Everyday consumption habits play a vital role in community healing following terrorist attacks, finds new research from NEOMA Business School.

Researchers Amy Greiner Fehl and Mariann Györke conducted a seven-year-long ethnographic study in the neighbourhoods affected by the 13 November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, highlighting the role of cafes and restaurants in particular.

They find that local businesses provide a literal and figurative space for community members to come together and rediscover a sense of belonging through their shared consumption habits based on the cultural significance of these activities.

The researchers also analysed the Paris city archives of the objects left at the memorials for the attacks to deepen their understanding of the symbolic significance of public spaces. This extended follow-up enabled the researchers to capture the subtle evolution of the dynamics between restoring social bonds, commemorative practices, and communal spaces.

Fehl and Györke identify two stages in the return to public places. The first is characterised by a spontaneous desire to be together and recreate connections; the second is a more integrative phase where consumption acquires new meaning.

Going to ‘your’ café becomes an affirmation of belonging to a community, and ordering a drink becomes a way of contributing to the shared memory of the neighbourhood. This type of consumption solidarity supports healing and overcoming shared trauma.

The study highlights, moreover, that solidarity is not the sole province of the state or institutions; it also emerges in everyday gestures.

The findings could prompt local and national governments to rethink community support efforts in the wake of terrorist attacks, suggesting that the restoration of community spaces where people can gather and rebuild connections should be a central policy concern.