Intimate memories and social space: the village of peyruis (France) in the middle of XXth century

Abstract

The memorable places (landmarks) have a fundamental place in the symbolic marking of territory and in its connexion with official history. They express a collective identity which is shown at different political and sociological levels, from the nation down to the family- a scale of analysis hitherto neglected. To see how individuals' space-time mesh with that of society, I began to research my own family and its birthplace - Peyruis, Alpes de Haute-Provence in France. By reconstructing the private geography of three sisters and a brother in this small, 1940's Provenzal town, we move from institutional memorials to commonplace ones : everyday places more linked to daily activities than regular acts of remembrance. These small significant sites are found in a social space. They embody virtual and limited in time appropriation of a public territory by a private memory.