This book explores the process by which the French Basque country acquired a folkloric regional identity in the long nineteenth century.
It argues that, despite its origins in pre-modern customs, this stereotypical identity was invented as part of France's process of nation-building. The abolition of privileges in 1789 prompted a new interest in local culture as the defining feature of provincial France, shaping the transition from the pre-'modern' province to the 'modern' region. The relationship between the region and the nation, however, was difficult. Regional culture favoured the integration of the French Basque provinces into the French nation-state but also challenged the authority of the central state. As a result, Basque region-building reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the unitary model of French nationhood, in the nineteenth century as well as today.
By:
Talitha Ilacqua Imprint: Manchester University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 463g ISBN:9781526169259 ISBN 10: 1526169258 Series:Studies in Modern French and Francophone History Pages: 272 Publication Date:01 March 2024 Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
Talitha Ilacqua is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at Yale University and the University of Venice