To Patrimonialize Immigration through Testimonies: Stakes and Obstacles

This research is based on a fieldwork conducted on a particular cultural institution: the Rize in Villeurbanne. We consider the contribution of a municipal institution in providing a permanent and singular qualification to migrant groups’ memories through testimonies and oral archives. The issue of testimony is dealt with through the way the institution builds it, compared with the witnesses’ actual words, so that the stakes and possible discrepancies about collective memory and its possible patrimonialization may be identified.