NEGOTIATING TERRITORY: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL ASSERTION IN THE COMMUNE OF BAGNES IN SWITZERLAND.
Item
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Title
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NEGOTIATING TERRITORY: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL ASSERTION IN THE COMMUNE OF BAGNES IN SWITZERLAND.
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Identifier
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AAI8801750
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identifier
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8801750
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Creator
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RAYNAULD, FRANCOY.
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Contributor
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Sydel Silverman
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Date
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1987
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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The concept of cultural assertion was formulated in this study to trace the historical process through which culture can become an instrument of power in a community's efforts to mitigate outside pressures for change and achieve a larger degree of local control over economic development. In Bagnes (Valais), an Alpine community of 5,000 located in southwestern Switzerland, the economy was based on subsistence agriculture and cattle raising until World War I, but economic development has taken place through hydroelectricity production and tourism. The study describes how these sources of social change came together during the 1970s in a process of competition over who uses the land and for what purposes. The study attempts to define the circumstances under which cultural assertion can be used to "negotiate territory." In the case of Bagnes, the cultural heritage of the population enters into processes of economic development, permitting a form of coexistence among the three sectors of the local economy--agriculture, hydropower and tourism.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
