Description
Book Synopsis Since the 1980s, France has experienced a vigorous revival of interest in its past and cultural heritage. This has been expressed as part of a movement of remembering through museums and festivals as well as via elaborate commemorations, most notably those held to celebrate the bi-centenary of the Revolution in 1989 and can be interpreted as part of a re-examinaton of what it means to be French in the context of ongoing Europeanization. This study brings together scholars from multidisciplinary backgrounds and engages them in debate with professionals from France, who are working in the fields of museology, heritage and cultural production. Addressing subjects such as war and memory, gastronomy and regional identity, maritime culture and urban societies, they throw fresh light on the process by which France has been conceptualized and packaged as a cultural object.
Trade Review "This book is full of interest ..." · Modern and Contemporary France
"This collection is valuable contribution to work on identity, memory, and culture in contemporary France. Its emphasis is laudably local and marginal and seeks to understand whether a cohesive French identity can survive the current degree of fragmentation ... A must for all students of contemporary French identity."
· H-France
Table of Contents Acknowledgements
Editorial Note
Introduction
Sarah Blowen, Marion Demossier, Jeanine Picard
PART I: MAKING SENSE OF THE PRESENT
Chapter 1. Reconstructing the past: in search of new ‘national identities’
Brian Jenkins
Chapter 2. Recalling the past and recreating it: ‘'museums actual and possible’'
Siân Reynolds
PART II: MEMORIES OF WAR
Chapter 3. War museums in France
Marie-Hélène Joly
Chapter 4. Public history and the ‘Historial’ project 1986–-1998
Jay Winter
Chapter 5. Lest we forget: memories, history and the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de l’Isère
Sarah Blowen
PART III: MARITIME HERITAGE
Chapter 6. Construction of a Breton maritime heritage: processes and signification
Françoise Péron
Chapter 7. Heritage and history: rocking the boat
François Chappé
Chapter 8. Hidden reefs: a case study of the Port-Rhu Floating museum fiasco in Douarnenez
Jeanine Picard
PART IV: CULINARY HERITAGE
Chapter 9. Culinary heritage and produits de terroir in France: food for thought
Marion Demossier
Chapter 10. A market culture: produits de terroir or the selling of heritage
Laurence Bérard and Philippe Marchenay
Chapter 11. Produits de terroir, between local identity and heritage
François Portet
PART V: URBAN CULTURES AND NEW EXPRESSIONS
Chapter 12. Fast forward to the future? Cultural policies and the defnition of urban identities in the era of de-industrialisation
Susan Milner
Chapter 13. Public policy and urban cultures in France
François Ménard
Chapter 14. The mean(ing of the) streets: reading urban cultures in contemporary France
Chris Warne
Select Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index
