Abstract
This paper examines the role of the beach in the construction of contemporary France. Building of the work of Sophie Fuggle (2016), the paper explores the beach as a site where the nation is constructed both literally and figuratively. It aims to analyze the beach as a border zone where the nation begins and ends; an economic and cultural space where social relations (historically class and gender, and more recently racial/ethnic) have been negotiated, and finally as a space of national “creative inspiration and cultural production” (Fuggle and Gledhill 2016). By looking at the beach as a site where modern and localized understandings and practices of pleasure, leisure, and tourism develop, the paper aims to uncover the beach not only as a site for tourism and leisure but also as a space where national boundaries are drawn. The paper places the recent burqini bans in France in relation to the beach as a site of modern consumer and leisure culture not only to analyze processes of national identity construction but also to illustrate some of the ways in which borders are being established through material and discursive practices that not only mark and bound modern France, but also help sort which subjects – that is, who – belongs within (Raissiguier 2010).
Presenters
Catherine RaissiguierChair and Professor, Women and Gender Studies, Hunter/CUNY, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Tourism, Leisure and Change: Transforming People and Places
KEYWORDS
Leisure, Nation, Gender, Sexuality
