This chapter situates the book as an intervention in discussions of the history of the body, suggesting that the experiences of the working population have often been absent from discussions of changing bodily cultures, which have instead tended to focus on elite discourses. The chapter suggests that the moorlands of Gascony in south-western France make a particularly powerful example, because of the scale and speed of top-down reforms of the landscape following a national law passed in 1857, which encouraged the forestation of the moorlands. The region also boasts one of the most impressive ethnographic archives, thanks to the work of the folklorist Félix Arnaudin (1844–1921). The chapter finishes with an outline of key methodologies drawn from folklore studies, including the study of performance, variation, and traceability.