The third issue of the publication Minorités linguistiques et société/Linguistic Minorities and Society was just released. Prepared in collaboration with guest editor Pierre Foucher, Professor at the University of Ottawa Law Faculty and formerly with the Université de Moncton, the issue is a collection of selected articles based on lectures given at a symposium of the Réseau de la recherche sur la francophonie canadienne.

Professor Foucher commented: “These articles fit well with the overall issue of continuity or rupture chosen for the conference. Despite their obvious differences, they are linked by a common thread, namely an inquiry around the issue of movement and its consequence – continuity or rupture.”

“The very nature of the topics they examine takes us out of our purview as researchers on Francophone identity in Canada, its political aspirations, its responsibilities and its trends. Lucie Hotte analyzes the role of artists in a Francophone minority milieu, both the one they give to themselves and the one the community would like to give them. Elke Laur questions the concepts of majority and minority, which in the Canadian context do not always have a clear meaning. Mourad Ali-Khodja provides an essay on the figure of the intellectual and the scholar in a minority environment, shaped by the constraints imposed on him/her by the narrowness of his/her situation. In order to determine whether one is dealing with a question of identity or of linguistic skills, Rodrigue Landry, Réal Allard and Kenneth Deveau analyze the new bilingual “identity” that many of our young people claim to have. Laurence Arrighi and Annette Boudreau reflect on the fact of being Francophone “in the margin”, far from the places where the supposed linguistic norms are defined and all the consequences that ensue from them. And finally, in a review of the literature, Joel Belliveau defines five portraits of French-speaking North America, from a perspective that one rarely has chance to get to know.”

In summary, in addition to the novelty and diversity of the chosen themes, these articles invite readers to reflect on the fact that the Canadian francophonie truly is “in motion”, as are the researchers in this field. Whether this movement will lead to rupture or will proceed on the path of continuity is up to the reader to judge.

Click here to read this issue.

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