Greater France and the provinces: representations of the empire and colonial interests in the Rennes region 1880-1905

The connection between French regional culture and the impact of colonization on France has received important treatment in a number of recent works. A new line of investigation in this field could offer a richer analysis of the connection between colonialism and regional culture. This approach would need to insist on how colonialism was differently understood by local elites with varied material and ideological interests. To develop this approach, this article examines how the local press, the local business community, the local Church and the fishing community in Rennes and its surrounding region, developed different attitudes towards the colonial empire. It concludes that representations of the empire at the local level are deeply rooted in material and ideological interests and it was through these interests that the empire entered debates in local society.