
Representations of the olive tree in Provence and the Mediterranean region: contemporary opinions and brief forms of oral tradition
How do the people of Provence see the olive tree and its products (oil, olives) today, and how did they see them in the past? This multi-disciplinary project seeks to answer these two questions through a synchronic approach to the representations that emerged from a survey, and through diachronic research based on the collection of various short forms of oral tradition attested in Provence. A comparison with other Mediterranean countries was an obvious choice: it allows us to place this region in the wider Mediterranean context to which it undeniably belongs, in terms of both its material culture and its representations. The olive tree, which has become a symbol of Provence’s identity through a long process of construction, has provided an ideal medium for the expression of the region’s cultural identity.
the individual and collective imagination of Provence. Its literature, sayings, proverbs and expressions bear witness to this.
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