Current Trends in French Ethnology Martine Segalen

Segalen, Martine 1986: Current Trends in French Ethnology . - Ethnologia Eu­ ropaea XVI: 3-24.

French ethnology today is a very active discipline that deals with t.he concepts and methods of social anthropolo1,,y in so far ru, they a1·e relevant. in accounting for the specificity ofa complex, industrialized society. 'f he paper summariz.es the history of the di cipline, its relationship s with folklore and museums, and delin­ eates Lhe main fields of contemporary research : the city, culture , symbol and values, kinship. The most influential titles published in the last twenty years ap­ pear in the detailed bibliography.

Dr. Martine Sega.lrm directeur de recherches au CNRS et directew· du Centre d'Eth,wlogi e Fn:mcaise, Musee National des Arts et Traditions Populaires, 6 Ave­ nue du Mahatma Gandhi, F-75116 Paris .

L'ethnologie contemporaine de la France is different forms of behaviour, and thus rein­ both an old and a new discipline. It has deep state our own within a more general frame­ roots in folklore studies, close connections with work of cultures; the closer perspective of the museology, and has been rejuvenated by the latter discipline helps us to look at minute de­ interest of researchers in the concepts of social tails, and the inquiries of its researchers have anthropology (Cuisenier & Segalen 1986) - accumulated a wealth of knowledge about concepts stemming from and applied to the events, rituals, techniques and beliefs. study of so-called exotic societies. Nowadays the field of French ethnology is a This is why the very translation of the name rather elastic one. Its practitioners are becom­ of the discipline presents difficulties. Nowa­ ing interested not only in French society and days, French scholars do not associate "eth­ culture, but also in French cultures and so­ nology" with the specific fields of Europe or our cieties outside France and non-French cultures own society while reserving "anthropology" for and societies in France. The construction of lo­ the study of non-European countries. Instead, cal cultures, incorporating both old and con­ both words are applied to different stages of re­ temporary elements and leading to the forma­ search , wherever it is carried out. After the de­ tion of specific (regional, technical, class) cul­ tailed ethnographical stage of fieldwork, the tures within French society in general, is, as ethnological phase consists of comparisons be­ we shall see in the following, a well-investi­ tween cultures, while anthropology brings in gated area. These general interests also cover other sciences devoted to the study of human a wide range of actual fields of work . behaviour - such as history, linguistics, psy­ The past twenty years have seen a change in chology and philosophy (Levi-Strauss 1975: 6). the dimensions of areas of research: there is For the sake of convenience we will call the do­ now a quite marked shift from comprehensive, main described "French ethnology", while multidisciplinary enterprises towards more de­ keeping in mind that we do not make the same tailed topics, leading to broader generaliza­ distinctions as other European countries, nota­ tions. New disciplines - like urban anthropol­ bly in the university courses. ogy, which has made a belated but strong ap­ At present, this discipline can take advan­ pearance - are also entering the field. All these tage of the double experience of anthropology new developments in ethnology may alter the and folklore studies: the former provides the traditional links between research and the eth­ distance necessary for us to become aware of nological museums, links partly due to the fact

3 that until very recently there were no univer­ extended to beliefs and superstitions. Pierre sity chairs in France for folklore or social an­ Saintyves says that "folklore studies all the thropology. This deficiency is only very slowly works produced by the hands of the people" being remedied, more or less at the expense of (1936: 5). In the middle of the nineteenth cen­ traditional regional museums, whose collec­ tury, in connection with the development of tions tend to reflect a dead rural past. ethnographical museums, folklorists started collecting objects and artefacts and extended their interest to techniques. Development of folklore Among all the folklorists the name of Paul Before the French ethnologist there was the Sebillot should be commemorated first. In his folklorist; and before that, the traveller or the Folklore de France (1904) he classifies over curiosity of the honnete homme of the seven­ 15 000 facts, presenting an exhaustive -inven­ teenth century, acknowledging differentia ­ tory of French popular traditions and beliefs. tions in society between nobles, the bourgeoisie Folklore is used here with one of its two mean­ and "the people" - a generic term clearly refer­ ings, i.e. the knowledge carried and preserved ring at that time to peasants, farmers and arti­ by people about plants, animals, places etc., as sans. In the eighteenth century an interest de­ opposed to the scientific discipline concerned veloped among priests and physicians in "su­ with traditional society. Sebillot's method is perstitious" or "strange" practices and beliefs. weak, in that he brings together a wealth of Their descriptions, along with the surveys of facts without trying to look for any internal co­ local languages in France carried out at the herence or correlations between them. How­ time of the Revolution, and those of the Pre­ ever, having been forgotten for some time, the fects of the First Empire, today constitute re­ Folklore de France is at present enjoying a re­ markable sources for the study of behaviour nascence as a rich source of interesting com­ and beliefs. But these observers shared the parisons because of the new interest that has same goal of eradication - either in the name of developed in symbolism . rationalization or for the purpose of establish­ The second interpretation of the term folk­ ing a unified, centralized state. Thus, if the ap­ lore was preferred by Arnold Van Gennep, who proach of the folklorists was not fundamentally analysed popular culture and society. At a time different from that of the priests, doctors or when folklore was trying to establish itself as a prefects in the way it was carried out, it diver­ scientific discipline alongside the Ecole sociolo­ ged inasmuch as it aimed at knowing "tradi­ gique of Durkheim, Van Gennep insisted on tional" French society scientifically, not at de­ the social aspects of culture rather than its stroying it . symbolic side. Investigating the various mean­ Although there were early attempts by the ings of the word "people", he considered that Academie Celtique (1804) and the Societe ray­ folklore dealt with the culture of various hu­ ale des Antiquaires de France (1814), folklore man groups, notably peasants, and what was studies only developed on a large scale in the left of it in urban areas. Folklore was not a sci­ second half of the nineteenth century. The ence of facts, he said , but a science of human very name of this new field was a subject of dis­ groups. Against the idea that folklore was dis­ pute. Some wanted to call it traditionnism; but appearing under the pressure of urbanization slowly the archaizing English word took over, and industrialization he asserted that tradi­ and the scope of interest became ever wider. tions constantly renewed themselves. The first folklorists were mainly interested in Arnold Van Gennep appears to be at the "popular culture", defined as a wealth of tradi­ turning-point between French folklore and tions transmitted orally down through gener­ French ethnology, and not only because of this ations , beyond the influence of schools and view. Like all previous folklorists he was con­ printed material. At first they only dealt with cerned with comparing facts and data in cul­ "oral literature" - tales, common sayings, pro­ tures and societies, but stressed the limitations verbs, songs - and music . Then interest was of the comparative method (as used by Sain-

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General plan of a farm at Le Fosse, Seine-Inferieure. Calque Atp 43.33 .3. tyves and Sebillot, or in the anthropological Whatever their various theoretical positions, field by Frazer): no social act has any intrinsic folklorists were always earnest collectors, meaning or value defined once and for all; on striving for the exhaustive collection. Between the contrary, its meaning changes according to 1931 and 1945 several national surveys were social circumstances, and according to the facts launched with the aim of covering all aspects of that precede and follow it. Thus, the under­ some particular topic, inspired by the vast pro­ standing of rituals requires that they should jects of German Volkskunde: children's folk­ all be examined as organized in sequences, not lore, traditional agriculture, blacksmiths, food, in isolation from their ceremonial context. The harvests, etc. Surveys devoted to rural houses theory of rites de passage, now so common in and furniture were the most comprehensive . anthropological analysis, dates from 1909 and The scientific aim was to produce maps of the was used in his subsequent works: field studies specific cultural features of various areas of in Dauphine and Savoie, studies based on cor­ France, along the lines of the development of respondance with informants in other areas of linguistic atlasses . Their results, however, France (Bourgogne, Auvergne), and his great were mixed. The work on rural houses, led by work - unfortunately left incomplete after his professional architects, has generated a solid death - the Manuel de Folklore Franf,ais con­ corpus that has recently been updated and is in temporain (1943-1946). The concept ofrites of the process of being published (L'Architecture passage introduces order into the disorder of rurale franf,aise, 1977-1985); other surveys rituals - particularly obvious in the case of had to rely on the answers given by local corre- matrimonial rites. 5 spondents, and their quality is thus very er­ ganized in the Palais du Trocadero, next to the ratic. Moreover, the scientific aim of these en­ rooms exhibiting objects and artefacts from deavours is questionable: by mapping beliefs what were then called ethnographic expedi­ and customs one can at best, like Van Gennep, tions. In 1937, after the second Universal Ex­ pinpoint the areas where they existed, or look hibition, a branch of the newly created Musee for areas of "regression", following the path of de l'Homme evolved into the Musee national their disappearance. Such a method aims more des Arts et Traditions populaires, which stood at cataloguing than understanding. When out from the start by combining research with folklore was suddenly inspired by the concepts the collecting and exhibiting of objects. It was and methods of social and cultural anthropol­ from this museum that some of the most com­ ogy these wide-ranging enterprises were com­ prehensive surveys were launched, notably pletely dropped. Along with the reports of the those devoted to rural architecture and furni­ priests and physicians of the eighteenth cen­ ture. Most of the French ethnology from then tury they now constitute sources of informa­ on until the 1970s stemmed from these be­ tion about this or that belief, custom or social ginnings. Under the active and sensible super­ practice in rural areas, provided that the qual­ vision of Georges Henri Riviere (1897-1985), a ity of the answers given by informants was sat­ systematic interest was developed in all fields isfactory. of "traditional" society, with its artefacts, ob­ However rapidly it can be summarized, the jects, customs, beliefs , songs, music, literature, contribution of folklore to our discipline cer­ techniques , etc. Research was often spurred by tainly remains an outstanding one. The body of the idea of ethnologie d'urgence - the effort to data and analysis produced by the folklorists save what was left of the past - and its domain until the middle of the nineteenth century in a was mainly rural society with its farmers and sense constistutes the indispensable corpus of artisans, but without it social hierarchies and knowledge about the society of the past on conflicts . which everyone has to rely when developing Thus the link between the development of current research. Nevertheless, in order to French ethnology and the museums was inex­ evolve into the scientific discipline of ethnol­ tricably bound up with an interest in material ogy, folklore had to change its methods, alter culture. Tools, agricultural implements, social its way of dividing up the field of study and institutions and beliefs were studied in their come into contact with other disciplines. The social milieux, and efforts were made towards scientific impulse came at first from its asso­ building up typologies of the material objects ciation with museums. under the influence of Andre Leroi-Gourhan's classifications (1953-1965). In the days of "GHR", as Riviere was called, systematic col­ Folklore, ethnology and museums lections of objects were built up, the layout of For various historical reasons folklore was the galleries of the museum was planned and never taught in universities, and no chair of eventually they were opened to the public in folklore existed comparable with those for the the 1970s. The Galerie Culturelle offers the Volkskunde of Central Europe or the Nordic public a grand and coherent vision of rural so­ countries . The base for the development of ciety, supplemented by the Galerie d'Etude, folklore into ethnology was a different one - where objects are grouped in strict typological museums - and this has to a great extent af­ order, giving the visitor another perspective in fected the theoretical directions taken by which to grapple with the reality of artefacts. French ethnology for the last fifty years. GHR invented a new museology which gave Slowly, folklorists began to take an interest preeminence to the objects. Their status was in objects. In connection with the Universal thus suddenly changed. Through the sheer in­ Exhibition held in Paris in 1879, where the terest invested in them and their spatial pre­ newly created Nordic Museum made an im­ sentation, humble trivia are taken out of ob­ pression, a Salle de France was eventually or- scurity and bask in the light and honour of be-

6 Attractive display of agricultural implements in the Galerie d'Etude. Picture Atp 71.94.68.

ing "museum objects". Some gain the status of ciated with a host of ethnographical museums works of "popular art". This is not the place to throughout France, not to mention those go into the consequences for rural societies of abroad. their study by ethnologists; but it should at But he also developed another original type least be noted that the spade and the spinning of museum after 1970, the eco-musee. This was wheel suddenly became as precious (and actu­ conceived in order to associate spaces and ally prized) as a Rembrandt because of the in­ building constituting a national heritage worth terest of the museum. preserving, documenting and exhibiting more During these years, 1950-1970, French eth­ closely with local environments and popula­ nologists were at once collectors of objects in tions. Buildings are preserved in situ instead of their special fields and researchers conducting being transplanted into a central area, and the local surveys in order to understand the social, cooperation of the local population is actively economic and technical contexts of the objects sought. The first ecomusee was set up in Mar­ collected. Meanwhile as museum curators they queze (Landes) in south-western France, and did all the work that turns objects into state here the local flora and fauna are protected, as property, while preparing exhibits - at first well as traditional farms of the nineteenth cen­ temporary ones on the provisional premises of tury. In Le Creusot, for example, it is a closed the museum, then in the galleries that can now mine that is kept potentially alive, and the be visited on the permanent premises of the memories of the miners serve to revive the museum in the Bois de Boulogne. The Parisian techniques and social life associated with min­ museum was developed in close cooperation ing. As we shall see in the following pages, with local ones, and the name of GHR is asso- these institutions, sprouting up all over

7

_J _ _ France, were instrumental in the development and new interests. There was a quantitative of a local ethnology, so that the Centre d'Eth­ revolution involving a shifting of interest from nologie franc;aise of the Musee des Arts et Tra­ political figures to the people, and to the ditions populaires became just one among changes, slow or fast, in demographic, eco­ other contemporary research centres for nomic and ideological behaviour that stem French ethnology . from social strata seldom studied. Suddenly While the museum framework established the interest of the historian, like that of the ethnology as a serious scientific domain, new ethnologist, turned to the unconscious and col­ influences inspired the directions which the lective behaviour of the people. Anthropolog­ discipline is taking today. ical history, as developed by the Annales school, deals with the history of mental, emo­ tional, physical behaviour, behaviour related History meets ethnology to food, etc. Its new objects of research, bor­ The relationships between folklore and history rowed openly from ethnology - rituals, the and between ethnology and history have var­ family, kinship, medicine, inheritance, myths, ied over time, while history itself has changed etc. - have nourished the histoire des men­ its methods and shifted its interests. The study talites . of folklore in the nineteenth century was in a Ethnology, for its part, has developed a new sense at odds with that of history: the former interest in the historical dimension of the hu­ developed a comparative method, while the lat­ man groups studied. First, the field of compar­ ter used evolutionary or diffusionist schemata. ativism has been extended to include historical Under the influence of the English school ofso­ communities. Secondly, ethnologists working cial anthropology, methods of field research on non-European societies are now looking for were developed where the observer tried to dis­ evidence of historical change. Thirdly, it has cover a model in the relations between facts been considered more necessary to include the gathered during fieldwork. diachronic dimension when studying our own Thus , in the years preceding and following societies, even though the contemporary as­ World War II, everything seemed to separate pect is still dominant. Ethnologists working in the two sciences. Ethnology was interested in France now take into account the complex de­ small-scale societies with hardly any connec­ mographic, economic and social forces of the tion with the state, and apparently without a past that have led to the present-day situation. history, or at least without historical data to Some topics specifically required the long per­ provide the analysis with a dynamic dimen­ spective: for instance, in order to understand sion. History was dealing with great civiliza­ current attitudes to the body and illness, tions, and complex, hierarchical societies domi­ where behaviour involves other features than nated by the state, church and other central­ the purely rational, one has to investigate rep­ ized institutions. Its data were numerous, and resentations of the body that go as far back as buried in archives. The objects of ethnological the middle ages, when a split is observable be­ study were daily events, beliefs, social organi­ tween scientific and popular medicine (Pou­ zation, technology and relationships with eco­ chelle 1983). When looking for matrimonial logical and technical milieux. Facts were gath­ regularities and strategies one must follow ered by direct observation and inquiry, and the many generations down through the geneal­ emphasis was on the oral. History was con­ ogies (Segalen 1985). cerned with monarchies, political events, etc., Developments in historical anthropology (or and the emphasis was firmly on written mate­ anthropological history) tend rather to blur the rial. previously clear-cut boundaries between disci­ However, history and ethnology moved to­ plines. And this is just as well, as the dis­ wards one another as both disciplines changed. cussions between historians and anthropolo­ The birth of the so-called nouvelle histoire was gists have shed new light on aspects of the so­ linked with the development of new methods cieties of the past (among many examples, we

8 can mention Klapisch 1985). History has also tain lines of thought derived from Marxism, exerted an influence through the discussions and to a lesser extent by Michel Foucault and with social anthropology dealing with non-Eu­ Roland Barthes. The influence of structuralism ropean societies, transmitting in that way was at first direct. The methods of structural many of its concepts to French ethnology. analysis have been applied to two topics: myths - although only Nicole Belmont (1971) has used them on European material- and matri­ The relevance of social anthropology monial alliances. The complexity of kinship In France, the meeting between folklore (the groups had previously made them unintellig­ ethnology of French peasants) and ethnology ible: the discovery of the universal principle of (the study of primitive societies) took place in exchange reduced their variety to a small the works of Marcel Mauss, who used the term number of types, and this enabled the kinship "social anthropology" for the first time in 1938. systems of our own societies to be inscribed in But it was only in the sixties and seventies, no­ the continuity of the systems Levi-Strauss tably in the debates between historicism and calls "elementary" and "semi-complex". The structuralism, that the concepts and methods structural principle, which has guided recent of social anthropology came to influence the research on French society, sets up a principle themes, objects and methods of French eth­ of order even in systems where there are no nology. Of course it took some time before the prescribed mates and apparently no fixed sacrosanct concept of "distantiation", of objecti­ rules. vizing the topic of research by preserving cul­ Apart from these direct influences, structu­ tural and social distance, was given a more ralism has made other distinctive contribu­ relative status. Strict distantiation would have tions to French ethnology, first through the de­ made it completely impossible to work on or in bates of the 1970s with historians, and sec­ one's own society. ondly by asserting a definite continuity Social anthropology brings to light uncon­ between the societies formerly studied by eth­ scious processes and some fundamental char­ nologists and our own. It has validated the use acteristics of social life that go unnoticed by the of the same methods and concepts in the fields social actors. It attempts to account for a total and domains of the formerly separated, but system by showing how its various aspects are now reunited, disciplines of folklore and eth­ tightly woven together. Social anthropol­ nology. ogy requires fieldwork, participant observation The thoughts, concepts and terminology of and long intimacy with the group studied, so Pierre Bourdieu have also had an extensive in­ things can be perceived "from below", the way fluence on French ethnology. His works formed they are lived and felt by the group itself. This the bridge between French ethnology and ex­ new research method, far removed from the otic ethnology (with his study of Kabyle so­ questionnaires of the folklorists, found applica­ cieties, 1972a), and then between ethnology tion in monograph studies of villages. A num­ and sociology, as he developed an interest in ber of the concepts of social anthropology have the cultural differences between various been extended to our own societies. This can be French social strata and the reproduction of both helpful and dangerous. In the field of so­ these differences (1979). In contrast to the cial organization, for instance, it has proved structuralists, whom Bourdieu accuses of for­ very fruitful to substitute the precise concepts malism, he developed the concept of "strat­ of "household" and "kinship" for the vague one egies" (1972b). These are not individual behav­ of"family". However, there are limits to the ex­ iours or choices, but the product of social rules tent to which one can transplant concepts from where demographic variables and economic one society to another. and "symbolic" capital intervene. He thus rein­ French ethnology has been influenced to a troduces to the analysis of marriage patterns great extent by the works of Claude Levi­ the economic dimension which is basic to the Strauss and Pierre Bourdieu, along with cer- understanding of our own societies.

9 The economic dimension is also at the heart the social, cultural and symbolic aspects of a of the Marxist analysis, which has inspired a village in Picardy where were two distinct so­ great deal of work among ethnologists, mainly cial groups, farmers and glassworkers. Al­ those concerned with the technological aspects though the attempt to comprehend all aspects of society. The categories of production, con­ of the life of the village made some of the sumption and the exchange of commodities are analysis rather superficial, other aspects have being reconsidered as economic analyses take not lost their freshness, and this book is still into account the social relationships connected well worth mentioning despite the fact that it with them. This reveals how economic trans­ is already thirty years old. Its detailed eth­ actions are related to political and symbolic do­ nographical study of the social and family rela­ mains. tionships of the two groups, and its interest in The French ethnologist Charles Parain, who previously untouched topics like sexuality, died in 1984, analysed the concept of the "pro­ child care and courtship practices, are even to­ ductive forces" lying behind a given tool or day remarkable justifications of the fieldwork technique (1979). Instead of just classifying approach. Other works from the same period them, he investigated the material, economic are Laurence Wylie's study of a Provenc;al vil­ and social conditions under which they were lage (1957), and Louis Dumont's analysis of used or developed. The historical dimension the urban festival of La Tarasque (1951), was applied again in order to study the chang­ which opened up a new line of analysis direc­ ing relationships between man and his envi­ ting research towards the internal exploration, ronment. For instance, Parain shows that in rather than external interpretations, of sym­ Aubrac the cheese-producing system of the bolic activities. nineteenth century, based on cows' milk, and a While monograph studies of villages multi­ more or less collective organization of work, re­ plied, interdisciplinary studies developed as a placed a previous agricultural system based on necessary tool for the assessment of the com­ sheep farming (1971). plexity of society. The skills of one type of re­ The interplay of these various theoretical in­ searcher are not enough to cover all the vari­ fluences has also profoundfly affected the ous aspects of social life, and the crosslight of choice of the units to be observed. One of the social anthropology, sociology, history, demog­ most striking features of the last twenty years raphy and linguistics can help us to a better of research has been the change in scales of ob­ understanding of all these facets. The land­ servation (Bromberger, 1986). marks of the sixties and seventies were the multidisciplinary projects that brought to­ gether a number of specialists to study the Monographs, multidisciplinary same village or regional area. Between 1962 research and micro-ethnology and 1967 a number of researchers studied the As a definite departure from the vast surveys commune of Plozevet in Finistere (Brittany). and questionnaires used at first by folklorists Here, 3800 inhabitants - farmers, fishermen, and later in a more controlled form by the Mu­ artisans and shopkeepers - were living either see des ATP, French ethnologists in the 1950s in scattered houses or in the small borough focused on village studies. Emulating the social town. The overall theme of the whole project anthropologists' studies of small, closed com­ was a problem in human genetics: the area munities whose unity could be grasped, they was supposed to be an "isolate" or closed inter­ started intensive field studies of villages that marriage zone, which accounted for the high were supposed to offer similar conditions of in­ frequency of a genetic deficiency - a congenital vestigation. Robert Redfield's "community dislocation of the hipbone causing heavy limp­ studies" were very influential at the time. ing in many people. The data necessary for a Typical of this new interest in the nature of demographic study were assembled. In order to the unit of research was the work of Bernot integrate the various domains of investigation, and Blancard (1953), which investigated all more specific sociological questions were

10 A "buron" of Aubrac with the traditional cheese-making equipment. Picture Atp. 65.109.378. asked. When did the isolate "burst open"? How tidisciplinary research on regional spaces . Af­ was this connected with the recent transforma­ ter twenty years, the Recherche cooperative tions in the rural world? sur Programme (RCP) Aubrac must be seen in The Plozevet survey initiated new research the perspective of ethnologie d'urgence or sal­ methods, such as the use of films shown regu­ vation ethnology, which led researchers to larly to the inhabitants, and directed interest study social groups whose cultural specificity to new fields of inquiry. There was a rather was on the point of disappearing. In Aubrac, successful attempt to study marriage regular­ the central part of the Massif Central, an origi­ ities from the point of view of the structural hy­ nal form of social and economic organization pothesis. Yet the true interdisciplinary debate had developed: on the highland pastures or that was supposed to take place never hap­ montagnes, men produced cheese, the fourme pened, and the overall synthesis had to be done de Laguiole, for sale at the market, while self­ by a single historian who used the various re­ sufficient villages used communal pastures. ports to present the social, economic, demo­ The surveys were carried out between 1963 graphic and political changes that had oc­ and 1966, and the complete results were pub­ curred over the previous hundred years in the lished in a series of volumes (L'Aubrac, 1970- Breton village (Burguiere 1975). 1986). The team, led by Georges Henri Riviere, Another drawback of the enterprise was the was composed of ethnologists from the Musee fatigue that set in among the local population, des ATP, along with sociologists, historians, lin­ which had now been over-investigated by a guists, agronomists and experts in zootechnics. large group of researchers. The lessons learned This project was more successful in achieving from this influenced the choice of ensuing mul- the multidisciplinary goal, and it is well known

11 An association of Aubrac immigrants holding its annual dinner in a Paris hotel in 1969. Picture Atp 69.7.52 .

that this research subsequently exerted great The study of Aubrac migrants in Paris was influence on the work of rural experts. Objects one of the new themes of research: in a way it were collected systematically: the almost sym­ pioneered the urban anthropology which was biotic process by which they were collected, ac­ to develop later. The life cycle of an Aubracien quired by the Museum and exhibited in the moved from teamwork on the highland pas­ galleries exemplifies the integration that ex­ tures during the Easter period to migration to isted then between the work of the researcher Paris, where he would be hired by a fellow Au­ and the museum curator. bracien in a small bougnat (or cafe-charbon) . In addition to the technological surveys of Eventually he would buy his own cafe, marry a the process of cheese-making and its social or­ country girl from his village, who would come ganization, a study of the cultural aspects of over and work with him in Paris, while the this community revealed the importance of children would be sent back to the home vil­ patterns of migration. It appeared that folklo­ lage to be brought up by grandparents. The ristic aspects of music and dancing from this Amicales (associations ofregional immigrants) poor area, with a traditional tendency to out­ played an outstanding role here, helping the migration, were perpetuated in new areas by migrants to keep up contact with the villages the nostalgia of migrants for their origins . The they came from . Their organization of com­ influence of urban music and dancing was also munications served to help the group to pre­ revealed, and this shook assumptions about so­ serve an identity in the Parisian area (Chod­ called "traditional culture", which in Aubrac kiewicz 1973). was constantly interpenetrated by external in­ A point came, however, where Aubrac fluences. seemed too "rural" and "traditional" and an-

12 other area was selected because of its more tries to cover exhaustively; then the ethnol­ modern character . In the Chatillonnais agri­ ogist shifts to rural community units with the culture was being integrated into a capitalist delusive appearance of unified wholes on which framework, and, although predominantly ru­ comprehensive monographic research is con­ ral, the region was centred around a small ducted; the complexity of the social facts of the town with active industries. There was no lead­ unit leads to the summoning of an array of spe­ ing hypothesis , as there had been in the Ploze­ cialists to explore and compare the various fac­ vet and Aubrac regions, to guide the work of ets of the society studied . In the face of the fail­ the sociologists and ethnologists. Besides, the ure of these Utopian projects, the ethnologist area seemed to have no real unity. Thus, the goes back to other units of observation, some­ various research projects were rather scat­ times very tiny ones. But the approach dealing tered, with no dominant direction . Yet some of with detailed facts is linked with the search for the research work marked a turning-point in internal explanations, not external ones as was French ethnology. A study of leisure associa­ the case with the folklorists. The inevitable tions in the town of Chatillon oriented interest consequence of changes in the units of observa­ towards urban ethnology (Gutwirth 1972). De­ tion is that new objects of research are devel­ tailed ethnographical descriptions of the vil­ oped whose emergence we can now better un­ lage of Minot in Burgundy were produced, us­ derstand in the light of this briefoutline of the ing the basic concepts of social anthropology: history of French ethnology. social reproduction, popular knowledge and representations, the role and uses of kinship, symbolism, matrimonial strategies and regu­ New units of observation, old topics larities (Jolas & Zonabend 1970; Jolas, Verdier with new approaches & Zonabend 1970; Pingaud 1978; Verdier Forsaking the close territorial unit, the inter­ 1979). The main result of the Chatillonnais ests of the ethnologist have turned from the to­ project was not a justification of the interdisci­ tality to the study of differences, and from the plinary approach, but the evidence that it was group to the individual inserted in his various possible to deal with the classical topics of so­ networks . The changes that have taken place cial anthropology in a French area. in French society over the past twenty years The impossibility of carrying out vast inter­ have made this reassessment necessary. disciplinary projects was striking, and the last Rural areas, the traditional fields of observa­ of them only confirmed this. A number of biolo­ tion for ethnologists, have been profoundly af­ gists, historians, demographers and ethnolo­ fected by mechanization, the intrusion of cap­ gists, rather than making a coordinated effort, italism into agriculture, industrialization and scattered their research projects over the Ba­ rural migration. More recently, though, a shift ronnies area of the Pyrenees - an area includ­ in population movements has been observable ing 27 communes arranged in three cantons. that sends people back to the small villages The Baronnies exhibited no more overall unity and towns with extensive housing develop­ than any of the other areas studied . even the ment . But these are not farmers any more : administrative units of the communes were ir­ they work in the cities, and only live in a rural relevant for the study of domains like kinship environment. The new groups, along with peo­ and domestic groups. On the contrary, the ous­ ple keeping a residence secondaire (country tau (household, home) was suddenly thrust house) have seriously disturbed old rural hier­ into the light as a more relevant unit for study­ archies and relationships ; and the spaces in ing matrimonial and inheritance patterns (Au­ which relationships are formed have also been gustins & Bonnain 1981). remodelled. Instead of looking for groups The development of units of observation marked by outward, expressive signs of their through time, from those of folklorists to those identity (such as costumes and languages) the of ethnologists, thus seems to have come full ethnologist now looks for social differences and circle . The folklorist starts with a fact which he investigates the various networks an individ-

13 Cultural differentiation exemplified by the various types of hunting: A. Members of a local hunting association in Chatillonnais . Picture Atp 67 .117 .56.

ual can rely on - friends, neighbours, kin. The gathering have been rejuvenated by new ap­ identity of the individual is seen as something proaches (Bromberger & Lenclud 1982). Hunt­ undergoing a constant process ofrecomposition ing, for instance, as well as being analysed (Balfet & Bromberger 1976; Kayser 1984). symbolically, can be studied within the frame­ The various kinds of social institutions that work of sociability, with an emphasis on the have traditionally been the subjects of much differences between social classes, in the man­ research are now also considered dynamically. ner of Pierre Bourdieu. One can contrast hunt­ For instance, festivals are no longer seen as ing associations rooted in the village com­ "survivals" of the past but as the focus of con­ munity and bourgeois hunting-parties, compe­ flictual representations of the social identities ting for status and land control (Bozon & in the village. Revivals of harvest festivals dis­ Chamboredon 1980). tress old farmers who have seen a succession of These trends in research also provide us changes they cannot control, while for the new with an account of the changing relations be­ population groups in the villages (neo-ruraux) tween "urban" and "rural": the difference is and tourists (often the children of emigrated much less pronounced than was before the families who have kept a piece ofland and built 1950s. Patterns of migration are an important a country house there) these events are a way topic in the cultural and political debate going of building up an image - but a false one - of on in contemporary France. Studying them the village community: they are staging a helps us to understand the specific social and golden age forever gone (Collomb 1980) . cultural features of these groups, both in their Old research themes such as hunting and area of origin and in the area in which they ar-

14 B. Elegantly dressed stag-hunters in the same area. Picture Atp 68.10.3.

rive. This sheds light on the process whereby urban ethnology seems to be an area of work the migrant is assimilated into the arriving as changeable, elusive and yet permanent as group and the city (Provinciaux et Provinces a the city itself. Besides this, there is a still unre­ Paris, 1980). French ethnology has thus re­ solved debate about whether urban ethnology drawn some of its units of observation and is the ethnology of the city itself or just takes dealt in fresh ways with some traditional place within the city. Whatever its method­ themes. However, a truly new dimension has ological uncertainties, urban ethnology retains appeared recently with the advent of urban an ethnographical interest in culture, material ethnology. objects, words and gestures. Ethnologists, given the impossibility of making a classical monograph study, have tried to identify spe­ A new direction: urban ethnology cific sub-spaces (like the neighbourhood), For the last ten years researchers have been groups (like migrants) or institutions (the cafe­ trying to identify the specific features of the bistrot, strikes, carnivals) in the city. city (Gutwirth 1982; Perrot & Petonnet 1982; There is still a debate about what is specific Ethnologie urbaine, 1984). In the traditional to urban ethnology. How does it differ from or rural contexts the ethnologist studies a suppos­ merge with social anthropology? How should edly stable group occupying a demarcated ter­ fieldwork techniques be used? Access to people ritory, a group whose culture and technology in the cities is more difficult than in rural change very slowly over time and can be ob­ areas: the ethnologist is not as conspicuous as served and described. In comparison with this, he is in a small rural area; in the anynymous 15 Workers standing in front of the paper-making machine in a N anterre plant, at the beginning of the 20th cen­ tury. Picture Atp 84.3.1.

crowd he loses the status and identifiability he grants living in suburbs or low-cost housing benefits from in the small village; his relation­ projects. The work of Colette Petonnet has ship with an informant has to be built up anew shed new light on the shantytowns (bidon­ for each individual. Participant observation is villes) of the Paris area. Among the misery she often difficult, and the urban ethnologist often has discovered social order and organization by comes to function more as a collector of verbal examining classical ethnological factors: uses evidence that has to be checked against his­ of space, the body, kinship (Petonnet 1968, torical data or by other investigative tech­ 1980, 1982). However, the study of the pro­ niques. Even more than elsewhere, research in cesses of social reproduction, and the use of the city requires the tailoring of the unit of ob­ family memory and networks among the mid­ servation to the problem or group studied. For dle classes and haute bourgeoisie has been be­ instance, an HLM (low-cost, high-rise building) gun (Le Wita 1984). can serve as a homogeneous milieu where a Another strong line of research deals with few interviews will give a reasonable picture of industrial ethnology. It studies the social orga­ the whole. In a socially diversified neighbour­ nization of workers in cities dominated by some hood it is necessary to select representatives of specific industrial occupation. Industrial ar­ the various groups in order to take the social chaeology is also involved when the workplace differences into account. In some cases there has been closed or turned into an eco-musee may be interconnections between the people like the Le Creusot mine. Researchers in this interviewed, in others none. field try to determine the worker's relation­ Up to now, French urban ethnology has been ships at work and within his family or group. equated with the study of the poorer social When the industrial activity is abandoned it strata - the environments of workers and mi- becomes the focus of nostalgic feelings about a 16 common cultural past and helps the people in­ of time-scales in the village. This is all the volved to carry on a social life in spite of eco­ more interesting because Minot, located in the nomic difficulties. In this context the role of the economically advanced area of Chatillonnais, ethnologist in his field of research can be com­ while thriving agriculturally, has none of the pared with that of the folklorist: simply by ex­ cultural features formerly cherished by an­ pressing an interest he turns common, humble thropologists: no witchcraft, no popular litera­ objects into works of "folk art", and often ture, no spectacular festivals. Symbolism was sparks off a local production that will para­ treated there, and is now generally treated, doxically invade the museum collections mainly through the study of language, as an twenty years later as "traditional" material! intrinsic property of all social activities (Fabre­ When investigating the technology of urban Vassas & Fabre 1986: 5). culture, the ethnologist helps to legitimize it Investigations of symbolic activities or forms and contributes to the process of identification of expression do not so much attempt to under­ which will eventually become a subject of eth­ stand meanings as reveal the various relation­ nological study. ships involved. For this purpose minute eth­ nographical details, both technical and lexical, are considered. For instance, in Corsica, when Symbolic dimensions someone had been stung by a spider he was In the past, museum classifications attempted cured by being locked in a warm oven. Physici­ to divide up all aspects of social life under ans and museum curators have described this clearly separated headings (agricultural tech­ custom either compassionately or with amused niques, clothing, music, literature, etc.). But indulgence . Max Caisson (1976) has given a one domain always resisted classification - convincing interpretation of this custom and "customs and beliefs", which seemed to be a belief by marshalling a whole array of data: catch-all for what was left over once the other field studies, proverbs and tales, observations specialized domains had taken their share. of parental behaviour in other Northern Medi­ This was a somewhat vague category which, terranean areas, works by Greek philosophers, unlike the others, had no artefacts, objects or and psychoanalytical literature. He shows that corpus, only various data and sources referring the spider and the oven are two conflicting rep­ to representations. Some of the topics tradi­ resentations of the mother - the castrating tionally placed in this category were religion, mother on the one hand and the nurturing one rituals, festivals and medicine. on the other. Starting with one small localized This type of classification has been aban­ fact, and making intelligent use of relevant doned today: symbolism appears to cut across comparative material, his explanation brings all categories, as there is a symbolic dimension out one of the most complex, hidden dimen­ to every aspect of social or technical life. In this sions of symbolic life in Mediterranean culture. respect the much-maligned monograph studies This example gives us some measure of the were useful for grasping the unity of thought methodological and theoretical shifts that have in a group and giving an integrated picture of occurred in the treatment of the familiar social, economic and symbolic aspects of daily themes of folklore. Instead oflooking for exter­ life. The books published about Minot were nal explanations, or trying to establish the fre­ highly influential, as they showed that a com­ quency of a given custom or belief in time or prehensive local study is not bound to follow space, the ethnologist tries in a very localized the classic progression from "material" to and specific context to come up with a global "mental" culture, but can reveal the complex explanation of the facts observed at the place interplay of these levels by concentrating on where and the time when the research is done. one factor. Yvonne Verdier (1979), for in­ Eschewing grand collections and superficial stance, investigates feminine roles and rites of explanations, he investigates minute details, passage in a completely original way, while combining various orders of reality - daily Fran<_;oiseZonabend (1980) shows the variety words, metaphors, legends, rituals, etc. Al-

2 Ethno logia Europaea XVI, 1 17 though geographically limited, the subsequent gional, national and class consciousness, and explanation integrates precisely the kind of sociological investigation ofit reveals the vari­ overall explanation the anthropologist is look­ ous types of identification connected with the ing for, and enables him to enlist the help of practice and perception of the sport. The game other disciplines, in this case psychoanalysis. itself is highly ritualized and emotional. For Among the domains which have most con­ the supporters, there are heroes and villains, cerned recent French ethnology is cooking. A and victory and defeat are felt as important strong influence here is the analytical ap­ positive or negative shocks. Sometimes (and proach of Levi-Strauss, which brings out the not only in the metaphorical sense) there is associations between body and world, nature even human sacrifice. At present various and society. Studies of the various forms of groups of French ethnologists are doing re­ hunting, going beyond social and technical search along these lines. analysis proper, help us to understand the re­ Other more "traditional" topics have been re­ lationships between man and nature, civiliza­ juvenated by the new symbolic approaches. For tion and the savage. The historical dimension instance, a local study of pilgrimages in the is also taken into account, not to look for survi­ Perche (Normandy) shows the symbolic distri­ vals, but to understand the dynamics of social bution of space, like "a medical dictionary on institutions - rituals, for instance. A detailed the ground" (Bensa 1978). Festivals are now ethnological investigation can reveal how the studied in terms of the new actors in them. same formal aspects encapsulate different so­ They can be interpreted as signs of the con­ cial and symbolic meanings at different times, flicting identities of various groups, or be con­ and how these meanings eventually bring cerned with urban emblems, like the "Giants" about changes in the forms of the rituals them­ of the cities of Northern France (Gueusquin selves. For instance, the Nanterre suburb of 1985). Paris has celebrated a Rosiere - a virgin girl - In folkloristic studies the investigation of from 1819 until 1984. This figure has carried witchcraft has traditionally been associated different meanings through time. At the be­ with that of popular medicine. But the folklo­ ginning of the 19th century, the young girl was rist, as usual, was studying the subject from chosen for her religious virtues, but as we come the outside. It was by placing herself within closer to the present day she is more likely to the relationships established by witchcraft be a "deserving" elder sister in a large family that Jeanne Favret-Saada (1977) managed to who has had to raise her brothers and siters understand the logic of "being caught". This (because of the illness of her mother) and is work was highly influential in French ethnol­ thus rewarded for her sacrifices with a dowry. ogy, as it revealed the complex problems of In the context of growing industrialization and practicing ethnology on home ground. Compar­ Catholic control she was expected to suffer her ing her position to that of Evans-Pritchard stu­ miseries without trying to escape her social dying the Zande, she remarks that the English condition. After the Leftist city council came social anthropologist could reject the irrational into power in Nanterre in 1935, the Rosiere aspects of "them" - a group to which he knew symbolized the struggle of the working class he did not belong. To begin to understand the for a better life. She was also the living embod­ spells cast in the Norman Bocage, she had to iment of the city. As the result of urban devel­ become part of the local network instead of opment the route of the procession in which preserving a "distancing" attitude. Thus she she appears for the public has changed over could show the importance of the concept of the years (Segalen & Chamarat 1979). "strength" and the efficacy of magical proce­ The new rituals and new aspects of the sac­ dures: sorcery is a coherent, logical system for red in contemporary society are being investi­ explaining the repeated misfortunes that hap­ gated: for instance, football (i.e. soccer) has pen to the individual in his daily life. Only par­ been compared to a new religion (Auge 1982). ticipant observation, here taken as far as per­ This new opium of the people stimulates re- sonal involvement could bear, could lay bare

18 the internal coherence of beliefs and behaviour as people openly reject the idea that some connected with sorcery. should be richer than others (Lamarche, Ro­ Similarly, much research has been devoted gers, Karnoouh 1980). to the study of traditional medical practices, Beyond these endeavours to identify domi­ notably those used by mothers with their new­ nant cultural patterns, the concept of the "po­ born and infant children. Demographers and pular" has been modified by new types of rese­ historians have sometimes gone so far as to ac­ arch. Folklorists emphasized the autonomous cuse mothers, with their "prejudices" and "rid­ aspects of popular culture, and this position is iculous superstitions", of deliberately putting now being reconsidered . The Aubrac study an end to the lives of their children. Here again showed the influence of the city on peasant the comparative use of field observations and dancing and musical culture, and Jean Michel proverbs and the analysis of medical remedies Guilcher's work has revealed the influence of restores dignity to the human body of the peas­ formal institutions on dance traditions. For in­ ant, and at the same time shows the coherence stance, the influence on Bearnais and Basque of attitudes and behaviour. Frarn,oise Loux dancing of dancing teachers trained in military (1978) shows how it was the efforts of mothers schools was strong (1983). Similar approaches to protect the much-threatened lives of their have been developed to clothes, furniture sty­ newborn and young children that led them to les and music (Cheyronnaud 1984). use magical or "empirical" medicine. Other researchers are investigating the cul­ The above examples show that symbolism is tural dimension in daily life among the wor­ deeply embedded in all aspects of human life. king classes: as we have seen, this is a strong Henceforth, it will be difficult to disentangle theme in urban ethnology. Culture is studied and classify all these various strands of re­ as a culture of work, so the ways in which tech­ search. Is it even necessary? For the sake of niques, crafts and other types of know-how are clarity, however, we will examine other sub­ learnt must be investigated. The various chan­ jects of research under specific headings - nels for transmitting knowledge in this lear­ mainly research on culture and kinship. These ning process are considered: schools, books, di­ approaches, like urban ethnology, also inte­ rect observation, information from the family grate an important symbolic dimension, either and other oral information. These investiga­ explicity or implicity. tions are not, however, restricted to the tech­ nical knowledge of the urban and industrial worker. The interest traditionally given to Cultural ethnology techniques, departing from former classifica­ The investigation of the cultural values of spe­ tions and typologies, is now devoted to the cific groups is a type ofresearch closely connec­ study of processes. At the saltworks, for in­ ted with the preceding area of study. For ex­ stance, the technical operations of the paludi­ ample, there are the societies of "honour and ers appear to vary according to the amount of shame" in the Mediterranean area of Southern time they give to the work - whether they do it France, associated with the ousta and the sub­ exclusively or combine it with agricultural ac­ jugation of women in an apparently agnatic sy­ tivities (Lemonnier 1980). The study of tech­ stem. Elizabeth Claverie (1979, 1981) has illu­ niques thus reveals the stakes involved in so­ minated the relationships between the judicial cial control (Cresswell 1983). By building up system and customary revenge in the ousta sy­ this kind of knowledge one can identify the in­ stem, where each ousta competes for honour in vestment of a group in a cultural identity - as the marriage race. In contrast, some northern one might, in a regional context, by studying a societies (in Brittany or Lorraine) can be seen specific dance, procession or language. as being dominated by egalitarian values: this Popular culture is also analysed as political is evident, for example, from the well-balanced culture through the study of the images and relationships between man and wife and from strategies associated with the control of cul­ the constant redistribution of parcels of land, tural power - for instance, when striking wor-

2* 19 kers elaborate a counterculture, borrowing the light of studies of central and southern emblems of mockery from the Carnival, and areas of France, where an original model appe­ generating their own language and slogans. ars to contradict Peter Laslett's hypothesis. In Many questions remain open. How are we to these areas, farmers own their land and pass it view the adoption of "bourgeois" patterns by on intact to one heir. The other children re­ the working class? Is upper class behaviour ceive a small sum as a dowry. The heir, his wife slowly pervading the lower classes, or is there and his children all live together in the house a demand ("Why not us?") coming from below? (ousta, ostal) with his parents, perpetuating a What happens when the upper classes adopt system of unilateral descent. Historians and what used to be typical of working class culture ethnologists have endeavoured to analyse dif­ - the celebration of Labour Day on the 1st of ferences within this general model, taking into May, or rock culture? account the family life cycle, status and wealth Here, as in other domains, French ethnology variables, regional variations, and showing is sensitive to group or class differentiations as how far into the 20th century this situation well as to the historical dimension of changes has endured (Assier-Andrieu 1981; Augustins (Les Cultures Populaires, 1983). & Bonnain 1981; Collomp 1984; Fine-Souriac 1977). There is a matrimonial model associated Kinship, inheritance and social with this pattern of inheritance and residence: reproduction the heir is married to a non-heir from another This new field of research, now a major con­ household, who brings along a monetary dowry cern of French ethnology, has been directly in­ that will be used by the ousta to marry off a spired by social anthropology, where the study non-heir. A frequent and practical pattern in­ of social organization is dominated by that of volves a simultaneous double marriage of sib­ kinship and the family. The topic is a good ex­ lings from two households. The heir from each ample of the kind of genuine interdisciplinary marries a non-heir from the other; both do­ discussion that has now been going on for ne­ wries are equal and are exchanged on the same arly twenty years among historians, demo­ day - or never paid - so as not to impoverish graphers, sociologists and social anthropolo­ either of the households. By studying marria­ gists . ges patterns over generations and following li­ The use of the classical parameters of resi­ nes of inheritance, Pierre Lamaison has been dence, descent and marriage has made it pos­ able to discover formal patterns of restricted sible to go beyond the indistinct whole that is and generalized exchanges between lines, "the family" - generally a unit limited to that where the dowry paid by a household follows a of the nuclear group by sociologists or seen in path that will eventually bring it back to the terms of rites de passage by folklorists. Brin­ donor, after it has circulated among various ging in the historical dimension has been con­ oustas (Lamaison 1976). ductive to a better understanding of changes In the northernmost and easternmost parts and continuities in the groups studied, while of France one finds a rather different pattern historical communities are being taken into ac­ of inheritance, although what happens in prac­ count for the sake of comparison and as an aid tice often draws together systems that for­ to setting up models. Research on these themes mally seem to be quite distinct. There, farmers has predominantly been done in rural areas, are not generally the owners of their land; where landed property and inheritance have there is little attachment to the farmhouse, been given close study in terms of the size and which will change hands many times during a structure of household and matrimonial regu­ family life cycle. Here, too, there has been a de­ larities. The general hypothesis put forward in velopment towards geographical mobility. The the 1970s by the Cambridge Population Group elusive nature of these populations has made it concerning the nuclear pattern of the Euro­ difficult to observe any formal pattern com­ pean domestic group has been reexamined in parable with those of the more stable southern 20 "Relinking marriage", formal pattern. Picture Atp 86.4.1.

communities. However, given a precisely defi­ the life cycle of the individual seem to have ned area of observation in Brittany, it has been been displaced: for instance, the christening of possible to find "relinking" marriage patterns children takes place long after birth and tends that ally lines by a series of marriages over an to be an important family gathering; death, on extended period of time. The stable unit to the other hand, seems to have become invisible which families refer is not the household, but in our world . Celebrations, which formerly the kinship network (Segalen 1985). In other took place within the family, are being taken areas, such as Franche-Comte, the dominant over by other institutions: for instance, pre­ kinship pattern is that of the sibling group, en­ parations for the relatively new ritual of Mot­ during over generations (Salitot-Dion 1979). her's Day are mostly made in schools, etc . Like Although the variety of French kinship and in­ the new objects and domains of French eth­ heritance patterns is far from having been to­ nology, this classic theme of social anthropo­ tally clarified, it is now possible to build tenta­ logy is being studied in terms of its contem­ tive models (Augustins 1982) and to link them porary aspects. with studies of "elementary" and "semi-com­ The study of all these topics has gained from plex" systems of marriage (Heritier 1981). the combined interest of historians and eth­ Among theoretical questions yet to be answe­ nologists , as well as from the historical dimen­ red is whether the principle of patrimony and sion introduced by ethnological research itself. inheritance is consistent with principles of de­ Typical of this interdisciplinary approach are scent in non-European societies. works dealing with naming patterns (Formes Patterns of residence, marriage and inher­ de nomination en Europe, 1980). Each indivi­ itance are not the only fields of interest to eth­ dual has a family name, a patronym trans­ nologists studying the family. Like social anth­ mitted in patrilinear succession; everyone also ropologists, students of French ethnology also has a first name, and often a nickname . Na­ investigate kinship terms, the uses of kinship ming identifies and classifies individuals wit­ and its role within various social and economic hin their own social group; it relates each new contexts . The importance of cognatic kin in va­ member of a family to past generations (for in­ rious social groups has been discovered - in ru­ stance, where first names are passed on from ral societies, where they help during migra­ grandfather to grandson) and it helps to create tions, and even in industrialized communities. a family memory. The family memory can also The distribution of sexual roles and prerogati­ be activated by objects, mementos, furniture ves has been scrutinized (Segalen 1980). Ritu­ passed down through generations (Zonabend als, a classic topic of social anthropology, are 1980): in wealthy houses, as in the flats of the being analysed either in historical communi­ affluent bourgeoisie, the history and perma­ ties or among contemporary ones (Les R ituels nence of the family are there to be read. de Parente, 1978). The rituals associated with Research dealing with kinship, the family

21 and inheritance patterns has until now been pies do not easily lend themselves to traditional done mostly in rural areas; however, ethnologi­ museum presentation. Marriage rituals, for cal research, in connection with the develop­ example , could be presented by means of costu­ ment of urban ethnology, has begun to focus its mes, jewelry , ceramics or furniture; but kin­ interest on other social groups and milieux. Yet ship models, rather abstract structures, are many more studies are necessary to account difficult to present in glass cases! for the variety of kinship patterns in French The split between museum and research will society, distant as this field is from the body of continue as long as the domain of the museum knowledge pertaining to small exotic societies. is not expanded beyond its interest in traditio­ nal peasant culture. The Mus ee Dauphinai s of Grenoble has proved that it is possible , if diffi­ Summary and conclusions cult, to make a "museograph" of a city and its The purpose of the present study has been to various social groups based on the dynamics of select a few examples of the fields currently of its specific history (Guibal & Laurent 1984). most concern to French ethnology and of the new approaches used. It does not pretend to co­ Institutional problems will become critical in ver the whole body of knowledge in the field, the years to come as a stronger interest deve­ which has begun to be impressive, but rather lops in the ethnological approach to our society. attempts, in a historical perspective, to point At a general level, ethnologists are those out the changes that have taken place in the who hold up a mirror to society in order to un­ last thirty years. derstand the processes of change. For instance, At present, the discipline is characterized by alarmist statements in the media about the three institutional features: "crisis of the family" are put into the proper 1) The ethnological landscape today has rat­ perspective when one compares the contem­ her vague contours. Until the 1970s the only porary situation with those that have prevai­ research centre was the Centre d'Ethnologie led in former centuries.Widowhood and remar­ Fran<;aise.Today many active regional centres riage have broken up and rebuilt families in have sprung up throughout France (Toulouse, the past about as much as divorce today. The Aix, Montpellier, Brest, Strasbourg, Grenoble, widespread interest in alternative medicine be­ etc .) where ethnologists are committed to the comes understandable in the light of anguish study of their local environments and also con­ in the face of sickness and death, and the re­ tribute to current general discussions. sponse to highly technologized modern medi­ 2) The educational situation has hardly cine. changed in relation to the immediate post-war Ethnology also has an important impact in situation. Chairs of social anthropology are the new context of French decentralization. very few in French universities, and there is Heritages of all types, now celebrated and va­ not a single chair of French ethnology . Hence, lued, appear to have become a new issue in so­ students have to turn to "parent disciplines" cial and political debates. For example, in the (history , sociology, geography , linguistics) Ardennes (in Northeastern France) both bird when they want to prepare a thesis, or to local life and hunting traditions are classified as na­ museums and eco-museums. tional heritages worth preserving; but the 3) However , the relationship between con­ hunters (tendeurs) kill thrushes (grives) that temporary French ethnology and museums is are protected by an international European rather ambivalent. As we have seen above, agreement. The hunters, of course, assert that new directions in research are concerned with the tenderie is a very old local custom belon­ symbolic , cultural and social aspects of groups ging to the Ardennes heritage, and should ac­ that are not directly linked with material cordingly be preserved as a sign of cultural dif­ objects . On the one hand, the study of artefacts ferentiation . When Jean Jamin first studied is not arousin g as much interest as it has done the tenderie he was rejected by the hunters be­ in the past; on the other, the new research to- cause they thought that the investigation of an

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