Marseille: Postcolonial Tour in the Footsteps of the Empire｜France

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Marseilles elite presented the city as the "capital" of the French Empire. Today, the traces of this heritage are inscribed in stone, omnipresent, but unreadable without a live guide to reveal them.

Our route winds from the bottom to the top of La Canebière, the most famous avenue in Marseille, and ends at the foot of the monumental stairs of the Saint-Charles train station. Through a dozen monuments, sculptures, plaques, and buildings, whose current use is often unusual, I will tell you the history of the French colonial empire from its main harbor.

My style is decidedly interactive: get ready to answer my questions and solve my riddles! I rely on numerous visual aids, including portraits of figures associated with the various places, to bring the story to life. But also maps, reproductions of old posters, and period postcards.

Together, we will unravel a tangle of events, practices, and representations that spans five centuries and five continents. "The long history with long tentacles," as the writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, winner of the 2021 Goncourt Prize, calls it. But we will also reflect on how coloniality permeates the present.

Want more information?

Reviews on Google Maps: type Mars et l'empire in the browser.
And on Instagram: @mars_et_lempire

Want a taste of the walk?

Read the article "Marseille. Sur les traces de l'empire colonial" (in French, English, and Italian) that I wrote (Selim El Meddeb). I provide an overview of the collectives that have recently mobilized on issues of (post)colonial memory in Marseille.

See you soon on Mars and the Empire,