Outside the lines - The Politics of Language.
For the first time, Alliance Française de Cincinnati is participating in a worldwide cultural initiative led by the French Ministry of Culture, called "La Nuit des Idées", Night of the Ideas. Consider it brainstorming on the scale of the planet. The conference will be in English.
To register, simply send us an email, and you will receive a confirmation with the Zoom link. The event will be both online and in person at the office. Coffee, cookies, juice and cider will be served.
As part of the "Night of the Ideas", a panel will discuss the concepts of acceptance - or non-acceptance - of other languages within a country's official language. By extension, the cultural aspects linked to languages will also be explored.
The keynote speakers for the debate are:
- Kirsten Smith: Kirsten is finishing her Ph.D. at Minnesota now and is an expert on Quebec. She focuses her research on multilingualism in Quebec cinema and culture.
- Julie Barlow: Julie is a Canadian journalist, author, and conference speaker who writes and publishes both in English and French and is based in Montreal, Quebec. She is the author of acclaimed books "The Story of French", Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" and "The Bonjour Effect."
- Napoleon Maddox: Napoleon is a Cincinnati native. He is a vocalist, writer, and Founder & Executive Director of The UnderWorld Black Arts Festival. A proficient rapper, beatboxer, and singer, Napoleon regularly performs in France. Mr. Maddox is featured in a recent article in Cincinnati Magazine
- Michael N. Bergman is the founder and principal of Bergman & Associates, lawyers. Going on forty years of law practice, he has pleaded before the trial and appellate Courts of Québec, Ontario, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the United States District Court. Mr. Bergman has steered and coordinated international litigation between several countries.
- Kristian Gravenor: Kristian is a journalist who has written thousands of news articles, mainly about his hometown of Montreal, over several decades. He has penned a pair of acclaimed books about Montreal and enjoys shedding light on its history in articles, videos, and public speaking events.
The moderated discussion will touch on the potential conflicts the use of languages can generate, especially through the centuries-long interconnection between French and English.
In countries like Belgium and Canada, language lines are drawn, geographically and sometimes in the minds of people. How can we think outside of these language lines? What are the implications?
