The Nation, Rescaled

Theorizing the Decentralization of Memory in Contemporary France

Bibliographic Data

ID2108692
AuthorsAlexandra Kowalski (Central European University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume54
Issue2
Pages308-331
Publication date2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417512000059
OpenAlexW2319346522
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited44

For more than forty years now, the French state has produced, legitimized, and supported local identities through national policies of historic preservation and public discourses about heritage. Rather than simply replaying the old, anxious, and nostalgic tune of national identity, the advent of heritage in France marked a singular moment of cultural transformation and rupture. The national past became articulated, in public speech and political practice, with the cultures and identities of local and regional territories. Given France's centralist tradition, and its political culture that is often cast as the archetype of 'an ideology concerned with boundedness, continuity, and homogeneity' (Handler 1988: 6), this historical transformation presents a puzzle, to which this paper provides answers through historical and theoretical inquiry

Aesthetics · Archetype · Art · Decentralization · Identity (music) · Ideology · Literature · National heritage · National identity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Anthropology · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Public Administration · Religious Tourism and Spaces

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub