Intermediate bodies: mothers, neighbourhoods and the elastic welfare state in France
On 4 November Alice Daquin will be the next speaker for the Welfare Futures Seminar Series. In her talk Intermediate Bodies: Mothers, Neighbourhoods and the Elastic Welfare State in France she will explore how everyday actors such as mothers and local communities interact with and reshape state welfare structures, revealing the flexible, often invisible layers through which care, responsibility, and governance are negotiated in contemporary France.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Marseille, this talk examines everyday relations between the poor and the state through an underexplored intermediary: mothers. It traces the elastic presence of the welfare state in French suburbs, oscillating between neoliberal–securitarian withdrawal and participatory engagement. Within this context, certain mothers draw on their moral respectability, embodied presence, and intimate connections with neighbours to mediate interactions with public institutions. As everyday intermediaries, they circulate resources, translate bureaucratic logics, and act as spokeswomen between residents and the state. Frequently co-opted into local governance, they legitimise their engagement through a fragile ethic of maternal devotion—sometimes at the cost of personal exposure or disillusionment. By focusing on these gendered forms of mediation, this talk sheds light on how transformations of the welfare state are intertwined with the co-construction of political materialism in urban margins.
Bio Alice Daquin
Alice Daquin is a postdoctoral researcher in the Prototyping Welfare initiative directed by Anouk de Koning and based at the University of Amsterdam. She is a socio-anthropologist whose work focuses on the state, urban violence, and gender relations. Her research has examined youth participation in local policymaking, gendered mobilisations, the socio-spatial impact of the “war on drugs,” and political intermediation in French suburbs. She has recently published her doctoral thesis (Daquin, Alice. 2024. L’intermédiation aux marges de l’État. Une ethnographie du maternalisme politique dans un quartier populaire de Marseille. Phdthesis, Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement de Genève.), and an article on the spatial dispossession experienced by mothers through the war on drugs (Daquin, Alice. 2024. Dépossessions spatiales et négociations des mères au sein d’une cité marseillaise : pour une approche spatiale des rapports intersectionnels de pouvoir. Genre, sexualité & société, no 32 (novembre): 32.).
What
Alice Daquin, Intermediate bodies: mothers, neighbourhoods and the elastic welfare state in France
When
04 November, 15.30-17.00, followed by drinks @ CREA Café
Where
REC B5.12, Common Room Anthropology (Roeterseiland, B-building, 5th floor).
If you are not able to join in person, you can also follow the talk and discussion via the live stream.
Welfare Futures Seminar Upcoming Events
09 December 2025 - Rosie Read
10 February 2026 - TBA