Réparer dans la rue - La mécanique informelle dans les périphéries du Grand Paris

Abstract

This article focuses on street mechanics in the outskirts of Greater Paris. It explores how mechanics define and justify their activity in response to institutional discourse that often describes it as 'wild mechanics'. By observing the locations and times where car repairs are conducted, and by connecting them with garages and junkyards, we study the mechanics' gestures, know-how, and values associated with their trade. The professional practices, discourses, and aspirations of mechanics from the Ivory Coast, who are trying to establish themselves in the renewing suburbs of Paris, raise questions about the meaning of activity at the intersection of migratory paths and plural forms of relationship to work. This article is based on an ethnography conducted in Seine-Saint-Denis from 2015 to 2019, and interviews with institutional players and mechanics up to 2023. Additional surveys were conducted in Abidjan in 2023.

Keywords

• Labor
• Informality
• Street Mechanics
• Great Paris
• Abidjan