{"id":38,"date":"2008-09-18T13:58:48","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T18:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/?p=38"},"modified":"2008-09-18T13:58:48","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T18:58:48","slug":"photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos of a French university in the rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I went to visit one of my possible fieldsites this summer, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.univ-paris8.fr\/\">University of Paris VIII Vincennes-St.-Denis<\/a>, only to find it closed and locked for August vacations. I had expected it to be empty, but I didn&#8217;t realize they would lock all doors and shut all gates (aside from a maintenance guy or two wandering around). There was an odd contradiction between the leftist slogans and signs and the colorful student graffiti, and the security-laden architecture &#8211; security cameras, barbed wire and all.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-38 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020840\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020840.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020793\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020793.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020794\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020794.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020798\/'><img width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020798.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020797\/'><img width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020797.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020807\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020807.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020809\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020809.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020815\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020815.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020818\/'><img width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020818.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020825\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020825.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020827\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020827.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020828\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020828.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020842\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020842.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2008\/09\/18\/photos-of-a-french-university-in-the-rain\/p1020843\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/p1020843.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>One philosophy professor described this place as &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ipt.univ-paris8.fr\/hist\/Brossat_banlieue.htm\">une universit\u00e9 de banlieue<\/a>&#8221; \u2014 the banlieue, suburbs, with their connotations of the ghetto. I like translating it as the &#8220;outskirts&#8221;:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Le soir, en hiver, les \u00e9tudiantes se regroupent pour aller prendre le bus ou le m\u00e9tro, \u00e0 la fin des cours qui s\u2019ach\u00e8vent apr\u00e8s la tomb\u00e9e de la nuit. Ce n\u2019est pas qu\u2019il r\u00e8gne dans les parages une ins\u00e9curit\u00e9 galopante, mais il y a ces r\u00e9flexes, ces habitudes. Les tranches horaires 19h-20h30 sont peu pris\u00e9es. On sent monter, vers la fin de ces cours, une sorte de nervosit\u00e9. Les \u00e9tudiants ont h\u00e2te de rentrer chez eux, ceux de Sarcelles, ceux de Stains, de Gagny, Noisy et autres bouts de lignes en premier lieu, qui sont en nombre constant.<\/p>\n<p>Paris VIII est une universit\u00e9 de banlieue.<\/p>\n<p>(In the evening, in winter, the students group themselves together to go take the bus or the metro, at the end of the classes that finish after nightfall. It&#8217;s not that rampant insecurity reigns in these parts, but there are those reflexes, those habits. The time slots from 7 to 8:30 are little taken. One feels emerging, towards the end of these courses, a sort of nervousness. The students are in a rush to get home,  especially those from Sarcelles, from Stains, from Gagny, Noisy, and other places at the ends of the lines, who are a constant presence.<\/p>\n<p>Paris VIII is a university of the outskirts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A university of the outskirts. I was tickled to see a slogan there that read: &#8220;A bas la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 spectaculaire marchande&#8221; (see last picture in series). In other words, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bopsecrets.org\/recent\/france2006.graffiti.htm\">down with commodity-spectacle society<\/a>.&#8221; I can&#8217;t imagine seeing such a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nothingness.org\/SI\/\">situationist<\/a> slogan on an American university wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I went to visit one of my possible fieldsites this summer, the University of Paris VIII Vincennes-St.-Denis, only to find it closed and locked for August vacations. I had expected it to be empty, but I didn&#8217;t realize they would lock all doors and shut all gates (aside from a maintenance guy or two wandering [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[488,495],"tags":[645,649],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}