Native to the Republic: Citizenship, Slum Clearance and Social Welfare in 1950s Marseille

During the post-World War Two economic boom, France implemented a comprehensive urbanism program intended to modernize and rationalize the nation by putting the city, the home, and the citizen in order. During this period, France was also working out the repercussions of decolonization as families from former French colonies in Africa and Asia migrated to the metropole. Municipal technocrats and central state planners had to decide how migrant families fit into an emerging national vision for a modern France. An important feature of this vision was developing a welfare state which included the mass construction of modern housing. In the late 1950s, many migrant families began to move into these large, concrete, Le Corbusier influenced housing projects on the fringes of French cities such as Marseille. This talk will situate recent debates about the “immigrant question” in the context of the developing post-1945 welfare state. In particular, the talk will explore the broader contours of the debate through a discussion of slum clearance and re-housing practices in 1950s Marseille.

hm 4/7/11