World War I and the reconstruction of rural landscapes in Belgium and France: a historiographical essay

This historiographical article assesses the ways in which (agricultural) historians have examined the reconstruction of rural landscapes in Belgium and France after the First World War. It reveals three axes of research, each of which emerged from the 1980s onwards. The first axis mainly focuses on the key actors of reconstruction. It is argued that a top-down perspective was gradually replaced by an emphasis on the agency of private organizations and the mentalities of the countrymen. A second set of publications examines the landscape itself. However, while in some articles the reconstructed landscape is approached as a material object, others put the constructed meanings of these landscapes to the fore. This emphasis on 'ways of seeing' is even more present in the third axis of research, which explores the regionalist rebuilding of farmsteads. As a conclusion, this article argues that through the broadening of chronological and geographical boundaries and by seeing the reconstruction process in a long-term and transnational perspective, this area of research can transcend its largely descriptive character.

Publication year:2017

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Authors from:Higher Education