TY - JOUR
T1 - The nation, rescaled
T2 - Theorizing the decentralization of memory in contemporary france
AU - Kowalski, Alexandra
PY - 2012/4
Y1 - 2012/4
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859148174&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0010417512000059
DO - 10.1017/S0010417512000059
M3 - Review Article
AN - SCOPUS:84859148174
SN - 0010-4175
VL - 54
SP - 308
EP - 331
JO - Comparative Studies in Society and History
JF - Comparative Studies in Society and History
IS - 2
ER -