enough of a stir to shape a unified resistance against all things uncivilized, or in other words American, such as: fast food, clothing, films, and English expressions. Ultimately it was here that the French made their greatest statement of resistance. Between the political, business, and cultural shifts during these decades, sentiments and outrage sparked anti-American movements among French intellectuals and politicians, which in turn created an anti-anti-Americanism. How could France imitate certain American approaches without compromising its own position as an important modern nation while simultaneously retaining its renowned collective identity? Herein was the struggle . France often paid a political or economic price for its resistance to America’s international moves. Kuisel argues that the“French Way”of resistance was how France was able to stave off the “American hyperpower” (vii), allowing this modern country to retain its“Frenchness”while settling into a new role in the age of globalization. This text is a richly detailed resource for explaining French-American binaries over the past four decades. University of North Georgia Amye R. Sukapdjo Menzies, Charles R. Red Flags and Lace Coiffes: Identity and Survival in a Breton Village. Toronto: UP of Toronto, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4426-0512-1. Pp. xiv + 155. $24.95. This slim volume’s ambitious aim is the study of the transformations of life in the traditional fishing village of Le Guilvinec, the center of the local fishing industry in the Bigouden region of Brittany, from the late nineteenth century to the present. Menzies, an anthropologist with a background in commercial fishing, first visited the village nearly twenty years ago. In this work he surveys economic forces that have affected the villages and relates the personal testimony of residents about their current struggles. He looks at the social class, gender, and kinship aspects of daily life, all set within the economic pressures that come with the changing fortunes of the fishing economy. Fishing first became essential to the village with the arrival of the railroad to the region, in 1884, coinciding with the decline of agriculture. Outside commercial interests established canneries, profitable enterprises that shared few benefits with the impoverished village residents. This led to union actions in the early twentieth century over the production of sardines; these actions are still remembered vividly to this day. Other struggles came in the 1990s, with the establishment of the European Union and its regulations. These ongoing labor battles are represented by the red flag of the work’s title; the other iconic emblem,the lace coiffe,is meaningful as a symbol of local identity. It was an everyday clothing item worn by many women until the mid-twentieth century and still worn by a few elderly women today. For most women, it has largely evolved into a specialty clothing item worn only for cultural heritage events or for the promotion of tourism. The growing tourism industry, which is primarily seasonal, 290 FRENCH REVIEW 87.3 Reviews 291 will not be able to replace fishing in the village’s economy, and the future is uncertain. Menzies conveys this anxiety by drawing on his relationships with individual families in the village,talking to them aboard their boats and in their homes about the economic realities of everyday life. He finds that social class is closely bound with ownership of the fishing boats, and kinship relationships are built into economic survival, since fleets are often operated by family enterprises. Gender roles are clearly defined, with men going out on boats and women working on shore, in both paid and unpaid labor. In the end, Menzies worries that villagers tend to rely excessively on their remembered past, when other actions might be more effective if they are to survive in the structure of global capitalism. Although written primarily for anthropologists, the historical overview and the ethnographic study of contemporary concerns of the villagers offer to the student of French culture a valuable glimpse into daily life in a small Breton fishing village. Southeast Missouri State University Alice J. Strange ...
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Open Access
Apr 28, 2015
Jacek Pleciński 
