"Just what is the Breton identity ?" is the rather naive question I asked myself a few years ago. It was not long before it became apparent that the concept of identity in general needed some consideration. In the words of Erik Erikson, who brought the notion of identity into Human Sciences, "the more that is written about this subject the more words wall in a reality which is as unfathomable as it is invasive..."

     All the same this unfathomable reality does need to be condensed somewhat, and I aim to define it as the union of three properties : unity, permanence and uniqueness. The identity of a human group is, in fact, the entirety of those features common to that group (unity) which are stable (permanence) and proper to it alone (uniqueness).

     Now, other than the Republic of France - "one and indivisible" as everyone knows ! - there is hardly any community in the world which is one, permanent and unique. It has, therefore, to be admitted that identity is not a concrete reality, but a social construct.

     Starting from this observation I built my book ; this led me to choose the interview method, and in particular that of semi-guided interviews, which allows the interviewees the freedom to express their observations. Other than some fifteen specialists, I spoke to a sample of forty-six persons, essentially Bretons of around forty years of age : the heads of companies employing more than ten workers, fishermen and farmers. The interviews were carried out in the Breton-speaking area of the Goello and in the Upper-Breton canton of Etables. The proportion of Upper to Lower Bretons (1) is roughly equal.

     It seems that for all the considerable number of works published each year about Brittany - many of them enthralling - what is so far lacking is something showing what the Bretons themselves think of their identity today. It is, then, this gap that I am trying to fill through my book, from three points of view : my own, for one ; that of Bretons I have met, for another ; and finally a perspective which endeavours to reply to questions which might be put by people outside Brittany. The book is divided into three parts which take forward each of these angles. The different perspectives are, at the same time, to be found within each section and each chapter.

     You will find here a short summary of my book. If you are interested, you can order it from the PUR, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, La Harpe, 2 rue Doyen Denis-Leroy, 35043 Rennes cedex. Or from Terre de Brume, 74F rue de Paris, 35000 Rennes, tel. : 33 (0)2 99 87 03 22.

(1) Upper and Lower Britany are each side of the `linguistic frontier': to the West Breton is spoken, to the East it is not.