Place and Locality in Modern France analyses the significance and changing constructions of local place in modern France. Drawing on the expertise of a range of scholars from around the world, this book provides a timely overview of the cross-disciplinary thinking that is currently taking place over a central issue in French history.

The contributed chapters address a range of subjects that include:

the politics of administrative reform, decentralization, regionalism and local advocacy;

the role of commerce in engendering narratives and experience of local place;

the importance of ethnic, class, gender and race distinctions in shaping local connection and identity;

the generation and transmission of knowledge about local place and culture through academia, civic heritage and popular memory.

As a reconsideration of the ‘local’ in French history, Place and Locality in Modern France bridges the divide between micro- and macro-history for all those interested in ideas of locality and culture in modern French and European history.