Landscape and Identity in the Modern Basque Country, 1800 to 1936

"Landscape and Identity in the Modern Basque Country, 1800 to 1936 studies the relationship between landscape and modern identities in the Basque Country. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines cultural history and geography, it analyses the process of historical construction of the Basque landscape, highlighting its multiple political, social and cultural meanings. The book is divided into two parts: the first examines the discourses, images and representations of the Basque landscape; the second examines landscape practices through tourism, hiking and mountaineering. Focusing on the Basque case but establishing numerous connections with comparable phenomena in Western Europe, the book demonstrates that the landscape became a structuring element insofar as it helped shape individual identities while participating in the creation of social links. This book examines the processes of identity construction "from below" by means of new interpretative tools, such as the experience of landscape. This work, originally published in French, brings to an English-speaking audience a crucial issue in the modern history of the Basque Country, namely the cultural construction of a collective identity within the framework of a nation-state, such as Spain, confronted with multiple territorial identities. Approaching this question from the perspective of landscape provides new keys to understanding the processes of nation-building that occurred in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Maitane Ostolaza is Full Professor at the Faculty of Letters"-- Provided by publisher. Cover Endorsements Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations Preface to the English Edition Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: Discourses, Images and Representations of Landscape 1. Narratives of Landscape Romantic Landscapes, Mythical Landscapes Landscapes of Fuerismo: Between the Oasis and the Indomitable Mountains In Search of a Vernacular Landscape From Region to Nation via Landscape Regional Landscapes National Landscapes 2. The Dissemination of Landscape Discourse and Language: The Role of the Press The Modern Press and the Dissemination of Landscape Discourse Journals and Periodicals: Pioneers in Extolling the Basque Landscape The 1920s Press: Landscape as a Means of Nation Building The Basque-Language Press and the Popular View of Landscape PART II: Landscape Practices 3. Tourism and Excursions Tourism, Identity and Landscape Excursions Touristic and Recreational Excursions 4. Mountaineering, Landscape and Identity Discovering the Mountains Landscape and Gender: Women Take to the Mountains From the Mountains to the Nation: The Mendigoizales Conclusion Select Bibliography Index This book studies the relationship between landscape and modern identities in the Basque Country. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines cultural history and geography, it analyses the process of historical construction of the Basque landscape, highlighting its multiple political, social and cultural meanings.