Représentations du transfrontalier

Représentations du transfrontalier

Border Region
France, Allemagne, Luxembourg Belgique, Brésil, Espagne, Grande R2gion, Grand-Est, Pays Basque, Catalogne, Région Franco-Genévoise
Language(s)
Français
Type
Note on a scientific book publication
Main Category
Language – Culture – Identity
Theories – Concepts – Terms
Introduction

The proceedings of the "Représentations du transfrontalier" (Cross-border representations) conference offer a wide perspective on the perception of cross-border populations in research, among the inhabitants of border regions, in the media and in the institutions.

Summary

The publication looks at the diverse representations mobilised in connection with cross-border populations and the contradictions that these representations reveal depending on the actors or institutions that produce them. It identifies the different actors that produce such representations and offers some insights into how they are perceived among the inhabitants of border regions and how they have evolved in the recent history of European integration.

Content

The publication is divided into 5 parts which first of provide some explanation of the cross-border institutional context in Western Europe and the representations produced by these institutions. Then it focuses on cross-border populations, who are understood as individuals living and working in cross-border areas. The aim is to uncover the contradictions that appear between the representations of institutions and those that come out of the lived experiences of the populations.

The first part entitled "Acteurs et enjeux de la coopération transfrontalière : état de lieux et méthodes d’analyse" (Actors and issues in cross-border cooperation: current situation and methods of analysis) looks at border areas as territories that are developing their own systems of governance linked to the institutional and/or media policies of the bodies involved in running them. 4 contributions make up this part:

  • "Représentations du transfrontalier et production d’un espace-frontière. Regards sociologiques autour des frontières françaises de l’Est" (Representations of the cross-border and production of a border area. Sociological perspectives on France's borders) by Philippe Hamman.
  • Construire une « nouvelle » région transfrontalière. "Représentations d’un projet politique" (Building a "new" cross-border region. Representations of a political project) by Estelle Evrard & Tobias Chilla.
  • "INTERREG IIIa France-Espagne. Un dépassement ou un déplacement de la frontière ?" (INTERREG IIIa France-Spain. Overcoming the border or moving it?) by Xavier Marchand-Tonel.
  • "Une lecture critique de l’institutionnalisation des relations transfrontalières : les enjeux de l’approche multi-scalaire. Le cas de la frontière entre la France et le Brésil" (A critical reading of the institutionalisation of cross-border relations: the challenges of the multi-scalar approach. The case of the border between France and Brazil) by Madeleine Boudoux d’Hautefeuille.

Part 2 entitled "Stratégies discursives, outils et médiations dans la construction symbolique des espaces-frontières" (Discursive strategies, tools and intermediations in the symbolic construction of border areas) lists 5 ways in which institutions represent border populations:

  • "Représentations du transfrontalier et question sociale. Trente ans de reconversion à Longwy" (Representations of the cross-border and the social question. Thirty years of reconversion in Longwy) by Jean-Luc Deshayes.
  • "La carte comme système de représentations d’une identité transfrontalière. L’exemple de la Grande Région" (The map as a system of representation of a cross-border identity. The case of the Greater Region) by Éric Auburtin.
  • "Culture et identité dans la Grande Région. Les actions et représentations culturelles à l’épreuve du transfrontalier" (Culture and identity in the Greater Region.Cultural actions and representations tested by the cross-border situation) by Thomas Perrin.
  • "Des espaces médiatiques transfrontaliers de proximité. Représentations et stratégies médiatiques en modes mineurs et majeurs dans les espaces transfrontaliers basque et catalan"  (Local cross-border media spaces. Media representations and strategies in minor and major mode in the Basque and Catalan cross-border areas) by Pascal Ricaud.
  • « Je t’aime, moi non plus ». Le frontalier dans la construction d’une métropole genevoise transfrontalière" ("I love you - me neither": The cross-border worker in the construction of a cross-border Genevan metropolis) by Jean-Baptiste Delaugerre.

The third part entitled "Vers une esquisse du transfrontalier" (Steps towards sketching out a cross-border situation) focuses on cross-border workers as individuals. It consists of three contributions:

  • "Travailleurs frontaliers : une typologie des modes de vie, représentations et identités dans la région franco-genevoise" (Cross-border workers: a typology of lifestyles, representations and identities in the France-Geneva region) by Claudio Bolzman.
  • "Motivations de visite et tourisme d’achat dans la région d’Outre Forêt et le Palatinat" (Reasons for visiting and shopping tourism in the Outre Forêt and Palatinate region) by Bernhard Köppen.
  • "Matrice disciplinaire et représentation de l’autre" (Disciplinary matrix and representation of the other) by Marc Weisser.

Part 4 entitled: "Images sociales des transfrontaliers véhiculées par les agents sociaux ou médiatiques ainsi qu’aux débats et réflexions que celles-ci suscitent" (Social images of cross-border workers conveyed by social or media agents and the debates and reflections they generate) focuses on the dynamic construction of representations of cross-border workers.

  • "Étrangers familiers. Représentations et statut des travailleurs frontaliers au Luxembourg (Familiar strangers. Representations and status of cross-border workers in Luxembourg) by Christian Wille.
  • "Les frontaliers au Luxembourg. Représentations négatives et stratégies de réponse" (Cross-border workers. Negative representations and response strategies) by Julia de Bres, Anne Franziskus.
  • "L’invention d’un territoire grand-régional ? Réception de l’événement et représentations du territoire chez les publics des « Citadelles de feu »" (The invention of a Greater Regional territory? How the event is received and representations of the territory among the audience of 'Citadelles de feu') by Cécile Bando, Gaëlle Crenn.
  • "Transfrontaliers clandestins et récits médiatiques. Le cas des kwassa-kwassade Mayotte (France)" (Undeclared cross-border workers and media stories. The case of the kwassa-kwassade in Mayotte (France)) by Bernard Idelson.
  • "Le voisin mal-aimé : cité idéale et frontière en Grèce classique" (The unpopular neighbour: ideal city and border in Classical Greece) by Airton Pollini.

The final part entitled: "Appropriations éducatives, littéraires et artistiques de la frontière" (Educational, literary and artistic appropriations of the border) sketches out some new avenues for reflection on the subject:

  • "Coopérations universitaires et situations d’apprentissage dans des contextes transfrontaliers. Dispositifs et usages, enjeux et limites" (University cooperation and learning situations in cross-border contexts. Schemes and usages, challenges and limits) by Béatrice Amerein-Soltner, Angeliki Koukoutsaki-Monnier, Marie Louis Échanges.
  • "À quelle heure le train pour nulle part ? Chemins de traverse polyphoniques autour d’œuvres nées des frontières" (What time does the train to nowhere leave? Polyphonic deviations around works born of borders) by Claude Nosal.
  • "Que... nuages. Un projet artistique transfrontalier" (Only... clouds. A cross-border artistic project) by Anne Immelé.
Conclusions

Numerous institutional initiatives have been introduced to promote the culture and identity of cross-border regions. The main aim of these initiatives is to give these territories a collective identity, an identity that it is hoped will be appropriated by the cross-border population. Nevertheless, in everyday life, in most cases identity remains linked to that of the nation states and of the regions that make up the cross-border territories.

The ambitions of the institutional actors to construct unified, collective representations come up against the clichés and actual representations that prevail on the ground. Instead of defending the idea of a collective identity, it is more expedient to accept the idea of a plural identity, as is often claimed by border regions.

The spotlight placed in this publication on the lived experience of cross-border workers and the actual representations that circulate concerning them aims to demystify those clichés. Among these clichés we find these ideas: the intruder, the simple object of curiosity, actors necessary to the development of a region, or quite simply people who do not feature in the everyday concerns of a local population. The cross-border worker is generally understood as "other". From the point of view of the inhabitants of border regions, there subsists a primary and ontological need to identify the other, at the risk of descending into caricature. Understanding and accepting this need is an asset when it comes to constructing the integration of the European citizens and a rich vein of research.

Key Messages

In border territories, the populations who live their daily lives on either side of the border suffer from many clichés about them on the part of locals. This phenomenon is linked in particular to the lack of a collective identity that could bring them together.

The cross-border institutions, aware of this issue, conduct targeted media campaigns designed to help the process of construction of this collective identity. Until now they have failed to fulfil local populations' need for identification that is the source of clichés on cross-border workers, in particular because the idea of plural identities is not yet sufficiently accepted.

Lead

Angeliki Monnier

Links

https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/25586

Keywords
Représentations
Communication
cross-border populations
Cross-Border Workers
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2020
Publisher
Presses Universitaires de Nancy