Inventing the Modern Region

Name: Inventing the Modern Region
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ISBN: 9781526194886

Basque Identity and the French Nation-State

Talitha Ilacqua

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English

Manchester University Press
29 April 2026

European history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000

Series: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History

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.

By: Talitha Ilacqua
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 322g
ISBN: 9781526194886
ISBN 10: 1526194880
Series: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 29 April 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction: region- and nation-building in nineteenth-century Europe 1 Adapting the Revolution 2 Basque soldiers in a French nation 3 Liberty, liberties and legitimism in the First Carlist War 4 Euskara or the spirit of the Basque nation 5 Inventing a Basque literary tradition 6 Euskara or challenges to the French nation 7 ‘The other within’: ideas of progress and decline in Basque travel writing 8 Reversing the ‘tourist gaze’ Conclusion: a Basque region in a French nation Index -- .

Talitha Ilacqua is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at Yale University and the University of Venice

Reviews for Inventing the Modern Region: Basque Identity and the French Nation-State

'The book is a must-read for historians of modern France and its regions and will make a major contribution to the field.' Winner of the SSFH Book Prize -- .