Myriam Ouelette
Myriam Ouellet is a PhD candidate at Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne (France) and Université Laval (Quebec). Her thesis mobilizes a Lefebvrian approach of urban studies to propose an overcoming of the category of “migrants” within the field of migration studies.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in an alternative associative space in Île-de-France, where various forms of urban marginality—both migrant and non-migrant—interact daily, this research draws on notions of “difference” (Lefebvre 1970) and “the social production of space” (Lefebvre 1974) to examine the contradictions inherent in the spatial practices of marginalized groups coexisting in a space that resists capitalist-driven social and spatial exclusion that prevail in the Paris metropolis.
Rather than differentiating based on administrative categories or ethnic criteria that define a “migrant identity,” the analysis focuses on the positioning of different groups in relation to modern capitalism, to better understand the critique they produce of it. By moving beyond the classical dichotomy that structures migration studies, the findings demonstrate the methodological relevance of a differentialist approach (Lefebvre 1974) to de-migranticize the field of migration studies (Dahinden 2016).
Last publications
- Bélanger, D., Ouellet, M., Coustere, C., et Fleury, C. (2023) « Staggered inclusion: between temporary and permanent immigration status in Quebec, Canada ». Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 1-14.
- Ouellet, M., & Bélanger, D. (2022) Classe sociale et contexte d’asile : les parcours d’exil réfugié.es syrien.ne.s réinstallé.es au Canada. Refuge, 38(2), 1-19.
- Bélanger, D., Ouellet, M., et Saraçoğlu, C. (2021) « Syrian Trajectories of Exile in Lebanon and Turkey: Context of Reception and Social Class ». Population, Space and Place. Special Issue Paper, 36 pp.