Scientific Resources

Published on

26th June 2026

updated on

6th July 2026

Nice : ten years later

Psychological Trauma

Florence Askenazy, L. Chauvelin, Morgane Gindt, Susanne Thümmler, « Réponse pédopsychiatrique d’urgence à la suite de l’attentat terroriste du 14 juillet 2016 à Nice, en France », Archives de pédiatrie : organe officiel de la Société française de pédiatrie, Vol. 24, n°12, décembre 2017, pp. 1220-1227.
Valérie Bonnard-Couton, Sarah Raymond, Sandrine Bedu, Michèle Battista, Florence Askenazy, « Approche sensorielle du psychotraumatisme auprès de jeunes enfants victimes de l’attentat de Nice du 14 juillet 2016 : de la réactivité à la régulation », La psychiatrie de l’enfant, Vol. 62, n°2, 2019, pp. 351-367 :

On July 14, 2016, the city of Nice was the scene of a terrorist attack of extreme magnitude. This collective traumatic event necessitated the implementation, within child and adolescent psychiatry, of a specific care program for psychotrauma, tailored to a population of young children. Because the impact of “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD)—on the neurocognitive, emotional, and sensorimotor levels—disrupts the developmental trajectory of young children, a rapid therapeutic response was necessary. A sensory-mediated therapy group was thus created to restart the process of sensory integration and regulation in this context of developmental disruption linked to psychotrauma.

Victims and Anti-Terrorism Justice

Janna Behel, « Être une « bonne » victime ou dire sa colère : le risque d’une éviction mémorielle : Les parties civiles du procès de l’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 à Nice », Questions de communication, n°47, 2025, pp. 117-142 :

Couverture du livre éMémorialiser les attentats de Paris du 13 novembre 2015"

Many of the civil parties in the trial regarding the July 14, 2016, attack in Nice lamented the lack of media coverage during the month set aside for their testimony. The socio-spatial distance between Paris and Nice was highlighted: the victims from Nice were not given enough attention to spark media interest or be remembered. This article seeks to deconstruct the notion of homogeneity among the victims of the July 14, 2016, attack and to examine the behavioral norms expected by judicial, media, and political institutions when recounting the stories of terrorism victims—norms from which the victims are said to have deviated. The failures of police and judicial institutions highlighted by the victims contribute to the complexity of the narrative, making its commemoration more difficult.

Janna Behel, « Des victimes de seconde zone ?" Nice 2016 - Paris 2022 », Politika : la politique à l'épreuve des sciences sociales, Mise en ligne le 12 février 2024.
Janna Behel, « Sur le traitement hiérarchisé des victimes : des bancs vides ? Place et reconnaissance des parties civiles du procès de l’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 », Mémoire de master 2 en sociologie sous la direction de Sandrine Lefranc, IEDES, Paris 1, juillet 2023.
Aurore Juvenelle, « Le microphone dans la balance : espaces et enjeux sonores des procès historiques des attentats de Paris et de Nice », Criminocorpus [En ligne], mis en ligne le 01 octobre 2024 :

The trials for the November 13, 2015, attacks and the July 14, 2016, attack in Nice were held between September 2021 and December 2022 at the Île de la Cité Courthouse in Paris. These historic terrorism trials were described as “unprecedented” given the unprecedented number of participants and the scale of the operations put in place. This article explores ways of “listening” to these trials from two perspectives: first, through a sonic journey aimed at sensitively illuminating their day-to-day reality. It intertwines a ritualized relationship with a judicial space—unusually fragmented by security measures—with the symbolism of a centuries-old monument where history is lived out, day after day and over time, by a specific micro-society. Listening to these trials also involves analyzing sound as a central element of a system designed to ensure the public nature of the proceedings for an exceptional number of participants—particularly the civil parties—both inside and outside the courtroom. The microphone, now indispensable, nevertheless challenges the principles of adversarial debate, as the presiding judge controls who is allowed to speak. The judicial ritual, for its part, is constrained by the need to remain stationary in front of the microphone. Finally, it is important to examine the stages involved in creating the web radio service—intended for civil parties—which was established notably through amendments to the law and the Code of Criminal Procedure. These initial points lay the groundwork for a reflection on how to listen to historic terrorism trials, without which the analysis of the content of the proceedings—which will be conducted separately—would be biased.

Media and Social Media

Karine Emsellem, Matteo Caglioni, Diego Moreno Sierra, « Twitter fait-il parler les territoires ? Retour d'expériences à partir des tweets autour de l’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 à Nice », Netcom. Networks and Communication Studies. Réseaux, communication et territoires, Vol. 35, n°3-4, 2021.
Giuseppina Sapio, « L’image-martyre. Réappropriations télévisuelles des vidéos d’amateur de l’attentat de Nice (2016) », Le Temps des Médias, Vol. 1, n°32, 2019, pp. 184-199 :

The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of amateur videos in the dissemination of information, focusing on the special editions of international newscasts broadcast in the aftermath of the July 14, 2016, terrorist attack in Nice. In a context marked by a systematic suppression of death, these videos contribute, through their audio component, to the celebration of the survivors. These “martyr images” serve as testimonies and help to exorcise violent death within media rituals such as television news programs.

Remembering, History, and Museums

Annette Becker, « Faire parler les objets ? Entre affliction et kitsch, Nice, après le 14 juillet 2016 », Mémoires en jeu, n°17, 2017, pp. 60-65.
Marion Duvigneau, « Nice, 14 juillet 2016. Collecte des hommages déposés au kiosque à musique : les Archives sous tension », La Gazette des Archives, Vol. 250, n°2, 2018, pp. 83-99.
Karine Emsellem, Agnès Jeanjean, « Que reste-t-il de l’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 sur la Promenade des Anglais ? Tensions mémorielles socio-spatiales à Nice », Questions de communication, 2025, Vol. 47, pp. 227-252 :

This research highlights the tensions and contradictions between the erasure of traces of the July 14, 2016, attack in Nice and initiatives to preserve its memory, both collective and individual. An examination of official memorials and more intimate ones reveals how they are integrated into public space, the uses and practices that engage with them, and the staging and discourses that frame them. For example, *L’Ange de la Baie*, a memorial work by artist Jean-Marie Fondacaro, aims to reconcile life and death through movement and is gradually finding its place in the city.

Karine Emsellem, Agnès Jeanjean, Daphné Mastchenko, Marie Petitdemange, « Faire avec la mort en ville : construction spatiale de la mémoire sociale. L’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 sur la promenade des Anglais » in Giovanni. Fusco et Xavier Huetz de Lemps (dir.), Nice : temps, espace et société. Quand la recherche parle de sa ville, Nice, Serre Editions, 2024, pp. 187-205.
Karine Emsellem, Agnès Jeanjean, Frédéric Vinot, Camille Noûs « Pertes et modifications spatiales : la Promenade des Anglais après l'attentat du 14 juillet 2016 », Urbanités [En ligne], juin 2021.
© DR
Frédéric Vinot « Resilience or Reconstruction? A Psychoanalytical Approach to Urban Space After the Attack on the Promenade des Anglais (Nice, 14.07.2016) » in Katharina Karcher, Yordanka Dimcheva, Mireya Toribio Medina, et Mia Parkes (ed.), Urban Terrorism in Contemporary Europe, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, pp. 189-207.