“The Denied Revolution”: Between Modernity and Tradition in Switzerland—On the Figure of the Peasant in the Swiss Identity Discourse

Abstract

The text examines the formation and persistence of the Swiss national imaginary as a construct shaped by enduring symbols, narratives, and figurative images. Building on theories of collective identity and Charles Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary, it argues that Swiss national identity emerged through a long cultural process in which the Alps, the herdsman, and eventually the peasant became dominant symbolic figures. Through literary works, historical writing, visual culture, and political discourse, these images acquired normative force and provided a shared framework for interpreting collective experience. The study traces how eighteenth-century idealizations of Alpine life, reinforced by authors such as Haller, Rousseau, and Gessner, established a myth of origins that overshadowed later political transformations. It shows how the bourgeois elites of 1848 chose symbolic continuity over revolutionary rupture, allowing the peasant figure to become the central bearer of national distinctiveness. The analysis highlights tensions between modernity and tradition, progress and nostalgia, and urban and rural imaginaries. It concludes that despite attempts to introduce modern symbolic figures, the Alpine-pastoral tableau continues to dominate the Swiss imaginary, revealing a persistent divergence between Switzerland’s historical development and the symbolic field through which it understands itself.