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Boundaries: The making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees
Book reviews
122
containing a list of the French and Spanish municipal districts included (16 pp.). The central part (‘Physical, human and economic aspects of the Pyrenees’) consists of two very different sections. In the first one (pp. 23-64) the text is the thread, dealing with the climate, the study of historical placenames, the inhabitants and the infrastructure. The maps are conventional (the location of the area, relief maps, axes of communication), but they are consigned to second place by the beauty of the photographs which appear on each page beside the text. The second section of this central part differs from the first: no photographs appear on any of its 40 pages (pp. 65-104) and thematic maps are the main feature. This section deals with the population and its distribution, economic structure and the centres of industry. These two parts, which form the core of the Atlas, will help the reader to appreciate the very special current geopolitical situation of the area in relation to the role played by the border itself. In short, during the industrial era, the Pyrenees have been considered a natural frontier standing between the French and Spanish border regions. Over the years, the Pyreneean economy has integrated with regional centres located at some distance from the mountains: Barcelona, Toulouse, Girona and Perpignan, as a result of which the Pyrenees have become an obstacle astride the border. The Atlas, a reflection of the international political agreements abovementioned, seeks to make the first contribution to the elimination of that obstacle. David Comas Dept. of Geography Estudi General Girona
Univ. Autbzoma
Barcelona
Notes ‘Cooperation Agreement on Management of the Territory between Spain and France’, known as the ‘MOPLJ-DATAR Agreement’ (MOPU: Ministry of Public Works and Development, Madrid; DATAR, D&legation de I’Amenagement du Territoire et a 1’Action Rkgionale, Paris). See, for example, the monograph on this subject published in the magazine Estudios TavitorideS, Madrid, in January 1989, or the article ‘Q’renees without barriers’, in the magazine Revista MOPU, Madrid, May 1989, pp. 58-63.
Boundaries: 7&eMaking of France and Spain in the Pyrenees, Peter Sahlins, University of Califor-
nia Press, Berkeley, 1989. The creation of the border in the Cerdanya valley of Catalonia represents an excellent case-study not only in how nation states establish their boundaries, but also in how those boundaries come to be legitimated and reproduced at the local level. In the Cerdanya, the politically negotiated border divided a cohesive culture having its own language, administrative structures and traditions. How the people on either side of the border came to identify themselves as members of France and Spain, respectively, while retaining an attachment to their own Catalan culture and local sense of place emerges in Sahlins’ book as being of equal importance to, and interactive with, the activities and policies undertaken at the national level to define the jurisdictional and territorial extent of their sovereignty. The thesis of the book is that the construction of the border was a result of a complex interplay between state and local entities. Events and processes on both sides of the border are addressed in the book, but the primary focus is on France. It begins with a discussion of the establishment of the border from the points of view of the French and Spanish states, then addresses its creation from the perspectives of local communities. Following these analyses, the book turns to the effects of the French Revolution and the ensuing crises in Spain on how the border was conceived and defined. A separate chapter is devoted to the genesis of the Treaty of Bayonne and the actual delimitation of the boundary line. A brief epilogue brings the history of the area up to modern times. The author has divided his study into four time periods: 1660-1723 (perpetual warfare; military frontier); 1723-89 (period of peace; attempts to define the states’ separate territories and boundaries in terms of jurisdictional domains); 1789-99 (French Revolution and Spanish reaction; formation of national territories in the borderland; French administrative consolidation); and 1799-1868 (growing politicization of the boundaries and demilitarization of the frontier; attempts to repress territorial violations; creation of an international boundary line). The time period covered by the book is anchored by the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1660) and the Treaty of Bayonne (1868). The former accord specified
Book reviews
123
that a border through the Cerdanya valley was to
imparted
be
the notion
created
domains
for
the
of the
purpose
French
of defining
and Spanish
the
crowns
setting
a specifically
territorial
of sovereignty
of the boundary
through
respectively.
The latter accord led to the actual
was not
delimitation
and demarcation
Treaty of Bayonne was negotiated
which
formalized
between
of a boundary line
the division
identify a defendable countries.
boundary between the two
a boundary
mountains
as a natural
negotiators
more
based on the F’yrenees frontier.
often
evidence,
gothic sources,
in legitimizing
valley came
In actuality,
of dividing
the of
valley
by
and
known as French and 1690,
remained
in
reality
a military
the
frontier
disputes
as each country
date its jurisdictional
in the number
attempted
of
to consoli-
authority over its portion of
From the point of view of local inhabitants, the
national less
ated
to
frontiers
the
information
eighteenth their
century,
local inhabitants
lives as usual, ignoring
boundary
which
Nevertheless, emerged:
as
continued
the international
theoretically
divided
time
on,
went
when the area functioned
a
them. pattern
as a French
military frontier, the locals banded together common when
stance
military
of opposition hostilities
receded,
the
turned to disputing among themselves, ly over resource
in a
to the French; locals
especial-
issues and attempts to gain or
maintain economic
advantage. Over time, these
disputes increasingly
came to be framed in terms
of ‘us’ u,eysus ‘them’, with ‘them’ being those on the other side of the border. The French Revolution
over
precedence
the
national
a function
nationality-reversed from
eighteenth
boundaries such
encompassed
as those
taxation,
justice
associated and
the focus was
and jurisdictional
a variety of domains with,
religion,
for the
example, Revolution
of territorial of
the
of the proprietor’s debates
over the
in the Cerdanya. In the
the reverse
became
terri-
true.
of sovereignty
The
was con-
and demarcation
of
(p. 255).
evidence
body
in his construction
of a
history of the border between France and Spain. He has succeeded how the border relationships
quite well in demonstrating was the result of the recursive
between
the
authorities
central states and the residents
of the
of the peripheral
locales. These divisions are convincing, especially events
effective
of the
in gathering
period
into
and are
the complex
a comprehensible
structure. national
identities
consolidation
previously,
itself
The author has amassed a considerable of archival
sides
over subjects,
on
the hierarchy that resulted
in the delimitation
the boundary’
provided the greatest
Whereas
process
century, nationality determined
In 1868,
stituted
relying
identity
the eighteenth-century
of a delimited
on jurisdiction
of
‘The
property-itself
impetus for establishment al boundary.
idea
how-
subordin-
in its break with past procedures
concepts:
reaction to the Revolution,
nation-
their
the idea
entirely
The author is also effective
itself, and the Spanish
the comsettle
In practice,
were
the local society. The demarcation was significant
formal territorialization
the
to
proceedings,
innovative
a significant
in
or
regarding the customs and claims of
tory.
However,
France
boundaries, willing
to be expounded.
ever, natural
division of their valley would seem to have been development.
had
and demarca-
than either
fiscal limits of sovereignty
the Cerdanya.
trade
Ironically,
than either of the two states’ (p. 256).
continued
location
military zone, and an increase
to
international
of the Cerdanya
the delimitation
During the delimitation
and
the end of the
the
of using natural features as boundary delimiters
cessation
spelled
of
over resources.
persistently
differences
zone for 30 years after the treaty was signed. The of hostilities
when
in response
Spain; yet when the two states finally agreed to were
been defined in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Cerdanya
more
to
the Cerdanya
1868,
danger
communities
their
In spite of the fact that a boundary of sorts had
Spanish
‘the village
establish
down to the trading
the two areas had become
struggles
munities
the claims of each
the
been demanding tion
until
arising from issues of contraband
and local
to
recourse
individual villages and their areas of jurisdiction.
Cerdanya
about
Roman and Visi-
made
including
In the end, the process
Cerdanya
to
As its name implies, the treaty sought
to establish
side.
was intended
accomplished
concerns conflict
the two states.
The Treaty of the Pyrenees
historical
of the valleys
dimension
in France. The actual
of the
national
were
border
in depicting
constructed
at the
same
time
of sovereignty was occurring
level
(albeit
at
a
how
on both
different
that at the
pace).
Through analysis of various types of data such as marriage
records,
census surveys, and so on, as
well as letters and other documents written by or pertaining
to individuals
and families,
Sahlins
124
Book ret&us
provides valuable insights into how definition and use of the border occurred at various levels of resolution. The book is a valuable addition to border studies, not only for its historical construction of the delimitation and definition processes, but also for its multi-perspective approach. By attempting to incorporate multiple voices in his history, Sahlins frees the work from the traditional, and limited, regime of political history constructed exclusively from the perspective of the state. By acknowledging the different time elements associated with developments at the state and local levels, the author contributes a certain richness to the events and experiences he seeks to describe. While social processes are handled well in terms of time, Sahlins is Less successful in illustrating how models of concentric circles and segmentary opposition may be applied to the processes he described. His concept that concentric circles are applicable to state activities while segmentary opposition better describes processes at the local level are interesting, but are not consistently enough employed within the text to get a sense of how they might inform analysis of the situation during the various time periods. ft is to be regretted that the author felt constrained to focus so primarily on the French side of the story, due, as he says, to a lack of sufficient source material for the Spanish side. This largely one-sided perspective necessarily illuminates French processes much more clearly than Spanish ones. If ‘multiple voices’ are truly to be heard, surely a more balanced view from the perspective of Spanish Cerdanya would be preferred. Also, with regard to the idea of multiple voices, one gets a sense that the narrative is weighted in favor of local aristocracy and power-brokers. It would have been very interesting if the author had more strongly highlighted the class-based contradictions associated with ‘the making of Prance and Spain’. Although Sahlins is successful in structuring the narrative around four time periods, the text itself displays a certain chronoIogica1 muddle, thus imparting an element of chaos to events
which are already complex. A timeline, or straight listing of the chronology, would have been immensely helpful. For those with a geographical bent, the book is frustrating for the lack of analyses and graphic illustrations of the spatial implications of the various policies, events and disputes which characterized the border during this period. In particular, cartographic depiction of the geographical extent of the military zones, customs zones, and juris~ction~ boundaries would have been useful accompaniments to the text The author also fails to address another important set of borders and boundaries-those which defined the French and Spanish Cerdanyas as integral geographical, cultural and political units. An analysis of these borders would have given greater depth co the analysis of the implications of the development of the ‘borderland’ as a regional entity. Although the author is to be commended for restricting his wide-ranging study to a manageable time period of about 200 years, ending the story at 1868 with onIy a brief epilogue leaves many important questions unanswered. How did people in the borderland define their territory and their culture during the Spanish Civil War and the two World Wars? What were the effects of the Franc0 regime on the area? What are the implications of the expansion of the European Community? The answers to such questions as these could contribute considerably to our understanding of how borders and boundaries have been defined at various levels of analysis in more recent times, and how we might logically expect them to be defined in the future. The above criticisms no~i~standing, Sahlins has made a good beginning toward a reconstructed political and historical analysis of border dynamics. A political geographer could profitably extend the interesting work begun by Sahlins into the arenas of contemporary space and time.
Barbara Morehouse Department
of Geography
University of Arizona
122
containing a list of the French and Spanish municipal districts included (16 pp.). The central part (‘Physical, human and economic aspects of the Pyrenees’) consists of two very different sections. In the first one (pp. 23-64) the text is the thread, dealing with the climate, the study of historical placenames, the inhabitants and the infrastructure. The maps are conventional (the location of the area, relief maps, axes of communication), but they are consigned to second place by the beauty of the photographs which appear on each page beside the text. The second section of this central part differs from the first: no photographs appear on any of its 40 pages (pp. 65-104) and thematic maps are the main feature. This section deals with the population and its distribution, economic structure and the centres of industry. These two parts, which form the core of the Atlas, will help the reader to appreciate the very special current geopolitical situation of the area in relation to the role played by the border itself. In short, during the industrial era, the Pyrenees have been considered a natural frontier standing between the French and Spanish border regions. Over the years, the Pyreneean economy has integrated with regional centres located at some distance from the mountains: Barcelona, Toulouse, Girona and Perpignan, as a result of which the Pyrenees have become an obstacle astride the border. The Atlas, a reflection of the international political agreements abovementioned, seeks to make the first contribution to the elimination of that obstacle. David Comas Dept. of Geography Estudi General Girona
Univ. Autbzoma
Barcelona
Notes ‘Cooperation Agreement on Management of the Territory between Spain and France’, known as the ‘MOPLJ-DATAR Agreement’ (MOPU: Ministry of Public Works and Development, Madrid; DATAR, D&legation de I’Amenagement du Territoire et a 1’Action Rkgionale, Paris). See, for example, the monograph on this subject published in the magazine Estudios TavitorideS, Madrid, in January 1989, or the article ‘Q’renees without barriers’, in the magazine Revista MOPU, Madrid, May 1989, pp. 58-63.
Boundaries: 7&eMaking of France and Spain in the Pyrenees, Peter Sahlins, University of Califor-
nia Press, Berkeley, 1989. The creation of the border in the Cerdanya valley of Catalonia represents an excellent case-study not only in how nation states establish their boundaries, but also in how those boundaries come to be legitimated and reproduced at the local level. In the Cerdanya, the politically negotiated border divided a cohesive culture having its own language, administrative structures and traditions. How the people on either side of the border came to identify themselves as members of France and Spain, respectively, while retaining an attachment to their own Catalan culture and local sense of place emerges in Sahlins’ book as being of equal importance to, and interactive with, the activities and policies undertaken at the national level to define the jurisdictional and territorial extent of their sovereignty. The thesis of the book is that the construction of the border was a result of a complex interplay between state and local entities. Events and processes on both sides of the border are addressed in the book, but the primary focus is on France. It begins with a discussion of the establishment of the border from the points of view of the French and Spanish states, then addresses its creation from the perspectives of local communities. Following these analyses, the book turns to the effects of the French Revolution and the ensuing crises in Spain on how the border was conceived and defined. A separate chapter is devoted to the genesis of the Treaty of Bayonne and the actual delimitation of the boundary line. A brief epilogue brings the history of the area up to modern times. The author has divided his study into four time periods: 1660-1723 (perpetual warfare; military frontier); 1723-89 (period of peace; attempts to define the states’ separate territories and boundaries in terms of jurisdictional domains); 1789-99 (French Revolution and Spanish reaction; formation of national territories in the borderland; French administrative consolidation); and 1799-1868 (growing politicization of the boundaries and demilitarization of the frontier; attempts to repress territorial violations; creation of an international boundary line). The time period covered by the book is anchored by the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1660) and the Treaty of Bayonne (1868). The former accord specified
Book reviews
123
that a border through the Cerdanya valley was to
imparted
be
the notion
created
domains
for
the
of the
purpose
French
of defining
and Spanish
the
crowns
setting
a specifically
territorial
of sovereignty
of the boundary
through
respectively.
The latter accord led to the actual
was not
delimitation
and demarcation
Treaty of Bayonne was negotiated
which
formalized
between
of a boundary line
the division
identify a defendable countries.
boundary between the two
a boundary
mountains
as a natural
negotiators
more
based on the F’yrenees frontier.
often
evidence,
gothic sources,
in legitimizing
valley came
In actuality,
of dividing
the of
valley
by
and
known as French and 1690,
remained
in
reality
a military
the
frontier
disputes
as each country
date its jurisdictional
in the number
attempted
of
to consoli-
authority over its portion of
From the point of view of local inhabitants, the
national less
ated
to
frontiers
the
information
eighteenth their
century,
local inhabitants
lives as usual, ignoring
boundary
which
Nevertheless, emerged:
as
continued
the international
theoretically
divided
time
on,
went
when the area functioned
a
them. pattern
as a French
military frontier, the locals banded together common when
stance
military
of opposition hostilities
receded,
the
turned to disputing among themselves, ly over resource
in a
to the French; locals
especial-
issues and attempts to gain or
maintain economic
advantage. Over time, these
disputes increasingly
came to be framed in terms
of ‘us’ u,eysus ‘them’, with ‘them’ being those on the other side of the border. The French Revolution
over
precedence
the
national
a function
nationality-reversed from
eighteenth
boundaries such
encompassed
as those
taxation,
justice
associated and
the focus was
and jurisdictional
a variety of domains with,
religion,
for the
example, Revolution
of territorial of
the
of the proprietor’s debates
over the
in the Cerdanya. In the
the reverse
became
terri-
true.
of sovereignty
The
was con-
and demarcation
of
(p. 255).
evidence
body
in his construction
of a
history of the border between France and Spain. He has succeeded how the border relationships
quite well in demonstrating was the result of the recursive
between
the
authorities
central states and the residents
of the
of the peripheral
locales. These divisions are convincing, especially events
effective
of the
in gathering
period
into
and are
the complex
a comprehensible
structure. national
identities
consolidation
previously,
itself
The author has amassed a considerable of archival
sides
over subjects,
on
the hierarchy that resulted
in the delimitation
the boundary’
provided the greatest
Whereas
process
century, nationality determined
In 1868,
stituted
relying
identity
the eighteenth-century
of a delimited
on jurisdiction
of
‘The
property-itself
impetus for establishment al boundary.
idea
how-
subordin-
in its break with past procedures
concepts:
reaction to the Revolution,
nation-
their
the idea
entirely
The author is also effective
itself, and the Spanish
the comsettle
In practice,
were
the local society. The demarcation was significant
formal territorialization
the
to
proceedings,
innovative
a significant
in
or
regarding the customs and claims of
tory.
However,
France
boundaries, willing
to be expounded.
ever, natural
division of their valley would seem to have been development.
had
and demarca-
than either
fiscal limits of sovereignty
the Cerdanya.
trade
Ironically,
than either of the two states’ (p. 256).
continued
location
military zone, and an increase
to
international
of the Cerdanya
the delimitation
During the delimitation
and
the end of the
the
of using natural features as boundary delimiters
cessation
spelled
of
over resources.
persistently
differences
zone for 30 years after the treaty was signed. The of hostilities
when
in response
Spain; yet when the two states finally agreed to were
been defined in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Cerdanya
more
to
the Cerdanya
1868,
danger
communities
their
In spite of the fact that a boundary of sorts had
Spanish
‘the village
establish
down to the trading
the two areas had become
struggles
munities
the claims of each
the
been demanding tion
until
arising from issues of contraband
and local
to
recourse
individual villages and their areas of jurisdiction.
Cerdanya
about
Roman and Visi-
made
including
In the end, the process
Cerdanya
to
As its name implies, the treaty sought
to establish
side.
was intended
accomplished
concerns conflict
the two states.
The Treaty of the Pyrenees
historical
of the valleys
dimension
in France. The actual
of the
national
were
border
in depicting
constructed
at the
same
time
of sovereignty was occurring
level
(albeit
at
a
how
on both
different
that at the
pace).
Through analysis of various types of data such as marriage
records,
census surveys, and so on, as
well as letters and other documents written by or pertaining
to individuals
and families,
Sahlins
124
Book ret&us
provides valuable insights into how definition and use of the border occurred at various levels of resolution. The book is a valuable addition to border studies, not only for its historical construction of the delimitation and definition processes, but also for its multi-perspective approach. By attempting to incorporate multiple voices in his history, Sahlins frees the work from the traditional, and limited, regime of political history constructed exclusively from the perspective of the state. By acknowledging the different time elements associated with developments at the state and local levels, the author contributes a certain richness to the events and experiences he seeks to describe. While social processes are handled well in terms of time, Sahlins is Less successful in illustrating how models of concentric circles and segmentary opposition may be applied to the processes he described. His concept that concentric circles are applicable to state activities while segmentary opposition better describes processes at the local level are interesting, but are not consistently enough employed within the text to get a sense of how they might inform analysis of the situation during the various time periods. ft is to be regretted that the author felt constrained to focus so primarily on the French side of the story, due, as he says, to a lack of sufficient source material for the Spanish side. This largely one-sided perspective necessarily illuminates French processes much more clearly than Spanish ones. If ‘multiple voices’ are truly to be heard, surely a more balanced view from the perspective of Spanish Cerdanya would be preferred. Also, with regard to the idea of multiple voices, one gets a sense that the narrative is weighted in favor of local aristocracy and power-brokers. It would have been very interesting if the author had more strongly highlighted the class-based contradictions associated with ‘the making of Prance and Spain’. Although Sahlins is successful in structuring the narrative around four time periods, the text itself displays a certain chronoIogica1 muddle, thus imparting an element of chaos to events
which are already complex. A timeline, or straight listing of the chronology, would have been immensely helpful. For those with a geographical bent, the book is frustrating for the lack of analyses and graphic illustrations of the spatial implications of the various policies, events and disputes which characterized the border during this period. In particular, cartographic depiction of the geographical extent of the military zones, customs zones, and juris~ction~ boundaries would have been useful accompaniments to the text The author also fails to address another important set of borders and boundaries-those which defined the French and Spanish Cerdanyas as integral geographical, cultural and political units. An analysis of these borders would have given greater depth co the analysis of the implications of the development of the ‘borderland’ as a regional entity. Although the author is to be commended for restricting his wide-ranging study to a manageable time period of about 200 years, ending the story at 1868 with onIy a brief epilogue leaves many important questions unanswered. How did people in the borderland define their territory and their culture during the Spanish Civil War and the two World Wars? What were the effects of the Franc0 regime on the area? What are the implications of the expansion of the European Community? The answers to such questions as these could contribute considerably to our understanding of how borders and boundaries have been defined at various levels of analysis in more recent times, and how we might logically expect them to be defined in the future. The above criticisms no~i~standing, Sahlins has made a good beginning toward a reconstructed political and historical analysis of border dynamics. A political geographer could profitably extend the interesting work begun by Sahlins into the arenas of contemporary space and time.
Barbara Morehouse Department
of Geography
University of Arizona