Relegation, Rejection, and Revolts: The Spatial Isolation of the French Banlieue

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Mink, Joseph

Keywords

Banlieue, France, Urban, Discrimination, Sociology, Marginality, Rap, Riots, Revolts, Le Corbusier, Neoliberalism, Poverty, Urban Violence

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

No single word in the English language carries all the connotations of the French “banlieue.” Scholars, politicians, and residents offer dissonant renditions of these neighborhoods that vary from suburb and outskirt to ghetto and slum. This thesis analyzes the construction of the banlieue, both as a physical space and a site of contested meaning. Following the Second Word War, France poured reconstruction funds into public housing. Guided by Le Corbusier's utilitarian, modernist philosophy, the state outfitted hundreds of cités (projects) on the cheap land outside major cities with massive residential high-rises. This originally improved sanitation and quality of life for the occupants. However, these improvements homogenized the urban periphery and reinforced its fracture from central cities. Simultaneous government sponsored guest worker programs attracted droves of immigrants to the banlieue, shifting their ethnic and cultural composition. When Les Trentes Glorieuses (The Thirty Glorious years) of economic and job growth stagnated in the 1970s, entire communities plunged into a self-reinforcing cycle of adolescent delinquency, unemployment, crime, and poverty. This pattern persists today, leaving few to desire life in the stigmatized banlieue. Residents express their frustration through two modalities: violence and articulation of a distinct banlieue culture. First, thirty years of violences urbaines (revolts or riots) culminated in the events of fall 2005, which dominate the discourse and distort the banlieues' reputation. In order to abate future unrest, President Nicolas Sarkozy created a controversial plan for the neighborhoods’ renovation and policing. Second, residents offer their own interpretation of life in the banlieue via religious expression and rap music. Through the competing lenses of sociology, political science, urban studies, and popular culture, it becomes apparent that the banlieues’ geographical isolation manifests itself in socioeconomic and cultural segregation.

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