Fanny Cosandey

Fanny Cosandey serves as Director of Studies at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), affiliated with the Centre de Recherches Historiques (CRH) where she is a member of the RHiSoP research group (Research Group in Social History of Politics). Based at 54, boulevard Raspail in Paris, she teaches courses on Social constructions of political categories, Political modernity in its texts, Encounters with sources in modern history, Royalty: Power and knowledge in a monarchy, and Society and Power in the Modern Era for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Her research focuses on French political history of the Ancien Régime with particular emphasis on monarchy, queenship, social hierarchies, and ceremonial practices. Cosandey's scholarly work reveals deep expertise in the construction of political categories, the social history of power structures, and gender dynamics within monarchical systems. She has made significant contributions to understanding how rank, precedence, and ceremonial practices functioned as mechanisms of political power in pre-revolutionary France.

Her publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the intersection of gender, power, and political structures, with particular attention to queens and royal women in French history. Cosandey's research shows how ceremonial practices, social categorization, and political representation intertwined to create and maintain monarchical power structures. Her most recent work extends these themes into cross-cultural comparisons, particularly with Japanese historical frameworks.

Professor Cosandey has supervised numerous collective research projects and edited significant scholarly works on political, legal, and social history. Her extensive publication record includes major monographs such as Rank. Precedence and Hierarchies in Ancien Régime France (2016) and Queens and Mothers: Family and Politics in Ancien Régime France (2022), alongside dozens of scholarly articles analyzing the political dimensions of ceremonial practices, royal succession, and social categorization.