Walking and talking in the Ariège Pyrenees and beyond
Back when I was researching English incomers in the Ariège Pyrenees, many people cited Dordogne as a kind of benchmark. It was a way to disassociate themselves from that stereotype of Little England: 'I think people come here because they don't want that Dordogne thing. They want to take part in the French culture. They …
Continue reading In search of Dordogneshire: Bergerac in the time of Brexit
You don’t see written English very often in the Ariège public sphere (what researchers call the linguistic landscape) but I can share some observations that I noted when doing my research on English migration.
Why do English people move to Ariege, France? When I first began researching British incomers in Ariège, I was curious as to why they’d chosen that out-of-the-way corner of France. It turns out that choice wasn’t always the right word… For quite a few people it was simply where the house was, rather than an …
How are British incomers in France portrayed in the British media? A flood, an invasion, bloodsuckers… we’ve all seen immigrants depicted using this kind of language in the British press. Yet it surprised me to find that British journalists use the same language to refer to their compatriots who are living in France. Migration often …
