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Market Day in Provence (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)
by Michele De La Pradelle
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Synopses & Reviews At farmers markets, we expect to see fruit bursting with juicy sweetness and vegetables greener than a golf course. For Michèle de La Pradelle these expectations are mostly the result of a show performed by merchants and sustained by our propensity to see what we want to see there. Hailed upon its release in France, the award-winning Market Day in Provence lays bare the mechanisms of the contemporary outdoor market by providing a definitive account of the centuries-old institution at Carpentras, a city near Avignon in the south of France famous for its quintessential public street market. The renewal and celebration of the outdoor market culture in recent years, argues de La Pradelle, artfully masks a fierce commitment to modern-day free-market economics. Responding to consumer desire for an experience that recalls a time before impersonal supermarket chains and mass-produced products, buyers and sellers alike create an atmosphere built on various fictions. Vendors at the market at Carpentras, for example, oblige patrons by acting like lifelong acquaintances of those whom theyve only just met as they dispense free samples and lively, witty banter. Likewise, going to the market to look for “freshness” becomes a way for the consumer to signify the products relation to naturea denial of the workaday reality of growing melons under plastic sheets, then machine-sorting, crating, and transporting them. Offering captivating descriptions of goods and the friendly and occasionally piquant exchanges between buyers and sellers, Market Day in Provence will be devoured by any reader with an interest in areas as diverse as food, ethnography, globalization, modernity, and French culture. Review: "In this vivid and highly perceptive ethnographical study, which was first published in French as Les Vendredis de Carpentras in 1996, the late MichŠle de La Pradelle analyses the traditional march‚ forain, a traveling stallholder market, using Carpentras, one of France's oldest and most celebrated markets, as a model. . While de la Pradelle's observations uncover illusions of the street market, one suspects that she too has fallen under its spell. In her Carpentras, the sun always shines, the locals are unremittingly friendly, and the latent religious and racial tensions that have characterized this city in recent years are only hinted at. Yet the brilliance of Review: "A detailed, rigorous, and vivid ethnographical description of exchange in the marketplace."--Pierre Bourdieu, Liber Review: "Exemplary ethnography, and Pradelle is prescient in emphasizing that meaning is place based, firmly linked to locality and microcuoltures." (Gary Alan Fine, American Journal of Sociology) Review: "A brilliant analysis."-Andr‚ BurguiŠre, Le Nouvel Observateur (Andre Burguire, Le Nouvel Observateur)
Review: "A brilliant analysis."-Andr Burguire, Le Nouvel Observateur Review: "In Market Day in Provence, the essence of the market-day experience is a jovial back-and-forth between buyer and seller in which class boundaries are suspended and the normal rules of etiquette do not apply. The man offering his farmhouse cheeses is entitled to chaff and tease. The customer is free to poke and squeeze and fondle the merchandise, unthinkable behavior in a shop. It's all deliciously rural and traditional, and, Ms. de La Pradelle takes great pains to demonstrate, as phony as it can possibly be, 'a collectively produced anachronism' with no rational economic reason for existing. Ms. de La Pradelle, an ethnologist who was sent by the French government to analyze public markets, spent years scrutinizing the goods and the behavior and the underlying rules governing the market in Carpentras. Her findings amount to a cold shower for anyone, like myself, who has constructed a rich fantasy life around such places. All those farm-fresh f(William Grimes, New York Times, Feb 3 2006 ) Review: "Michle de La Pradelle paints an extraordinary tableau of Comtadine life with a sense of all its particularities, making her book a fascinating read for those curious about southern regionalism. The book is written with the true literary qualities of color and precision."-Pierre Vallin, tude Review: Winner of the Prix Louis Castex de lAcadmie franaise Review: "In this vivid and highly perceptive ethnographical study, which was first published in French as Les Vendredis de Carpentras in 1996, the late Michle de La Pradelle analyses the traditional march forain, a traveling stallholder market, using Carpentras, one of France's oldest and most celebrated markets, as a model. . . . While de la Pradelle's observations uncover illusions of the street market, one suspects that she too has fallen under its spell. In her Carpentras, the sun always shines, the locals are unremittingly friendly, and the latent religious and racial tensions that have characterized this city in recent years are only hinted at. Yet the brilliance of Market Day in Provence lies precisely in the fact that, however much Michle de La Pradelle demystifies the object of her study, she remains loyal to its magic. Her evocative descriptions of this colourful theatre of fantasy will delight anyone who has ever wondered why the lettuces look crispier, the tomatoes redder and the oranges more juicy at the market."-Sarah Howard, Times Literary Supplement Review: "Exemplary ethnography, and Pradelle is prescient in emphasizing that meaning is place based, firmly linked to locality and microcuoltures." About the Author Michèle de La Pradelle (1944–2004) was director of studies at l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and author of Paris Luxe and Urbanisation et enjeux quotidiens. Amy Jacobs has translated a number of books, including An Anthropology for Contemporaneous Worlds by Marc AugÉ. Table of Contents Foreword to the American Edition, by Jack Katz Introduction Part I - The Market Stage Chapter 1 City Tour Chapter 2 Well-Ordered Chaos Part II - An Economy of Enticement Chapter 3 The Art of Taking Ones Time Chapter 4 Familiar Strangers Chapter 5 Delights of Free Trade Part III - Commerce of the Imaginary Chapter 6 “The customer doesnt go by price here” Chapter 7 “Pumpkins are rounder at the market” Chapter 8 “Let me have some pâté, but your pâté” Chapter 9 “I sell Provence” Chapter 10 Ordinary Authenticity Chapter 11 The Truffle Circle Part IV - Pleasure of the Agora Chapter 12 Equality of Opportunity Chapter 13 All at the Market, All in the Same Boat Chapter 14 In Full View Chapter 15 Generalized Friendship Part V - Identity on Offer Chapter 16 “Do you still make those little caillettes of yours?” Chapter 17 In the Forebears Footsteps Conclusion: A Moment of Utopia Notes Index Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780226141848
- Translator:
- Jacobs, Amy
- Foreword:
- Katz, Jack
- Translator:
- Jacobs, Amy
- Foreword:
- Katz, Jack
- Author:
- Jacobs, Amy
- Author:
- La Pradelle, Michele De
- Author:
- De La Pradelle, Michele
- Author:
- Katz, Jack
- Author:
- Pradelle, Michele De La
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- Subject:
- Europe - France
- Subject:
- Sociology - General
- Subject:
- Anthropology - Cultural
- Subject:
- Commerce
- Subject:
- Fairs
- Subject:
- Markets - France - Carpentras -
- Subject:
- Fairs - France - Carpentras - Social aspects
- Edition Description:
- 1
- Series:
- Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries
- Publication Date:
- March 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Grade Level:
- Professional and scholarly
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 266
- Dimensions:
- 9.00 x 6.00 in
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