Une identité collective contrefactuelle. Montolieu comme « village du livre et des arts graphiques »

In: Politix: revue des sciences sociales du politique, Band 15, Heft 59, S. 149-169

Abstract

A Counterfactual Collective Identity. Montolieu as « village du livre et des arts graphiques »
Mohammad-Saïd Darviche
When, at the beginning of the 1990s, a small commune in Aude (Montolieu) began to apply the concept, already tested in Northern Europe, of a « book town », it's people found themselves engaged in a reflexive process of identity reconstruction. Indeed, faced with the introduction of professional and amateur newcomers, but also due to the commitment of part of the local population and their representatives, a collective mobilization took form which engendered a new vision that was sufficiently credible to reformat the village's identity. This identity is « counterfactual » because its legitimacy and structuring effects stem not from the past, but from an anticipation of a future that local people hope will be a better.