Abstract:

This article investigates the relationship between freemasonry and the formation of identity within the Normandy. Based upon research into the local and regional Masonic actors and networks, drawing from methods within social sciences and discursive analysis, it is argued that the tension between national sentiment and cosmopolitan openness is constantly negotiated. Although the history of the region, political and social patterns suggest strong factors for the formation of identities on regional or sub-regional level, often explored by actors such as provincial lodges, the encounter between freemasonry and regional sentiment within the Masonic network remains impossible. For certain lodges, such as the lodges in port towns like Le Havre, the maritime orientation is much stronger developed than in the agricultural hinterland, but even there lodges seemed to be unimpressed or impenetrable by attempts to mobilization of regional sentiment.

Author: Eric Saunier