The 13/11 Program: Transdisciplinary Research Program on November 13: Understanding and Preserving the Memory of the Attacks
This is a transdisciplinary research program aimed at studying the formation and evolution of memory in the wake of the November 13, 2015, attacks.
Background
The attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris and Saint-Denis, as well as the events of November 18 in Saint-Denis, were traumatic for the victims, their loved ones, and French society as a whole.
What remains in our memories today, and what will become of this narrative in 10 years? To understand this, the CNRS, Inserm, and héSam have launched the transdisciplinary research program 13-Novembre, whose objective is to study the construction and evolution of memory following the attacks of November 13, 2015.
A world first
Led by historian Denis Peschanski and neuropsychologist Francis Eustache, this transdisciplinary program is based on the idea that it is impossible to fully understand the dynamics of individual memory without taking collective memory into account. It is a world first in terms of its scope, duration, and the use of video recordings.
As part of the 1000 Study, mediators, interviewers, and researchers will collect and analyze the testimonies of a group of 1,000 volunteers during four rounds of filmed interviews spread over 10 years. Ideally, the same individuals will be interviewed four times: in 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2026.
The 2016 and 2018 rounds were successfully completed, with 934 interviews in the first phase and 839 in the second.
Volunteers
Because we all carry memories, anyone wishing to share their story—whether they were directly or indirectly affected by the attacks—is invited to participate in the program. To create the most comprehensive and diverse collection of testimonies possible, volunteers are divided into four groups:
Circle 1: survivors, witnesses, relatives, and first responders (police, military, doctors, Red Cross, etc.)
Circle 2: residents and regular visitors to the targeted neighborhoods—whether in the 10th, 11th, or Saint-Denis—including those who live there, those who work there, and those who visit regularly for leisure
Circle 3: residents of other Parisian neighborhoods and the Île-de-France region
Circle 4: residents of two cities outside the Île-de-France region—Caen, Metz, and Montpellier
Collecting Testimonials
Testimonials from volunteers in the Paris region are collected by a team of researchers at the INA studios in Bry-sur-Marne. ECPAD teams conduct interviews in the regions, as well as interviews with decision-makers and stakeholders. The protocol for these filmed interviews will remain strictly confidential for the 12 years of the program, so as not to skew the study’s results. The videos of the filmed interviews are exclusively dedicated to scientific research.
Between the various interview campaigns, the researchers’ work will begin. Individual testimonies will be contextualized alongside traces of collective memory as it has been constructed over the years: television and radio news broadcasts, newspaper articles, social media reactions, texts and images from commemorations…
Furthermore, to understand the effects of a traumatic event on the brain’s structures and functioning, researchers based in Caen are studying neurobiological markers of resilience to trauma in a subgroup of 180 people. This study is titled REMEMBER and is ancillary to the 1000 Study. The researchers are particularly interested in the ability to combat intrusive thoughts and images—those that impose themselves and from which one cannot detach.
A Project on Memory
This program draws inspiration from work conducted in recent years on the memories of World War II and September 11, 2001, and in particular from the MATRICE technology platform. The memory of these events is an essential element in the construction of both individual and collective identity. Similarly, the memory of the November 13 attacks is helping to shape—and will continue to shape—the society of tomorrow. It is the role of scientific research to analyze these phenomena so that we can better understand and come to terms with them. For the researchers involved, this is a form of civic engagement. There is also a heritage dimension: the goal is to preserve and pass on the memory of the November 13 attacks.
To participate: participation@memoire13novembre.fr
Results
Led by the CNRS in partnership with the INA and ECPAD, the primary objective of the 1000 Study is to collect and analyze the testimonies of 1,000 people through four rounds of filmed interviews, conducted in 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2026. The study aims for a sufficiently diverse sample to create the most comprehensive and multifaceted map of testimonies possible, divided into: Circle 1 (People directly exposed to the attacks), Circle 2 (Residents and users of the targeted neighborhoods), Circle 3 (Residents of outlying neighborhoods and suburbs), Circle 4 (Residents of Caen, Metz, and Montpellier)
As of April 2, 2019, Phases 1 and 2 have been completed, and the collected data is currently being analyzed. These results confirm the premise that longitudinal follow-up of a cohort of volunteers over ten years offers tremendous research opportunities. Phase 1 (October 2017 – April 2018): 934 testimonials were collected, representing 1,431 hours of interviews. Phase 2 (May 2018 – December 2018): As of June 30, 2019, 839 interviews had been conducted. Of all the interviews conducted, the attrition rate (the proportion of volunteers who did not return) is only 23%.
Sponsored by Inserm, the REMEMBER study—which stands for “Resilience and Modification of brain control network following November 13”—is a longitudinal study using brain imaging, neuropsychology, and psychopathology to examine the consequences of a traumatic event. A fundamental objective of this study, which spans a period of 7 years, is therefore to understand why some individuals who experienced the November 13 attack are able to overcome this trauma while others are not—or at least find it more difficult to do so—by identifying the neurofunctional markers predictive of such resilience and their temporal evolution.
Analysis of the data collected at Time T1 (June 13, 2016 – June 7, 2017) is ongoing. Participant recruitment and data collection for Time T2 took place in Caen from June 2, 2018, to June 30, 2019. In total, 91% of the initial participants were seen a second time by the Caen teams.
Initial results confirm the importance of the nature of the traumatic exposure, immediate physical reactions, narrativity, social support, and certain habitual modes of reactivity in the onset and progression of psychological disorders.
For more than forty years, CRÉDOC’s biannual “Living Conditions and Aspirations” survey has polled a representative sample of the French population selected using the quota method. Eleven questions were developed in collaboration with partners of the November 13 Program regarding the perception and remembrance of the November 13, 2015, attacks and were included starting in June 2016. This partnership allows for a highly objective and representative observation of how the memory of the November 13, 2015, attacks has evolved within French society.
Nearly three years after the events, memories of the circumstances in which people first learned the news remain vivid, a sign of a profound emotional shock, which explains why the event now serves as a temporal marker between a “before” and an “after” November 13, much like September 11 in the United States. Regarding the locations where the attacks took place, the Bataclan remains the first to be mentioned. These initial findings will be followed up in 2021 and 2026.
Led by the University of Paris 1, this study aims to analyze how the 2015 terrorist attacks are remembered and how they are recounted by various stakeholders in the education system, primarily those working in the academic districts of the Île-de-France region. The research methodology is based on audio recordings of approximately 100 semi-structured interviews.
One of the main focuses of this study conducted by Paris 3 is to analyze the construction of memories themselves and to examine how memories shape and reshape groups of belonging and reference. The study initially focuses on writings about November 13—testimonies and records, fiction, plays, and poems—and then broadens its perspective by adopting a comparative approach that places the writings about November 13 in the context of those regarding other attacks.
Whether through changes in viewership of 24-hour news channels or in how individuals use various social media platforms, the media’s voice shapes the landscape of memory just as much as it reflects its evolution. The INA has thus captured, archived, and analyzed a specific, indexed corpus of tweets regarding the Charlie Hebdo and November 13 attacks. Similarly, the INA has observed and compared how French television networks covered the attacks in January and November 2015. These are all avenues and resources to be explored in the years to come.
