Arfaoui, Rafik

The Reception of refugees outside cities: between territorial fragility and rural cosmopolitanism - 2025.


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Over the past fifty years, rural areas have undergone significant diversification, reflecting profound sociospatial transformations driven by immigration. In migration studies, the past decade has seen a growing recognition of the role rural territories play in the implementation of national refugee reception policies. This article seeks to explore how the recent arrival of refugees contributes to the emergence of rural cosmopolitanism in non-metropolitan areas.1 What forms does this cosmopolitanism take? What are the challenges and contradictions it entails? To address these questions, we examine the diversity of actions and discourses among local stakeholders relating to recently resettled refugees, paying particular attention to residents and civil society actors.