New Francophonies and Colonial Languages in a Global World

Keynote speakers:

• Professor Emeritus Albert Valdman, Indiana University
• Professor Sylvie Dubois, Louisiana State University
• Professor Françoise Lionnet, University of California Los Angeles

Languages: English and French

Organizers: Adlai Murdoch and Zsuzsanna Fagyal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The term ‘francophonie’ implies both language and literature produced in historical times and places. This interdisciplinary conference grows out of an interest in borders, boundaries, points of interface, and mixing between languages and communities, as well as genres, disciplines, and paradigms. It will consider ways in which French and other former colonial language communities imagine themselves through culture, where we understand culture as a means of expressing identity in and through spoken and written discourse, literature, drama, and music. Participants are encouraged to bridge disciplinary boundaries in order to find fresh entries into questions such as:

• How many francophonies are there, and in what ways do they articulate themselves in different places?
• To what extent are there geographical and historical links between spaces of speaking and writing and those of representation, and how (if at all) they influence each other?
• What is the importance of linguistic in-betweens and cultural hybridity (vehicular languages, code-switching) in a global French context?
• What importance should be accorded to France’s colonial presence and continuing influence in many of communities?
• What are the benefits and limitations of holding an official policy towards language, and how does actual usage test the boundaries of such official policies over time?
• What are the benefits and limitations of academic standards, practices and policies with regard to language divisions, and how will these issues shape the future of graduate studies?

Call for Papers
New Francophonies and Colonial Languages in a Global World
Nouvelles francophonies et langues coloniales dans un monde global

Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 15, 2010

Papers may be given in English or in French. Submissions should be sent electronically in either of the two languages both as text (in the body of the email) and as MSWord attachment to the following e-mail address: newfrancophoniesgmail.com.

Presentations selected for the conference will be considered for publication in one or more edited volumes and/or journal special issues.

All submissions must contain the following information:

• Name
• Affiliation
• E-mail address
• Mailing address, phone and fax number
• Title of proposed paper
• Brief description of same (max. 500 words, without title and references)