Vol. 16 No. 2 (2025):
Research Article

Memory-Place Networks: Revolutionary Heritage and Multi-cultural Belonging in Paris’s Belleville

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John Strait
Department of Environmental & Geosciences, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA
Paris
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.j.str.16.2.436.453
Categories

Published 2025-12-24

Keywords

  • Memory-place networks,
  • urban studies,
  • cultural geography,
  • transnational memory,
  • place,
  • Paris
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Strait, John. 2025. “Memory-Place Networks: Revolutionary Heritage and Multi-Cultural Belonging in Paris’s Belleville”. European Journal of Geography 16 (2):436-53. https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.j.str.16.2.436.453.

Copyright (c) 2025 John Strait

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Received 2025-10-10
Accepted 2025-12-21
Published 2025-12-24

Abstract

Cultural geographers and memory studies scholars increasingly recognize that local places function as crucial nodes in transnational networks of meaning and identity. This paper develops the concept of “memory-place networks” to analyze the circulation, transformation, and contestation of memory in urban spaces. Such networks form through the layering of historical meanings and their reactivation across time, linking local practices to broader transnational narratives. I examine Belleville, a historically working-class neighborhood in northeast Paris long associated with revolutionary traditions and cultural diversity. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I examine how Belleville sediments past struggles, translates them into contemporary forms, and circulates them through cultural practices and urban spaces. By linking transnational memory studies with cultural geography, the paper advances an interdisciplinary framework for understanding how memory is both anchored in place and mobilized across scales. It argues that memory-place networks not only preserve geographies but also actively shape urban change, cultural identities, and the politics of belonging in a globalized city.

Highlights:

  • Memory-place networks link local urban spaces to transnational flows of meaning.
  • Belleville demonstrates how revolutionary heritage adapts to multicultural change.
  • Memorial gentrification preserves cultural forms while displacing communities.
  • Democratic memorial practices create inclusive spaces for neighborhood solidarity.
  • Ethnographic methods reveal how memory circulates through everyday urban life.

 

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