<i>La liberté de récolter</i> : seaweed, conflict and citizenship in coastal communities in Brittany during the Third Republic

Abstract In Brittany, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, seaweed was more than just a fundamental element of coastal ecologies. It sustained livelihoods, contributed to the local economy and played a key role in the social and cultural life of littoral communities. As a resource precious to locals and the state alike, the question of who could or should have access to seaweed generated conflict. This article examines how different groups of seaweed users in Brittany employed the tools, institutions and values of the Third Republic to become active ‘seaweed citizens’. Not only does this reveal the diverse engagements locals had with seaweed, it also uncovers how encounters with seaweed were essential for their developing political voices. This article demonstrates the role of seaweed in shaping the agency of local Bretons and, on a larger scale, the relationship between environment and identity.