Dr Joséphine Lécuyer | Doktorandin Stipendiatin

Former Member
Mobilities, Migrations, Reconfiguration of Spaces
Centre Marc Bloch, Friedrichstraße 191, D-10117 Berlin
Email: josephine.lecuyer  ( at )  univ-orleans.fr
Website: https://geographie-cites.cnrs.fr/membres/josephine-lecuyer/

Home Institution : Université d'Orléans | Position : Associated Researcher | Disciplines : Geography |

Biography
  • Since 2023: associated professor, University of Orléans
  • 2017-2022 : PhD (Geography), University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
  • 2017 : Master in German Studies, University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle
  • 2016 : Master in Geographie, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
CV File
Scholarship
  • 2019 : DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), Greifswald University
  • 2018 : CIERA (Centre Interdisciplinaires d’Etudes et de Recherches sur l’Allemagne)
  • 2017-2020 : Doctoral contract, Ecole Doctorale de Géographie de Paris, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Researchtopic

Shrinking - Peripheralization

Local development - the interplay of stakeholders

Innovation - alternative development strategies

Eastern Germany - New Länder

Social geography

Rural geography

Title of thesis
COUNTERING PERIPHERALIZATION. Public policies and local development strategies in rural areas of eastern Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Summary of thesis

The objective of this research is to analyze the logics, projects and actors of local development in German rural areas, marked by demographic and economic decline, and the «peripherization» (Peripherisierung). The aim is to analyse to what extent the decline could be less a hindrance to local development than a framework conducive to the affirmation of alternative or even innovative logics in German rural areas and, more particularly, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a Land marked by rurality and very pronounced socio-economic and demographic fragilities.

Institution of thesis
Centre Marc Bloch
Supervisor
Christophe Quéva, Claude Grasland
Projects

2024-2027: Member of the ANR-DFG Franco-German DIVSky project: " A sky still divided? Interdependencies and asymmetries along the former inter-German border".

2023-2024: Franco-German PHC Hubert Curien Future Narratives of Small Towns, UMR Territoires and Institut für Stadtsplanung BTU Cottbus

2019-2020 : Programme Formation Recherche du CIERA, "Un ciel toujours partagé ? Sociétés et territoires allemands de l’Est et de l’Ouest, trente ans après la Réunification", Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin), Géographie-cités - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Centre B/Orders in motion de l’Université Viadrina (Francfort sur l’Oder)

since 2018 : Membre du groupe de travail "Relations villes-campagnes" du LabEx DynamiTe

DIVSky: Still a divided sky? Interdependencies and asymmetries along the former inter-German border.

The DIVSky project is looking at the impact of borders and their transformations on the life experiences of people living in areas on either side of the former inter-German border, between Thuringia in the east and Bavaria and Hesse in the west.

The DIVSky project focuses on the impact of borders and their transformations on the life experiences of people living in territories located on either side of the former inter-German border, between Thuringia in the east, and Bavaria and Hesse in the west. It draws on the contributions of three disciplines: geography, sociology and social anthropology.
Reunification erased the geopolitical border between the GDR and the FRG, transforming it into a border between the Länder, whose materialization remains discreet. The populations of these territories, who had lived on the bangs of the FRG and GDR, suddenly found themselves at the heart of Germany. The reorganization of employment areas and the development of infrastructures, particularly roads, have encouraged mobility.
In these former border regions, the economic and social transformations experienced on the West side were also more marked than in other parts of the FRG, while on the East side, on the contrary, some of the difficulties associated with reunification proved less acute, thanks to easier access to the West German labor market.

In these former border regions, the economic and social transformations experienced on the West side were also more marked than in other parts of West Germany, while on the East side, on the contrary, some of the difficulties associated with reunification proved less significant, thanks to easier access to the West German labor market.
The DIVSky project aims to analyse these transformation dynamics in greater depth, thirty years and therefore one generation after reunification. The aim is to characterize the processes at play since 1989, which have been referred to as "convergence", "integration" or, more recently, "co-transformation" (Ther, 2019, 2022).
To what extent does the former border between GDR and FRG continue to manifest itself in the daily lives of the inhabitants of these (mostly) rural areas? How are residents' movements organized today? How are their territorial roots defined? In what form is the past evoked today, and to what extent does it remain "present" not only in stories, but also in social, family and friendship practices? How does it help shape aspirations and relationships with the future on both sides of the old border?