An Address in Paris: Emplacement, Bureaucracy, and Belonging in Hostels for West African Migrants

Foyers, residences for West African migrants in France, have evolved from collective living spaces to individualized units. Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye's book explores how foyers have shaped the lives of migrants, becoming key parts of diasporic networks and fostering a sense of political agency.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 07 November 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

In the 1960s, when West African migrants arrived in France, the authorities established residences known as "foyers" to accommodate them. Initially designed to confine the West African population, these single-sex hostels in Paris and other cities gave rise to Black communities. However, in recent years, a nationwide renovation program has aimed to replace the collective living arrangements of foyers with more individualized spaces by constructing new buildings or significantly reshaping existing ones. This program has portrayed the West African presence as a threat to French identity.

Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye delves into the evolving roles that foyers have played in the lives of generations of West African migrants. Through rich ethnographic description and a critical historical account, she explores how migrants settled in foyers through kinship ties, making these buildings essential components of diasporic networks. Migrants also created a sense of place within foyers, intricately navigating bureaucratic requirements such as having an address. Mbodj-Pouye examines the physical and social transformation of foyers and the administrative dynamics that governed them. She argues that while these buildings were initially conceived by the state to manage migrants along racial lines, the shared way of life they fostered helped ignite a sense of political agency and belonging that extends far beyond their walls.

Combining close attention to the social and cultural meanings of foyers and keenly observed portraits of Black experiences in France across decades, An Address in Paris offers a fresh perspective on the global African diaspora.

Dimension: 216 x 140 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231211420