The Rhône-Alpes Historical Research Laboratory specializes in modern and contemporary history. It studies social history centered on the key players, which takes into account all social dimensions, from the mechanisms of the market to representations. This laboratory gives a special importance to the study of the links between the different spheres of reality. It takes the stance that Information Technology, through its ability to converge different logics of action through modeling, is indispensable for such an organization. The LARHRA is a joint research unit of the CNRS, made up of the universities Lumière-Lyon 2, Jean Moulin-Lyon 3, Grenoble Alpes and the ENS de Lyon. It comprises of 6 CNRS researchers, 92 teacher-researchers, 14 engineers, technicians and administrations, 2 documentalists and 137 PhD students.
It is organized in six themes:
- Art, images, societies
- Gender
- Education, culture and social constructions
- Religions and beliefs
- Territories, economy, societal issues
- Public Action and Urban Worlds" and 3 transversal themes «Images, sounds, and memories workshop
- Workshop on societies at war
- Digital history hub
In addition, the "Digital history hub» develops the necessary research, computer, technical and conceptual tools. These themes are hosted, among others, at the ISH-Lyon and the MSH-Alpes.
LARHRA's expertise covers:
- Various geographical and thematic areas, from Latin America to the Rhône-Alpine region, through Africa, Spain, Italy, France and western Europe
- From the history of organizations during the Inquisition, from the urban mobility to gender studies, from territory and the environment to religious syncretism
- From the early days of the Reform to the Second World War
- Large databases for collective use in microhistory and automatic mapping.
The LARHRA attaches great importance to building up historical information. Its members participate in all relative debates, contributing to the establishment of patrimonial objects that can structure our understanding. The laboratory is open to any form of collaboration with researchers as well as European and foreign entities, on all the subjects that it focuses on.