Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Publication
    Behavioral Mapping Of Abu Dhabi's Public Spaces: Urban Research Photography And Cultural Clashes
    While the study of quotidian practices and daily experiences is now fully appreciated in western urbanism, it is still at an embryonic stage in the emerging new cities of the Middle East. is paper presents an ongoing research project of social-behavioral mapping of Abu Dhabi’s public spaces and its correlation with the existing urban morphology, in an attempt to shed empirical light and update the local public space design guidelines. Photography is one of the observation tools used. However, due to sociocultural conditions, special techniques had to be used. Time- lapse, high-contrasted, undirected street photography was key to visualize both formal and informal activities in the realm of the private.
      92  56
  • Publication
    Diversité culturelle dans le paysage alimentaire
    Les commerces liés à une minorité culturelle sont incontournables dans la consommation alimentaire urbaine. Leur étude permet de comprendre des dynamiques commerciales complexes. Le « paysage alimentaire » (foodscape) des grandes villes se caractérise par la diversité des produits et des pra­tiques de consommation. Cette caractéristique tient à la diversité sociale des citadins mais aussi à la diversité culturelle constitutive d’une histoire migratoire intimement liée au processus d’urbanisation. Ces commerces (restaurants, cafés, épiceries, superettes dites exotiques, etc.) sont l’une des contributions les plus visibles des populations immigrées, et plus largement des minorités culturelles, à l’économie urbaine et à la production de la ville. Mais ils peuvent faire l’objet de jugements contradictoires : tantôt pris comme le signe d’un cosmopolitisme valorisant pour des quartiers en gentrification ou pour des campagnes de marketing urbain (« See the world, visit London », disait le slogan de la ville olympique en 2012) ; tantôt ciblés par des politiques de « diversification commerciale » de quartiers qui polarisent des clientèles immigrées. Depuis les travaux pionniers de I. Light/1 sur l’ethnic business, le lien entre commerce, migration et minorités culturelles dans les espaces urbains a fait l’objet d’une abondante production scientifique/2. Dans le même temps, les « centralités minoritaires » (Little India, Petite Asie et autres Chinatown) sont devenues des quartiers pleinement intégrés au reste de la ville, l’ethnic food s’est largement diffusée dans les pratiques de consommation ordinaires, et l’altérité culturelle a fait l’objet d’une marchan­disation, particulièrement dans les quartiers centraux des métropoles/3. Ces évolutions conjointes rendent difficile la description, la mesure et la compréhension du phénomène : l’offre alimentaire culturellement minoritaire constitue-t-elle une « niche » commerciale distincte ? Comment évolue-t-elle d’un point de vue spatial, économique et social au sein d’espaces urbains en transformation ? Quels sont ses effets, tant sur la fabrication des quartiers que sur les pratiques citadines ?
      210  63
  • Publication
    Je suis un Italien de Paris: Italian migrants’ incorporation in a European capital city
    (2016) ;
    Schmoll, Camille
    ;
    Pfirsch, Thomas
    ;
    Recchi, Ettore
    Italy has experienced a new wave of population outflows, in particular since the end of the 2000s, with France as one of the top destinations. This paper investigates the structural and socio-cultural integration of Italian migrants in Paris. The paper is based on a mixed-methods approach, using in-depth interviews, census data and an online survey. We found that the profile and incorporation patterns of post-crisis migrants reflects a long-term trend of middling migration out of Italy. Similar to other studies, we show that current Italian migrants are prevailingly highly skilled and employed in non-manual jobs. As for socio-cultural integration, the paper highlights the symbolic value of the host city, to which migrants are strongly attached. Moreover, the longer the Italian's stay in Paris, the higher his/her integration in Italy-oriented activities, both within Paris and in Italy. This indicates a complex incorporation model that is at odds with assimilation but at the same time departs from ethnicised and community-based patterns. Italian migrants combine being both Parisian and Italian in a 'synergistic balancing act' (Erdal and Oeppen 2013. 'Migrant Balancing Acts: Understanding the Interactions between Integration and Transnationalism.' Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 39 (6):867–884.) of integration and transnationalism.
    Scopus© Citations 22  201  75
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  • Publication
    Questioning Cosmopolitanism through the Biographical Trajectories of French Residents of Abu Dhabi and Dubai
    Owing to their diverse populations and particular social configurations, the United Arab Emirates offer a unique urban context in which to question the notion of cosmopolitanism and its daily manifestations, since the main cities of the Emirates maximize occasions for intercultural interaction while maintaining major economic divisions and social hierarchies in most parts of daily life. While national and ethnic categories in the Emirates are often presented in the literature as being rigid, this paper argues that a biographical approach allows for a finer analysis of cosmopolitan situations. The French residents of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, relatively privileged migrants, position themselves along a wide spectrum of places and activities, raising different social and urban issues. Based on 26 months of participant observation in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and 12 in-depth interviews with French residents of the UAE, this paper shows that their forms of sociability, social practices, and international mobility work together to shape diverse and sometimes paradoxical forms of openness to national, ethnic, or social “others”.
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