Mountain Region Preservation/Restoration and Dairy Cooperatives in 19th Century Southern France: Conflict and Harmony between Public and Private Interests

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03162
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Ibaraki University
• Principal Investigator: ITAMI Kazuhiro 茨城大学, 農学部, 教授 (50302592)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 荒廃山岳地 / 酪農組合 / 19世紀 / 南フランス / オート=ザルプ県

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I analyze the conflict related to afforestation in the denuded mountain region of Hautes-Alpes Prefecture in Southern France in the 19th century. I assess public interest in flood control through afforestation and private interest in maintaining local residents’ pasturage. To balance public and private interests, the French government of the time tried to revitalize mountain villages by disseminating dairy cooperatives. This study illuminates the result of this effort by showing that while villages located in economically privileged areas saw a certain degree of development in dairy cooperatives, villages in areas with advanced nudity, which urgently required afforestation, failed to develop dairy cooperatives because of their poor economic conditions; conversely, the effort caused these villages’ further decline.

Free Research Field

近代フランス農村史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

既存の研究においては、19世紀フランス南部山岳地の植林と酪農組合普及政策とを結びつけて理解するものが存在しておらず、よって、そこで見られる公益と私益の融和の取り組みやそれによる一定の成果を検出することができていなかった。それとともに、両者の融和において限界も存在しており、とりわけ、経済的立地条件が大きな基底的要因であったことも、これまでの関連学術研究においては指摘がされていなかったところであり、こうした点を解明したことに本研究の学術的意義を認めることができる。