Inventing the modern region

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 France's 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.