Inventing the modern region: Basque identity and the French nation-state [Hardcover]

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 Frances 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.GBThis book explores the process by which the French Basque country acquired a folkloric regional identity in the long nineteenth century. It argues that, despite originating in pre-modern customs, such stereotypical identity was invented in the long nineteenth century as part of Frances process of nation-building.Talitha Ilacqua is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at Yale University and the University of Venice

Inventing the modern regionexamines the French Basque countrys process of acquisition of a folkloric regional identity in the long nineteenth century. It suggests that albeit originating in pre-modern customs, such stereotypical identity was not the product of ancestral tradition  but was invented in the long nineteenth century as part of Frances process of nation-building.
Similar to Germany, in France the cultivation of the region became a crucial and validating aspect of nation-formation, which helped citizens identify more easily with thegrande patrie. This book maintains that the turning point in the creation of the modern region was the French Revolution of 1789.lÃ