Paper short abstract:

A major significant landmark from a state perspective, the border between France and Spain has become in the last decades the target of political contest in the Basque Country. Smashed boundary stones emerge as symbols for political claims for Basque identity.

Paper long abstract:

A major significant landmark from a state perspective, the border between France and Spain has become in the last decades the target of political contest in the Basque Country. The border has produced its own rituals, embedded in the national imaginary promoted by both states, such as the revision of boundary stones every year. In the basque area, these rituals contrast with traditional territorial rituals thought as devoid of any political charge. These recall a particular conception of territory, in which space becomes place by performing specific rituals, such as walking the imaginary line linking the boundary stones marking village limits.

In contrats, in a landscape shaped by European integration, smashed boundary stones along the international border emerge as symbols for political claims for Basque identity. Drawing from ethnographic data gathered in a multi-sited fieldwork along the border, this paper highlights how debates about territorial markers and heritage are entangled with highly political issues.