored what EMI was and involved within that context. The ethnography found multiple manifestations of EMI for different stakeholders, revealing political, social, and pedagogical issues. Pedagogically, the focus was on how students develop their writing in English at the Master level when there is no dedicated writing support system, contrary to US universities, and while English is not the communicative medium in France. Political and social issues were raised about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Academic Literacies, and the plurilingual/pluricultural perspective of the European Union. An experiment was carried out with a pedagogical intervention that was inconclusive, but which revealed the importance of grasping all the complexity of a plurilingual/pluricultural eco-system. The whole study helped clarify elements of such an eco-system and how the way they have been constructed merge in the specific act of writing in English for the social sciences in French higher education. The value of the ethnographic method proved far more relevant than the experiment based on cognitive load theory in order to grasp the multi-scaled, multilayered nature of English writing capacity within the plurilingual and pluricultural literacies of the world. Recommendations are offered for teaching and supporting student writing development in the context of the French social sciences.
To Speak or to Stay Silent? A Sociology of the Non-Participation of Agricultural Workers in the Pesticide Debate
by Agossè Nadège DEGBELO (Environnement, Territoires en Transition, Infrastructures, Sociétés)
The defense will take place at 14h00 - Amphithéâtre 50 Avenue de verdun, 33610 Cestas Gazinet
in front of the jury composed of
- Valérie DELDREVE - Directrice de recherche - Université de Bordeaux - Directeur de these
- Samuel JULHE - Professeur des universités - Université Clermont Auvergne - Rapporteur
- Chantal CRENN - Professeure des universités - Université Paul-Valréy-Montpellier 3 - Examinateur
- Bénédicte ZIMMERMANN - Directrice d'études - Centre George Simmel, EHESS - Rapporteur
- Giovanni PRETE - Maître de conférences - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord - Examinateur
- Antoine ROGER - Professeur des universités - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Examinateur
The health effects of agricultural pesticide use are increasingly documented, particularly by epidemiological research. In France, these findings have sparked widespread concern and mobilizations from environmental groups, local residents, consumers, and elected officials. Since the mid-2010s, their voices have been highly publicized, denouncing the use of these products in agriculture. In contrast, those of farmers—and even more so of farm workers—remain scarcely audible. Yet these actors are on the front lines: they are partly involved in the decision to use pesticides and are among the first to suffer from their harmful health effects. How can we understand their near absence from the public debate, and the apparent inaction it suggests, despite well-documented overexposure? This doctoral research addresses this paradox by combining secondary analysis of data from the AGRICAN cohort with a qualitative field study in two sectors: viticulture in the Gironde and open-field carrot farming in the Landes. Drawing on the capability approach, the study highlights the institutional, organizational, and situational processes that underpin this non-participation. To better understand what “excludes” most workers from public discussions on pesticides, the research focuses on the social division of exposure, both during and outside of work, and on workers' speech in ordinary exposure settings as well as in public debate spaces, particularly in viticulture. It reveals processes and mechanisms that generate unequal capabilities among workers to consider the dangers of pesticides, to see themselves as victims, to avoid exposure and pesticide use, and to speak out. These inequalities operate between occupational statuses and within them (such as among "seasonal workers" and "farmers"), with the most precarious workers being the most affected.