Events

Rosemary WAKEMAN - The Heroic City: Paris, 1945-1958

Created by Frédéric Viguier (See other events)
  • Sep 22, 2010 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm
  • Location: La Maison française of New York University
  • Latest Activity: Aug 21, 2019
Rosemary Wakeman is a professor of History and the director of the Urban Studies program at Fordham University. She is the author of The Heroic City: Paris 1945-1958 (2009) and Modernizing the Provincial City: Toulouse 1945-1975 (1998). She writes regularly for the Revue Urbanisme, most recently an article on the New York mega-region. She has published numerous articles on urban history and on cities, including a recent special issue of French Politics, Culture & Society on “The Renovation of Les Halles” in Paris. She is also co-editor of the Metropolitan Studies series published by Berghahn Books.Abstract:The Heroic City is an account of the fate of Paris’s public spaces in the years following Nazi occupation and joyful liberation. Countering the traditional narrative that Paris’s public landscape became sterile and dehumanized in the 1940s and ’50s, Rosemary Wakeman instead finds that the city’s streets overflowed with ritual, drama, and spectacle. With frequent strikes and protests, young people and students on parade, North Africans arriving in the capital of the French empire, and radio and television shows broadcast live from the streets, Paris continued to be vital terrain. Wakeman analyzes the public life of the city from a variety of perspectives. A reemergence of traditional customs led to the return of festivals, street dances, and fun fairs, while violent protests and political marches, the housing crisis, and the struggle over decolonization signaled the political realities of postwar France. The work of urban planners and architects, the output of filmmakers and intellectuals, and the day-to-day experiences of residents from all walks of life come together in this vibrant portrait of a flamboyant and transformative moment in the life of the City of Light.
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