Banlieue Stories: Mapping the Paris Suburbs On Screen, 1958-2012

Abstract

The substantive la banlieue does not simply describe a geographical territory, but rather names a particular articulation of images and narratives that constitute the ‘banlieue question’. This dissertation tracks the development and contestation of a set of procedures that construct the banlieue as an object of knowledge, expertise, and intervention. Under the heading ‘banlieue stories’ I collect a range of media that engage with la banlieue as a discursive regime, challenging the practices and procedures through which screen media construct the banlieues as the ‘lost territories’ of the Republic.