Colby College in Waterville is the only American college to create a full professorship position in American Francophone studies.

Professor Benedicte Mauguiere came to Colby a year ago from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, where she was also a full professor.  At Colby, she is the professor who teaches “Francophonie des Ameriques”.

Additionally, she is the Vice-President of the Association Internationale des Etudes Québécoises (AIEQ – American Association of International Quebec Studies).  From 2000 to 2009,  she was the Executive Director of the Conseil International d’Etudes Francophones (CIEF), the largest Francophone Studies association worldwide.

Colby’s formal academic position acknowledges that New England’s Franco-Americans share experiences with other French-speaking cultures, which are clustered all over the American continent. These cultures are in Quebec, West Canada,  Acadia (Canadian Maritimes), New England, Missouri, Louisiana, the French West Indies and French Guiana.

Recognizing cultural and geographic connections are important. They offer opportunities to build economic development and strengthen cultural identities, Maugiere says. The Francophone cultures include more than 220 million people around the world.

“New England is part of  the North American Francophone Diaspora with roots in Quebec,” says Mauguiere.  In other words, New England’s Francophones are connected to Quebec, and French Acadia, which originated with cultural and historic roots in France.  Likewise, the Louisiana Francophone culture is connected to the French Acadians, and the French speaking Creole cultures of the Caribbean and French Guiana in South America.

New England has an obvious regional proximity to Canada, yet Franco-Americans living here are often culturally isolated from their French-Canadian roots.  Although they are separated, Mauguiere sees parallels between the North American Francophone cultures.

Franco-Americans and the Cajuns in Louisiana struggle to maintain their cultural identity and to protect the French language in all its diversity, she says. A key for the survival of French in America is the acknowledgment and promotion of the language, with its regional accents and in all its variations, she says.

“Rather than feel culturally isolated, Franco-Americans should take pride in the heritages they share with French-speaking North Americans”, she says.

Mauguiere’s goal is to build a program for the future. Rather than focus on the past histories about French colonial conflicts and the Franco-American industrial manufacturing experiences, the Colby program emphasizes the similarities in Francophone cultures for the future.

“We need to understand the way of the future is to look forward,” she says. Francophone studies are important because identifying the connections between Francophones will create opportunities to develop improved international relations.  For example, 7 million French speaking people in Quebec are thriving.  “We can bridge opportunities between Quebec and New England,” she says.

“The way I see the future is for the young generations to know they are truly connected to one another,” she says.  She brings young people together to work on programs and cultural activities like videos and literature. They share positive experiences.  “We want the young generations to be free of the stigma some experienced about being French,” she says.  “More than ever, we live in a global world where language and culture are not something in the past but part of who we are as individuals and communities.”

A native of Brittany, France, Mauguiere learned “language activism” in  secondary school, where Breton (a Celtic tongue) was taught as an elective foreign language.  “I understand why it is important to protect a minority group’s language and culture,” she says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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