Citation

Dikeç M. Geogr. Comp. 2007; 1(5): 1190-1206.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1749-8198.2007.00057.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article provides an account of urban unrest in France, with particular emphasis on the revolts of 2005 in the banlieues. It looks at some of the reasons behind the revolts, including social disadvantage, discrimination, repression, and the tensions arising from France's alleged universalism, colonial history and post-colonial present. Then, by putting the 2005 revolts in context and comparing them to previous incidents, it points to their distinctive geographical dimension. This geographical focus shows that there is a constantly expanding geography of revolts, that this geography overlaps with geographies of inequalities, discrimination and repression, and suggests that there is a logic of resistance behind the revolts.