Brittany, 1750-1950 : the invisible nation / Sharif Gemie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gemie, Sharif.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Group identity--France--Brittany.

Group identity.

Brittany (France)--In literature.

Brittany (France).

Brittany (France)--Politics and government.

France--Brittany.

Physical Description:

xv, 308 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cardiff, Wales : University of Wales Press, 2007.

Summary:

This work is the first title of its kind in either English or French. It analyses the cultures and politics of identity in modern Brittany, highlighting the region's special status within France. Brittany has acted as both a western, Celtic border and a centre for non-Parisian culture. Over the past centuries it has attracted pilgrims, tourists and writers. Brittany 1750-1950 analyses the paradoxes of the region's political culture, concentrating on episodes in which the majority of the Breton people have acted. While Brittany has never produced a substantial Breton nationalist movement, important assertions of separate identity and culture have created a diffuse and original interpretation of nationhood in this region.

Contents:

Introduction: The Rocks of Brittany 1

1 Brittany today 1

2 Birthplace and refuge 9

3 Historiography: the idea of Brittany 12

4 Brittany: a summary history 17

Part I Making Brittany

1 The Question of French Nationhood: Celts, Romans and Bretons 25

1 Nations, nationality and nationhood 26

2 The question of the origins of France 32

3 The search for the Celts 35

4 The Celtic opposition 41

5 Brittany and France 49

2 Brittany and the French Revolution 53

Brittany and old regime France 54

Breton nobles and Breton politics 61

The revolt of the third estate 66

The Counter-Revolution: La Vendee and Chouannerie 69

The formation of the Blues 78

3 Oriental Brittany 86

1 Definitions by negatives 87

2 Oriental Brittany 90

3 The Breton specificity 101

Conclusion: political values 102

Part II Ruling Brittany

4 The Politics of Faith: Chouannerie, Religion and the Making of a White Landscape 107

1 Chouannerie in the nineteenth century 108

2 A White landscape: the pardons 117

3 Catholic politics 122

5 The Politics of the State (1): People and Protests, 1830-52 132

1 The National Guard 132

2 The festivals of the July Monarchy 133

3 The politics of bread 140

4 Celebrating the Second Republic (1848-52) 149

6 The Politics of the State (2): The Management of Democracy, 1850-1940 159

1 Elections and politics, 1850-1940 160

2 The Empire 164

3 The Republicans 171

7 The Politics of Brittany: Regionalism and Nationalism 184

1 The precursors 185

2 Faith and Brittany 189

3 The Union Regionaliste Bretonne 190

4 Other voices: Republicanism and socialism in Brittany: Emile Masson 192

5 After the war: the formation of Breiz Atao 195

6 Breiz Atao: a nationalist ideology 199

7 Breiz Atao: in search of a nationalist practice 204

8 Another protest: Dorgeres and the Greenshirts 206

8 The End of the Road? Breton Nationalism and Vichy France, 1940-5 210

Brittany and fascism 210

Brittany and the war 214

Clarifying collaboration 219

L'Heure bretonne: the collaborationists of the new PNB 220

Other collaborations 224

Breton resistance 226

August 1944: the Marseillaise in Brittany 229

Echoes and legacies 231

Conclusion: Mordrel's Children 236.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [280]-299) and index.

ISBN:

0708320023

9780708320020

OCLC:

75713514