A Shifting Shore : : Locals, Outsiders, and the Transformation of a French Fishing Town, 1823–2000 / / Alice Garner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Garner, Alice,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2018]; ©2004
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.) :; 1 map, 32 halftones

How does tourism transform fishing communities into vibrant resorts, working shores into bathing beaches? In A Shifting Shore, Alice Garner traces the ways fisherfolk, bathers, investors, and engineers understood, claimed, and remade the shores of the Bassin d'Arcachon, a prime fishing and oyster-farming site in southwestern France, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Garner's interest in the coastline—a zone that resists all attempts at definition—shapes this generously illustrated book. Rather than taking a straightforward chronological approach to the settlement and evolution of the towns of Arcachon and La Teste, Garner investigates the development of the Bassin d'Arcachon's southern shores with the aim of recovering something of the "lived space" experienced by locals and visitors.Drawing on guidebooks, newspapers, bylaws, engineers' reports, medical pamphlets, postcards, and the accounts of literary-minded holidaymakers, Garner shows how investors and developers transformed Arcachon and its community—beaches were rezoned and jetties constructed to favor bathers, and a new railway line brought ever-increasing numbers of visitors to the area. She explores how fishermen and women resisted developments that threatened their livelihood or their particular sense of belonging, and shows how they adapted to the changing environment and to their new roles as guides and entertainers. A Shifting Shore, while anchored in Arcachon and La Teste, has much to contribute to a nuanced understanding of relations between hosts and guests in any community.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Maps -- Introduction -- PART I. THE COLONIZING IMPULSE -- 1. Hideous Virginity, or Beautiful Maps on Annonay Paper -- 2. A Site of Contention: The Pres Sales of La Teste -- 3. To Suspend the Ocean -- 4. Oceano Nox -- PART II. TAMING THE SHORE -- 5. An Emotional Tableau -- 6. Movement and Life: The Bordeaux-La Teste Railway Line -- 7. The Pacific Conquests of Hygiene -- 8. Whistles and Pickets, or Dejecta of All Sorts -- 9. A Magnificent Panorama -- 10. Posing for Posterity -- Epilogue: Other Occupations -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index