Bartolome Bennassar traite de la question de "l'islam occidental", au travers d'un corpus littéraire espagnols.

*

* Illustration du générique : peinture-collage de Cyril Torres.

La France a-t-elle encore une identité géographique ? / Armand Frémont. Conférence-débat organisée dans le cadre des Mercredis de la connaissance et les Cafés géographiques à Toulouse, présentée par Bernard Charlery de la Masselière et animée par Robert Marconis, Université Toulouse- II-Le Mirail, 27 avril 2012.

*

* Illustration du générique : peinture-collage de Cyril Torres.

Juan Goytisolo évoque la question de "l'occidentalité nuancée de l'Espagne". À la coexistence entre maures, juifs et chrétiens, durant la période médiévale, marquée par des collaborations fécondes et des influences réciproques, succéda alors, dès la fin du XIVème siècle, une longue phase de persécution des minorités (expulsion des juifs dès 1492 et des morisques en 1609) et de mise à l'écart délibérée du legs culturel et identitaire de l'Espagne des trois religions.
Depuis la redécouverte par les romantiques, au XIXème siècle, des vestiges et des symboles de cette Espagne médiévale souvent idéalisée, et les vifs débats historiographiques, dès le milieu de ce même siècle, chez les arabisants et les médiévistes qui mettront plus tard en avant l'«orientalisation» ou, selon leurs positions, l'«occidentalité» d'al-Andalus, la question de l'héritage des « trois cultures » en Espagne n'a cessé, à des degrés divers, d'être inscrite au sein de stratégies et d'enjeux idéologiques et politiques, notamment avec le National-catholicisme.

*
* Illustration du générique : peinture-collage de Cyril Torres.

Texte de présentation du n°61 de la revue Horizon maghrébins

Les sept siècles de présence musulmane en Espagne, de 711 à 1492, ont profondément marqué la réalité historique et culturelle de la Péninsule ibérique en rendant possible l'émergence d'une civilisation, celle d'al-Andalus – terme utilisé par les auteurs arabes du Moyen Âge pour désigner l'Espagne musulmane. Les grandes réalisations architecturales, comme la mosquée de Cordoue et l'Alhambra de Grenade, mais aussi l'art mudéjar et, dans le domaine intellectuel, la pensée d'Averroès et celle de Maïmonide, constituent des oeuvres essentielles de l'héritage d'al-Andalus. La Reconquête chrétienne, culminant avec la prise de Grenade par les Rois catholiques en 1492, ouvrit une période sombre placée sous le signe de l'unification politico-religieuse qui tendit à faire disparaître les témoignages et les apports de cet héritage et à soumettre, par la violence et la conversion forcée, les communautés (celle des juifs convertis et des morisques) parties intégrante de ce que l'on appelle depuis le milieu du XXème siècle l'Espagne des « trois cultures ».

À la coexistence limitée entre maures, juifs et chrétiens, durant la période médiévale, marquée par des collaborations fécondes et des influences réciproques, succéda alors, dès la fin du XIVème siècle, une longue phase de persécution des minorités (expulsion des juifs dès 1492 et des morisques en 1609) et de mise à l'écart délibérée du legs culturel et identitaire de l'Espagne des trois religions. Depuis la redécouverte par les romantiques, au XIXème siècle, des vestiges et des symboles de cette Espagne médiévale souvent idéalisée, et les vifs débats historiographiques, dès le milieu de ce même siècle, chez les arabisants et les médiévistes qui mettront plus tard en avant l'«orientalisation» ou, selon leurs positions, l'«occidentalité» d'al-Andalus, la question de l'héritage des « trois cultures » en Espagne n'a cessé, à des degrés divers, d'être inscrite au sein de stratégies et d'enjeux idéologiques et politiques. Ces derniers sont présents dans les discussions suscitées par l'entreprise de restauration de l'architecture de cette époque, mais également dans les différentes utilisations des recherches archéologiques qui permettent parfois d'appuyer le travail des historiens pour établir certains faits en s'opposant à l'effacement de ce passé.

La question des « trois cultures » en Espagne a ainsi occupé, ces trente dernières années, une place décisive dans les confrontations entre historiens spécialistes de ce champ d'études, mais aussi dans les pratiques culturelles liées à la commémoration de cet héritage parfois valorisé par certaines communautés autonomes (en Andalousie notamment) et, enfin, dans le domaine de la création artistique par son retour à la diversité d'une tradition culturelle dont la « modernité » est continuellement explorée. Sur ce plan artistique, les phénomènes de métissage montrent la vitalité de cet héritage sur les deux rives de la méditerranée comme en témoignent, par exemple, les formes de renouvellement de la musique arabo-andalouse. Héritage contrasté, occulté, redécouvert et réapproprié, l'Espagne des « trois cultures » est indissociable d'une histoire conflictuelle dont la meilleure compréhension peut néanmoins redéfinir les lignes de clivage pour mettre en lumière le rôle et l'influence de cet héritage pluriel, comme lieu de dialogue et d'échange socioculturel, dans l'espace euro-méditerranéen.

Antoine Culioli explique la manière dont il appréhende et manie certains concepts qu'il utilise dans ses recherches théoriques sur la communication, notamment au regard de certains courants linguistiques (référentialisme, représentationnalisme...). Il apporte ainsi des précisions sur les notions de "valeur référentielle" versus "référent", "énonciateur" et "locuteur". Interrogé sur des aspects précis de sa théorie de l'énonciation, par exemple sur les "propriétés et les relations primitives", Antoine Culioli développe une argumentation qui révèlent par ailleurs sa démarche scientifique en tant que chercheur en linguistique et sa détermination à ne pas séparer la linguistique de la syntaxe, la sémantique, la logique, la rhétorique, la grammaire ou bien encore des aspects anthropologiques.

Renouer avec la chaîne vertueuse de l'alimentation / Carlo Petrini. Conférence organisée par le Centre d'Études du Tourisme, de l'Hôtellerie et des Industries de l'Alimentation (CETIA) de l'Université Toulouse II-Le Mirail et le Centre d'Étude et de Recherche Travail, Organisation, Pouvoir (CERTOP / UTM-CNRS). Présentation par Jean-Pierre Poulain, professeur de sociologie au CETIA. Toulouse : Université Toulouse II-Le Mirail, 25 novembre 2011.

> Les communications suivies d'un débat avec l'auditoire.

Over the last decade, Australian social housing policy has continued to move away from a traditional hierarchical public housing model. The not-for-profit sector has expanded through the introduction of private finance, a tax credit scheme, stock transfers, planning incentives and an economic stimulus package. This plenary presentation examines the diverse ways in which leading not-for-profit providers in Australia have responded to these opportunities, using the concept of organisational hybridity, based on principal ownership developed by Billis. Coverage includes both housing providers and other emergent third sector organisations that include finance consolidators, development consortia and cross-subsidisation vehicles. Reasons for the development of these types of hybrid organisation, including two types of enacted hybrid, are explored including the role of housing policy and institutional settings and choice of financing levers. The presentation aims to assess what this variety of organisations reveals about the characteristics of the Australian housing sector, and the implications for future policy settings.

The first plenary session will go on to question the foundations of the concept of diversity. What are the possible definitions ? How can we come to terms with the fact that currently, diversity so forcibly structures public discourse and action in the field of housing and habitat ? What does diversity encompass ? How can we measure it? What is its goal ? Leaving aside the fact that one can question the very substance of the notion of diversity, we must shed light on its ideological underpinnings in order to better understand the controversy it elicits in academic circles. The relevance of diversity in terms of the problems it is meant to address seems indeed to be scrutinized in regards to the values and political models of the societies that choose to use this concept.

Si les chercheurs expriment bien des réserves sur une sorte d'idéal de la mixité qui serait censé porter remède aux maux qui frappent les sociétés contemporaines (ségrégation, ghettoïsation, rupture du lien social), ils s'interrogent également sur la dimension normative ou prescriptive de l'injonction à la mixité sociale qui inspire un certain nombre de dispositions des politiques publiques.Mobiliser les réflexions de chercheurs venant de plus de 50 pays différents et les mettre en débat n'est pas sans intérêt tant il existe des conceptions différenciées du vivre ensemble et du statut à donner ou reconnaître à la diversité.

> La traduction consécutive des discours d'ouverture, du français à l'anglais, est assurée par Mme Solange Hibbs (directrice du Département Centre de Traduction, d'Interprétation et de Médiation linguistique (CETIM) de l'université Toulouse II-Le Mirail et membre de l'Association Internationale des Interprètes de Conférence-AIIC).

Social mix is a powerful category of housing and urban policies in France. The idea that urban and social diversity is a condition for a “balanced” and “peaceful” city life is not new and almost as old as urban planning and social housing. But, the strength of this notion has increased since the middle of the 1990’s. As in other countries, (the French) national government and local authorities consider social mix as a condition for community cohesion and social inclusion, a sort of public answer to poverty and ethnic concentration in cities and more recently, as a principle for sustainable development and territorial equality (Fenton, Turnstall, 2006). As in other countries as well, housing and especially social housing on one hand, area-based policies on the other hand, are the main public tools for implementing social mix strategies. In 2003, an ambitious urban renewal programme, focused on deprived neighbourhoods and based on housing diversification, followed up the debate about perverse effects of social mix strategies applied to poor areas.
- Are urban renewal strategies successfull at diversifying housing and population in the neighbourhoods ?
- Does social diversification mean more social capital and social interactions in the neighbourhoods ?
- What are the benefits from urban renewal for the inhabitants, the “outsiders” and the “managers” of those neighbourhoods ?
The findings from research conducted since 2004 highlight two mains processes of change: re-clustering and fragmentation (Lelévrier, 2010). Those urban and social effects could be seen as paradoxical ones, in reference to social mix public attempts, proceeding from a holistic and dualistic spatial representation of the city and the neighbourhood: instead of mixing, urban renewal just displaces poverty and instead of reenforcing cohesion, it enhances boundaries and distance between social groups. But the assessment could be different if the new private small residences are the opportunity for the “neighbourhoods children”, part of them coming from the immigrant families, to upgrade their residential careers and stay in the familiar neighbourhood while being able to keep social distance… Those changes encountered not national but local social housing managers -a way to stabilize “good tenants”, as well as private one- a way to endow their investments.

Now that New Labour’s era of urban renaissance in the UK has hit the buffers of both an economic downturn and a change of government it is time to reflect on the urban injustices it has left in its wake. In this paper I focus on the urban injustices that have been practiced on the Aylesbury Estate in London. I look at how the sociomateriality of the Aylesbury was discursively constructed by those with power in order to further their goals of regeneration, that is state-led gentrification, into a new ‘mixed income’, new-build community. I question the truth claims that have been made about the Aylesbury as a ‘sink estate’ and argue that they served dominant interests. I look at how choices have been closed down for the estate’s residents and how their support for the regeneration programme has been misrepresented.
In so doing I expose a variety of unjust practices that have been, and are being, enacted on the Aylesbury Estate. But importantly I look at what the residents think about the whole process (seeking alternative knowledges, imaginaries, logics) and how they are resisting dominant interests and practices. In so doing I question not just the policy of mixed communities (the new urban renewal) but also the way that it has been forced upon low income communities.

This session will address the following questions: How are the concepts of social mixity / ‘mixité’ and social mix implemented in different contexts and by which categories of stakeholders? What representations of the society and the city do they reflect? How do market logics support or constrain policies objectives? How and to what extent do urban practices contribute to ‘mixité’ or on the contrary, to what extent do they reinforce sociospatial disparities?

U.S. nonprofit housing organizations strive to meet the Quadruple Bottom Line, which encompasses the challenges presented by the private market, while serving targeted resident groups and neighborhoods, in an environmentally responsible manner. The paper assesses the extent to which a framework developed by Czischke, Gruis and Mullins captures the activities of U.S. nonprofit housing organizations. Further, given the workings of the private housing market, it examines the shared and conflicting values of U.S. nonprofit housing organizations and how the various components of the Quadruple Bottom Line interact with one another. This should contribute to a better understanding of why hybridization is a defining characteristic of the U.S. nonprofit social housing sector and to clearer policy directions.

Social mix has been a goal of urban planning since long time, from the the Cadbury (Bournville) estate at the end of the 19th century up to programs in the early 21st century. These programs aim at improving or establishing neighbourhood opportunity structures by modifying the social composition of residents. In order to achieve this goal, the structure is supposed to change from state A to a desired state A’ by implementing specific measures. In terms of social science methodology, this measure is an application of an empirical law. The measure ”If more homes to buy are offered, this will attract upper middle class households to the neighbourhood” rest upon the empirical evidence of a high propensity of middle class households to become homeowners. More generally speaking, programs aim at planning social behavior. Based upon this methodological reasoning, the paper assesses social mix programs in several countries, among them Australia, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The analyses pertain to a) the type of social mix to be achieved, b) the measure suggested to achieve this goal, c) the empirical evidence for the implicit propositions. The major conclusions derived from the inspection of social mix programs are: social mix is not specified precisely (dimensions? share of which groups?), and many propositions on household behaviour rest upon shaky empirical evidence. Thus, the feasibility of planning social mix is overestimated.

This plenary presentation is based on a critical conceptual review of existing models of social enterprise in Europe undertaken for Housing Studies. A classification system for social enterprise was developed to reflect the specific features of the social housing sector as framework for research. Drawing on cases studies in the Netherlands and England using the above framework this presentation goes on to explore the impact of recent policy and economic change on the positioning of housing organisations between the state, market and community. In the face of policies that both stress and/or question the role of third sector actors in social and affordable housing delivery, the presentation will discuss the ways in which these actors are responding to current financial and regulatory challenges. Finally it will raise the question of whether social enterprise should be restricted or promoted in the current economic and policy context.

‘Social mixing’ has been embraced by several governments as a remedy for urban social problems, or perhaps as an instrument to address other urban issues as well. It has become a part of strategies to ‘restructure’, ‘revitalize’ and ‘regenerate’ urban areas. However, social mixing initiatives, and the urban poverty discourse to which these initiatives are connected, have also been subject to substantial critiques. Many academics have challenged the assumptions underlying social mixing strategies, as well as the way social mix policies are expected to translate into positive outcomes for residents. There is also criticism focused on not paying attention to the negative sides of social mixing, to broken social networks, spillover effects, and the populations that become excluded from ‘socially mixed neighbourhoods’. Nevertheless, there also is a body of academic literature that is taken very seriously, which shows or advocates that there indeed seem to be positive impacts of social mix strategies. Various recent large-scale neighbourhood effect studies support these viewpoints. These studies argue that living among poor people perpetuates individual poverty, whereas middle-class neighbours provide benefits. These findings thus seem to justify policy efforts to intervene in the social makeup of poor neighbourhoods. This "paper" reflects on these contrasting views, opinions, and findings and tries to find the answer to the question what the ‘right balance’ actually is.