Constructing belonging: children and grand-children of immigrants in the suburbs of Madrid and Paris Markus González

Abstract

This paper uses a banlieue in Paris and a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Madrid to analyse the role of civic and religious association networks in the construction of the social belonging of young people of Maghrebi and Sub-Saharan origin living there. Four differences are noted between the two contexts that affect the way young people define their sense of belonging: the first is the isolation of the neighbourhoods from the city and the Islamophobia perceived by the young people; the second is the contact with other ethnic groups in the neighbourhoods; the third concerns the state’s investment in these urban areas; and the fourth relates to the existence or otherwise of intermediate spaces of youth participation and collaboration between ethnic, religious and secular structures. Finally, the study provides some conclusions.

Keywords

• Madrid
• Paris; Young people of Maghrebi and Sub-Saharan origin
• Paris
• Young people of Maghrebi and Sub-Saharan origin
• Social belonging
• Ethnic segregation
• Civil society
• Precariousness
• Social participation