Die Farbe der Religion. Topografie und Topik der «Deux France»

Abstract

The Colour of Religion. Topography and Topic of «Two Frances»

The disputes about the public space between the state and the church which were hold since the nineteenth century in numerous European countries are the point of departure. To make the religious and confessional structuring of the national space tangible, helpful argumentation aides were visualisations and cartographic techniques. In France, since the end of the eighteenth century and in the context of the debates between the state and the church, an established argumentative pattern – the topic of «two Frances» – was visualised on the basis of statistical surveys. The thesis is that the multiple reading possibilities of the cartographic visualisations were shifting from a model of inclusion to a model of exclusion during the nineteenth century. Finally, in the course of the disputes, the visualisations became independent and the «two Frances» became a discursive reference location as mental representations of the national space and did not need any more media presence. In contrast: In the European context, cartographic visualisations remained the object and the negotiation lieu of national rivalries.