Geographies of peace in the wake of non-war violence in the city: Agir pour la Paix in a marginalised neighbourhood in France

ABSTRACTResearch on violently contested cities has focused on cities in the global South and on civil war contexts. This article makes the case for broadening this empirical scope to cities in non-war contexts, which are considered ‘at peace’ but where politicians regularly declare war on e.g. drugs and terrorism. Experiences of violence, such as riots, youth violence and the aftermaths of terrorist attacks in a marginalised social housing neighbourhood in Grenoble (France) serve as the empirical grounding of this argument. Participatory action research with different collectives in this neighbourhood shows that community initiatives were able to have a positive impact on the destructive consequences of different forms of paroxysmal violence. These collectives initiated action in the aftermath of paroxysmal violence. One of them placed peace at the heart of its approach. By weaving everyday relationships its members could repair the social tissue that violence had destroyed.KEYWORDS: Peaceurban violenceterrorismcitizenshipanti-Muslim racismhealing AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank all those involved in Agir pour la Paix for having taught me important lessons in life. I would like to extend my gratitude to colleagues at Modus Operandi and swisspeace, for stimulating discussions, their insights are indirectly reflected in this article. Claske Dijkema has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 894389.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Mathieu Rigouste, L’ennemi intérieur: la généalogie coloniale et militaire de l’ordre sécuritaire dans la France contemporaine (Paris: Découverte, 2011).2 Patrick Kanner, ‘Des centaines de Molenbeek potentiels en France', Le Parisien, March 27, 2016 https://www.leparisien.fr/politique/attentats-des-centaines-de-molenbeek-potentiels-en-france-estime-patrick-kanner-27-03-2016–5664587.php (accessed March 15, 2017).3 Field notes, 15 January 2015.4 Jennifer Robinson, Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development, Questioning Cities (London; New York: Routledge, 2006).5 ‘Reversing the Gaze’ is a four-year project that studies political phenomena in Europe through concepts developed in and from the Global South, https://reversingthegaze.net.6 Caroline O. Moser, and Cathy McIlwaine, ‘New Frontiers in Twenty-First Century Urban Conflict and Violence’. Environment and Urbanization 26, no. 2 (1 October 2014): 331–44.7 Derek Gregory, ‘The Everywhere War: The Everywhere War’, The Geographical Journal 177, no. 3 (September 2011): 238–50.8 Sultan Barakat, ‘City War Zones’, Urban Age 5, no. 6 (1998): 119 Theoretical contributions such as the work of Pearce and Perea on non-war violence in post-war and beyond war contexts in Latin America call the opposition between war/violence and peace into question. Jenny Pearce and Carlos M. Perea, ‘Post War and Non War Violences: Learning about Peace and Peacebuilding from Latin America’, Peacebuilding 7, no. 3 (September 2, 2019): 247–53; and Carlos M. Perea, ‘Extreme Violence without War and Its Social Reproduction Implications for Building Peace in Latin America’, Peacebuilding 7, no. 3 (September 2, 2019): 254–67.10 About blurring clear lines between war and peace see Annika Björkdahl, ‘Urban Peacebuilding’, Peacebuilding 1, no. 2 (June 2013): 207–21. Three scholars who think about peace and conflict in American and European cities affected by terrorist violence are: ML deRaismes Combes, ‘Encountering the Stranger: Ontological Security and the Boston Marathon Bombing’, Cooperation and Conflict 52, no. 1 (March 2017): 126–43; Philip Lewis, ‘For the Peace of the City: A British Case Study in Developing Inter-Community and Inter-Religious Relations’, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 6, no. 1 (June 2011): 63–74; and Ioannis Tellidis and Anna Glomm, ‘Street Art as Everyday Counterterrorism? The Norwegian Art Community’s Reaction to the 22 July 2011 Attacks’, Cooperation and Conflict 54, no. 2 (June 2019): 191–210.11 See also Roger Mac Ginty, No War, No Peace: The Rejuvenation of Stalled Peace Processes and Peace Accords (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). The ‘no war, no peace situations’ Mac Ginty refers to deal with deadly violence in post-war situations, despite the signing of comprehensive peace agreements. Although Mac Ginty speaks from a different context than I do, we are both interested in capturing violence in situations beyond war.12 Stephen Graham, Cities under Siege: The New Military Urbanism (London; New York: Verso, 2010).13 Emma Elfversson, Ivan Gusic, Jonathan Rock Rokem, ‘Peace in cities, peace through cities? Theorising and exploring geographies of peace in violently contested cities’, Peacebuilding (21 Jun 2023): 1–17, 1.14 Jacques Joly, Formes Urbaines et Pouvoir Local: Le Cas de Grenoble Des Années 60 et 70, Villes et Territoires (Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Mirail, 1995).15 Béatrice Giblin, ‘Ghettos américains, banlieues françaises’, Hérodote 122, no. 3 (October 2006): 3–9.16 See also Claske Dijkema, ‘What Is Urban about Urban Violence in France? Violence in Marginalised Neighbourhoods as Body Politics’, Lo Squaderno, Explorations in Space and Society, Beyond Urban Violence 59 (July 2021): 17–20.17 Luuk Slooter, ‘The Making of the Banlieue’ (PhD diss., University of Utrecht, 2015).18 Simon Dawes, ‘Islamophobia, Racialisation and the “Muslim Problem” in France’, French Cultural Studies 32, no. 3 (August 2021): 179–86; and Kawtar Najib and Carmen Teeple Hopkins, ‘Geographies of Islamophobia’, Social & Cultural Geography 21, no. 4 (3 May 2020): 449–57.19 Mustafa Dikeç, Badlands of the Republic : Space, Politics and Urban Policy, RGS-IBG Book Series (Malden Oxford: Blackwell publ, 2007).20 Renaud Epstein, ‘La démolition contre la révolution’, Mouvements 83, no. 3 (9 September 2015): 97–104.21 Vivian L. Vignoles et al., ‘Beyond the “East – West” Dichotomy: Global Variation in Cultural Models of Selfhood’, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 145, no. 8 (2016): 966–1000.22 Annika Björkdahl, ‘Urban Peacebuilding’, Peacebuilding 1, no. 2 (June 2013): 207–21.23 Tiina Vaittinen et al., ‘Care as Everyday Peacebuilding’, Peacebuilding 7, no. 2 (2019): 194–209; and Karen E. Till, ‘Wounded Cities: Memory-Work and a Place-Based Ethics of Care’, Political Geography 31, no. 1 (2012): 3–14.24 McConnell, Megoran, and Williams, Geographies of Peace.25 Carabelli in this issue.26 Sarah Wright, ‘Practising Hope: Learning from Social Movement Strategies in the Philippines’, in Fear: Critical Geopolitics and Everyday Life (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 224.27 Mary Zournazi and Ghassan Hage, ‘“On the Side of Life” – Joy and the Capacity of Being’, in Hope: New Philosophies for Change (Annandale: Pluto Press, 2002), 153.28 Wright, ‘Practising Hope’.29 Emilie Notéris, La fiction réparatrice (Supernova, 2017).30 Although APLP still exists as an informal group and gathers occasionally, I use the past tense in reference to the collective because the weekly workshops and projects that they initiated were discontinued in 2017.31 Claske Dijkema, ‘Subaltern in France – A Decolonial Exploration of Voice, Violence and Racism in Marginalized Social Housing Neighbourhoods in Grenoble’ (PhD diss., University of Grenoble-Alpes, 2021).32 Didier Lapeyronnie, Ghetto Urbain: Ségrégation, Violence, Pauvreté En France Aujourd’hui (Paris: Laffont, 2008), 22.33 For a discussion, see e.g. Johanna Söderström, ‘Life Diagrams: A Methodological and Analytical Tool for Accessing Life Histories’, Qualitative Research 20, no. 1 (February 1, 2020): 3–21.34 This research protocol is approved by the Ethics Commission of the ZZZ, ref. no. 106.35 Claske Dijkema, ‘Creating Space for Agonism: Making Room for subalternised Voices in Peace Research’, Conflict, Security & Development 22, no. 5 (September 15, 2022): 476–494.36 Thomas Sauvadet, Le Capital Guerrier: Concurrence et Solidarité Entre Jeunes de Cité (Paris: A. Colin, 2006).37 Philippe I. Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995).38 See Herrick Mouafo and Mayare Bouhafs. Penser La Nonviolence et Agir Sur La Violence: La Violence n’appartient Pas à Un Lieu. Retour Sur Une Expérience Grenobloise (Lyon: Chronique Sociale, 2021).39 Claske Dijkema, Subaltern in France.40 Interview with a volunteer of a community organisation, 30/06/2016.41 Michel Agier and Martin Lamotte, ‘Les pacifications dans la ville contemporaine. Ethnographies et anthropologie’, L’Homme. Revue française d’anthropologie 3–4, no. 219–220 (2016): 7–29.42 Mathieu Rigouste. ‘La guerre à l’intérieur : la militarisation du contrôle des quartiers populaires’, in La frénésie sécuritaire, ed. Laurent Mucchielli (Paris: La Découverte, 2008).43 Aurélie Monkam-Noubissi, Le ventre arraché (Montrouge: Bayard, 2014).44 Interview, May 5, 2017.45 Interview with a volunteer of a community organisation, June 30, 2016.46 Interview, March 17, 2017.47 Ibid.48 Interview Joseph, June 18, 2015.49 Interview, May 1, 2017.50 Group interview, July 1, 2014.51 Ibid.52 Interview, July 7, 2017.53 Engin F. Isin and Greg Marc Nielsen, eds., Acts of Citizenship (London ; New York : New York: Zed Books Ltd. ; Distributed in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).54 Interview, May 1, 2017.55 Field notes, June 17, 2014.56 Interview, July 7, 2017.57 Nicole Laliberté, “‘Peace Begins at Home’.58 Wright, ‘Practising Hope’, 229.59 Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philippe I. Bourgois, eds., Violence in War and Peace: [An Anthology], Blackwell Readers in Anthropology (Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publ, 2007).60 Rachel Pain and Susan J. Smith, Fear: Critical Geopolitics and Everyday Life (Aldershot; Burlington: Ashgate, 2008).61 Jennifer L Fluri, ‘Bodies, Bombs and Barricades: Geographies of Conflict and Civilian (in)Security’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 36, no. 2 (April 1, 2011): 280–296.62 Jean-Pierre Garnier, ‘Une violence éminemment contemporaine’, Espaces et sociétés 128–129, no. 1 (2007): 55–69; Michel Kokoreff, La force des quartiers: de la délinquance à l’engagement politique (Paris: Payot, 2003); and Didier Lapeyronnie, Ghetto Urbain: Ségrégation, Violence, Pauvreté En France Aujourd’hui (Paris: Laffont, 2008).63 Lola Romanucci Schwartz, ‘Conflict Without Violence and Violence Without Conflict in a Mexican Mestizo Village’, in Collective Violence, eds. James F. Short and Marvin E. Wolfgang, (Routledge, 2009), 10.64 Dijkema, ‘Creating Space for Agonism’; Claske Dijkema, ‘Claiming space, when Muslim women of marginalised social housing neighbourhoods declare themselves citizens’, Justice Spatiale – Spatial Justice 17 (September 2022): 1–19; and Karine Gatelier, Claske Dijkema, and Herrick Mouafo, Progresser dans le conflit: Pour une approche constructive des conflits. Retrouver une capacité d’action face à la violence, Essais (Paris: Charles Léopold Mayer, 2017).65 Björkdahl, ‘Urban Peacebuilding’.66 Fiona McConnell, Nick Megoran, and Philippa Williams, Geographies of Peace (London: New York I.B. Tauris, 2014).67 Björkdahl, ‘Urban Peacebuilding’; Annika Björkdahl and Ivan Gusic, ‘The Divided City – A Space for Frictional Peacebuilding’, Peacebuilding 1, no. 3 (September 2013): 317–33; and Ivan Gusic, Contesting Peace in the Postwar City – Belfast, Mitrovica and Mostar, Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies (Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2019).68 Roger Mac Ginty, Everyday Peace: How so-Called Ordinary People Can Disrupt Violent Conflict (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021); Anthony Ware and Vicki-Ann Ware, ‘Everyday Peace: Rethinking Typologies of Social Practice and Local Agency’, Peacebuilding (November 4, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2021.1997387 (accessed January 10, 2022_.69 Emma Elfversson, Ivan Gusic, Jonathan Rock Rokem, ‘Peace in cities, peace through cities?’, 1.70 The relevance of these knowledge circulations has been tested and proven during two events I co-organised with the Swiss platform for peacebuilding Koff on community-led responses to urban violence in France and Brazil.Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions [No. 894389]; Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.Notes on contributorsClaske DijkemaClaske Dijkema is Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at swisspeace and part-time lecturer at the University of Basel. She works with a geographies of peace approach applied to European cities confronted with the aftermaths of recurrent episodes of violence. During her PhD research she developed a decolonial approach to marginalised-social housing neighbourhoods in France that deal with urban violence. From Autumn 2023 onwards, she pursues her interest in conflicts, empowerment and safety in urban spaces at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.Herrick Mouafo DjontuHerrick Mouafo Djontu holds a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Grenoble-Alpes, which is affiliated to Sciences Po Grenoble. He was Program Manager at Modus Operandi until the end of 2022, where he focused on dynamics of belonging, conflict and violence in different societies, while conducting field research in France and Northern Cameroon. From 2023 he works as Safety Advisor at the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO) in Niger.