Translations of Terroir: Constructing and Marketing a Sense of Place in the Basque Country
A distinguishing and authenticating element of Basque culture is created with the use of its language, Euskara. Key words in this non-Indo-European language are commonly sighted to market local products such as milk, wine, and cider to create value and social distinction through linguistic commodifi...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aof, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
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Anthropology of food
2020
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| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | A distinguishing and authenticating element of Basque culture is created with the use of its language, Euskara. Key words in this non-Indo-European language are commonly sighted to market local products such as milk, wine, and cider to create value and social distinction through linguistic commodification in the promotion of place. Meanwhile, the French word terroir, which has evolved to encompass both the physical and sociocultural changes in the food-producing regions worldwide, has been slowly integrated into global marketing techniques, to include the Basque case. This article aims to show how the concept of terroir in its various engagements has entered the food-producing sectors of milk, wine, and cider in the Basque Country with the hope of creating the same authenticating and identity-making results as it has for their French-speaking neighbors. Here I develop the concept of “linguistic terroir” as a means of framing how such engagement takes place. Specifically, I use research carried out in the Basque Country of Spain to illustrate the circumstances in which the concept of terroir is being employed to market the identity behind local products. In doing so, I provide a lens for examining and understanding key traits in the formation and marketing of Basque identity. |
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