'Degrees of foreignness' and the construction of identity in French border regions during the inter-war period

Lawrence, Paul; Baycroft, Timothy and Grohmann, Carolyn (2001). 'Degrees of foreignness' and the construction of identity in French border regions during the inter-war period. Contemporary European History, 10(1) pp. 51–71.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777301001035

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study of the development of national and regional identities in three different border regions of France: the Basses-Alpes, the Moselle and French Flanders. It demonstrates that in spite of political, economic and social differences between the regions, the presence of the border and interaction with foreigners in specifically border regions similarly influenced identity formation in interwar France. In each case hierarchies or degrees of foreignness were developed, and a specific form of national identity came to be dominant which was determined more by a differentiation from ‘others’ than through an identification with shared, centre-generated national images.

Viewing alternatives

Metrics

Public Attention

Altmetrics from Altmetric

Number of Citations

Citations from Dimensions
No digital document available to download for this item

Item Actions

Export

About