Abstract

This dissertation provides the first examination of Gaston Roupnel's scholarly contributions to the French human and social sciences during the early twentieth century. Following a biographical overview of his life and professional career, it compares his works to those of early Annales historians, contemporary human geographers, and social morphologists in order to examine how they addressed and responded to shared conceptual and methodological problems. It further argues that Gaston Roupnel's collected works constitute a pioneering 'histoire totale' of a French historical region---the Burgundian Dijonnais. More broadly, it links Roupnel's scholarship about Burgundian history and culture to contemporary discourse concerning the heritage and identity of "True France."