Identity in European cross-border cultural policies: an evolutive referential
Résumé
Many European cross-border cooperative organisations, commonly called “euroregions”, implement cultural schemes and projects. This paper questions the identity dimension of these cross-border cultural policies. It is based on a comparative case analysis of different euroregions, mainly Euroregion Pyrénées-Méditerranée and Grande Région, completed with other examples. The cultural policies that are developed in these euroregions suggest an evolution of the identity referential in cross-border context, with a particular dialectics between a “heritage” identity and a “creative” identity. It shows the plasticity of notions such as culture and identity. In this way, European cross-border context renews cultural and identity representations and practices, which can echo a cultural and territorial European construction. At the same time, the evolution of referential questions the discourse on culture and identity in European cross-border context, in which the performativity dimension can sometimes reveal more instrumental dynamics on culture and identity in this discourse.