Gentrified, Euro-Mediterranean, Arabic? Situating Mediterranean Locations along a Street in Marseille

In scientific literature and public discourse, Marseille is regularly depicted as fundamentally Mediterranean. While this is not grounds for assuming Marseille is Mediterranean, I argue that evocations of the Mediterranean in relation to Marseille need to be taken seriously. I suggest that examining urban dynamics in Marseille through a relational ‘Mediterranean lens’ can offer new perspectives on the production of socio-spatial difference in that city. To make my case, I draw on observations of three eateries situated along one long street that joins the docks to the city centre. By grounding the analysis along this diverse street, it is possible to move beyond sweeping generalisations about people or places, while allowing the processes shaping unequal socio-spatial relations in Marseille – including ones that can be associated with ‘gentrifying’, ‘Euro-Mediterranean’, and ‘Arabic’ Mediterranean identities – to come more sharply into focus.