La Rue des Rosiers : espace urbain et identité juive

The rue des rosiers : a place to be jewish. a study of urbain space and ethnic identity

• Auteur / Autrice : Jeanne Brody
• Direction : Dominique Schnapper
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : SOCIOLOGIE
• Date : Soutenance en 1986
• Etablissement(s) : Paris, EHESS

Résumé

En se servant des outils methodologiques du sociologue et de l'anthropologue (recits de vie, observation-participante, analyse de reseaux) ce travail pose le probleme du rapport entre l'espace urbain et l'identite juive. A partir du cas du quartier de la rue des rosiers, dans le 4eme arrondissement a paris, le chercheur etudie comment les populations qui viennent s'installer dans ce quartier inscrivent leur identite juive sur le sol meme, sur les murs, par les commerces et les metiers. Ces lieux deviennent de plus en plus charges affectivement avec le temps ; les souvenirs collectifs s'accumulent ce qui nous permet de dire que la rue des rosiers aujourd'hui est depositaire d'identite juive. De la meme facon que cette identite s'inscrit dans l'espace, cette inscription encadre et laisse son empreinte sur les acteurs sociaux qui y habitent ou y travaillent, determinant en quelque sorte les rapports entre les differents groupes juifs et non-juifs du quartier renforcant ainsi le controle social au sein de la "communaute" de la rue des rosiers. Toute cette analyse nous pousse a remettre en cause l'idee de la rue des rosiers comme ghetto. D'abord parceque derriere une coloration juive indiscutable, il y a une etonnante heterogeneite au sein des groupes juifs et de la population non-juive. Mais plus encore, a travers les reseaux divers qui constituent ce quartier nous touchons d'autres quartiers juifs a paris en banlieu et en province ainsi, que d'autres quartiers non-juifs. Nos reseaux nous amement aussi loin que new york et israel. Alors "communaute" qui, de par certains criteres bien precis mais "ghetto" en fait,non. Ce travail qui tient compte de la longue histoire de ce quartier est aussi le temoin d'un moment particulier de l'histoire de la communaute juive en france et des differentes vagues d'immigration. Il tente de saisir les traces d'un passe encore present et les signes d'un futur deja amorce.

Combining the use of various sociological and anthropological methods (life histories, participant-observation, network analysis), this study poses the problem of the relationship between urbain space and ethnic identity. Taking as example the neighborhood of the rue des rosiers in paris'4th arrondissement. The author studies how the various populations who have settled in the neighborhood have inscribed their jewish identity in the very stone around them, buildings, stores. And professions. In time, such a place becomes increasingly emotionally charged. Collective memories accumulate to the point that today, one can say the neighborhood of the rue des rosiers has become a depository for jewish identity. With its accompanying symbolic value for much of french jewry. This inscription of identity onto a neighborhood in turn serves as a framework, leaving its imprint on the social actors who live or work there. Influencing the interaction between the different groups. Jewish and non-jewish and thus reenforcing social control among the members of what we can call the "community" of the rue des rosiers. This study also brings into question the image of the neighborhood as a "ghetto". First of all, because in spite of its clearly jewish character, it remains remakably heterogeneous with respect to the different jewish as well as non-jewish groups of which it is composed. Furthermore, a look at the networks which function within and without the "communauty" show us to what extent the neighborhood is linked to other jewish and non-jewish neighborhood in paris, its sububbs, the provinces, even as far as new york and israel. Therefore, "communauty", yes, because of specific criteria which unite inhabitants and merchants, but "ghetto", no. This thesis tries to capture the rue des rosiers at a particular moment of its long history with regard to french jewry and the various immigrations it has known. It bears withness to a moment in which the past is still alive in the person of its oldest inhabitants and shopowners and the future has already begun to show its face in the image of the new shops and individuals who have begun to settle in the neighborhood.