Sheepherding in Pays de Soule: a shift from sheep moving towards high mountain grazing areas to herders moving to cheese making at the bottom of the valley

Abstract

In this article the author unveils the changing aspects of olha, which is an idiosyncrasy within the mountain ecosystem of the highlands of Sola, a region in the French-Basque Pyrenees. The article gathers two ethnographic examples from the village of Muskildi: one is from the early 1990’s, and the other one is from 2005. The former focuses on the impact of modernity on the olha system, showing that exogenous economic forces effected local farmers giving up agricultural activities in the region. The latter explains the making of Azkorria, a co-operative of farmers who have decided to organise an alternative pastoral system. Even though this differs clearly from the customary, its promoters present it as ideologically linked to tradition.