International colloquium "Minority languages and literatures: issues and promotion", September 17, by videoconference

Event organized by the research team PLIDAM - Pluralité des Langues et des Identités : Didactique - Acquisition - Médiations (Inalco).

This symposium marks the official opening of the first edition of the poetry competition in African languages, dubbed Mashairi ("poetry" in Swahili). The aim of the competition is to promote these languages by encouraging creative writing. Ultimately, these creations will constitute an important corpus that can be exploited in future research.

Organizer: Liliane Hodieb, Inalco, PLIDAM

Friday, September 17, 2021 - 09:15-19:00 - Online event
Registration is compulsory and free.
Registrants will receive the Zoom link a few days before the colloquium.

International colloquium "Minority languages and literatures: issues and valorisation"

Presentation
Africa's remarkable plurilingualism has often been seen as a major brake on its development. Indeed, in many minds, the notion of diversity is associated with that of hindrance, wrongly so, since linguistically homogeneous countries such as Burundi and Rwanda are counted among the developing countries (Bamgbose, 1994: 37). For Bamgbose, the homogeneity of states, whether linguistic or ethnic, is a myth, the norm today being a heterogeneity which, when it values differences, including minorities, becomes an invaluable asset (ibid.: 38). One of the aspects of society whose contours are inescapably determined by such an understanding of linguistic diversity is education. Yet, since colonization, education has suffered from a form of strangulation (Pejoska-Bouchereau, 1995) that is subjugating, even profoundly alienating (Fanon, 1952), and which, despite its allogenic essence and consequent distance from African realities, has subjugated these societies, distorting their representations of essential cultural elements, notably indigenous languages. Ezeanaya-Esiobu (2019) rightly deplores the gap, if not the dissonance, between the curricula adopted by African education systems and the African experience. In other words, for the author, the lack of empiricism in the development of these curricula explains the lack of innovation and creativity generally observed among Africans. Indeed, for innovation to take place, it is vital to have an intimate knowledge of one's environment. Thus, the role of education is to help individuals understand their lived reality. To this end, "[e]ducators should engage society actively, for more knowledge is useless if not backed by action." (ibid.: 12). In this sense, the eleventh principle of UNESCO's 1982 Mexico Declaration on Cultural Policies stipulates that "[i]t is essential to humanize development, which must have as its ultimate goal the person considered in his or her individual dignity and social responsibility. Development presupposes that every individual and every people have the opportunity to inform themselves, to learn and to communicate their experience. Man's involvement is all the more essential as it gives him the opportunity to create. Creativity, whether artistic or intellectual, undeniably plays a part in this process of human development, and is even indispensable. What's more, creativity is shaped by the environment, which is why each culture has its own specificity, none of which can prevail, since each culture represents a unique vision of the world, and "[h]umankind is impoverished when the culture of a given group is ignored or destroyed" (UNESCO, 1982). Cultural identity and cultural diversity are therefore inseparable, not mutually exclusive. This is why, far from being harmful, valuing indigenous peoples while promoting exchanges and contacts between them contributes to the preservation of humanity's common heritage. Among other things, this means promoting bi- and plurilingualism, particularly in societies where several languages coexist, as is the case in the majority of African countries.

Multilingual education still represents a real challenge for these countries, not least because of inadequate language policies. The most common model is to place the emphasis on the dominant languages, notably European ones, to the great detriment of minorities - the mother tongues - which, relegated to the background, tend to be saddled with overt or implicit disrepute. Yet Benson (2014: 19) highlights the case of Ethiopia, which since 1994 has had a language policy that encourages the use of mother tongues in literacy and learning up to the end of the fourth grade, and stipulates the teaching of Amharic and English as subjects. The example of Ethiopia shows that a good multilingual education can be offered even when conditions are deficient (a lack of documentation is revealed for more than twenty of Ethiopia's indigenous languages).

Promoting cultural development is part of the process of decolonizing minds evoked by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongo (1986). Real decolonization must involve the reappropriation of culture, which, again according to Ngũgi ̃represents among Africans the domain most affected by colonization (Ngũgi,̃ 1993), not to say alienated (Fanon,1952). However, even postcolonial studies are accused of perpetuating this alienation by excluding Afrophone literature, i.e. in African languages, and privileging Europhone literature (Marzagora, 2015: 2). For Marzagora, it's not a question of opposing the two cultures but of bringing them into dialogue: "[n]ew, productive critical perspectives could emerge from an analysis of connectivities, interactions, and cross-influences, first of all between different African-language traditions, second between different African-language and European-language African literature, and third between oral and written literature" (ibid.: 5). In other words, to free ourselves from Eurocentrism without, however, shying away from the other, for total isolation prevents human and social progress; indeed, every culture is enriched by contact with other cultures, and vice versa (Ngũgi,̃ 1993; Lévi-Strauss, 2016). Only, these exchanges must be based on mutual respect and equality and not on a principle of domination, detrimental to the flourishing of cultures and hence, minority languages, which nonetheless have as much dignity and value as languages enjoying greater influence.

For minority and/or minoritized communities in particular, developing folk art specific to their culture is a means of asserting the group's cultural identity. This has been observed, for example, in communities whose mother tongue is American Sign Language (ASL), whose literature, made up of various genres such as narrative and poetry, has proved to be one of the essential elements constituting their cultural identity. As for Africa's indigenous sign languages, which are still too invisible, particularly in literature and scientific research, they would gain in self-esteem and prestige if indigenous literary culture - here in the sense of education - were promoted. Let's not forget that literature is also a vehicle for values, which are inherently specific to each cultural group, and the deaf community is no exception. Indeed, Harmon (2007:200) points out that literary production in ASL - for members of this community - should be all the more valued because ASL represents their mother tongue, and not English. Thus, for the author, "writing in English (or other print languages) displaces a cultural identity grounded in a visual-spatial language, one that has historically been denigrated, suppressed and erased from sight".

Giving visibility to these minorities is therefore vital, even urgent for some of them whose extinction is imminent, not only for the flourishing of culture but, more globally, for the preservation of the common heritage of mankind of which all cultures are a part (Principle 4, UNESCO 1982).

For all these reasons, and because "[t]he development and promotion of artistic education presuppose [...] the elaboration of specific programs designed to awaken artistic sensitivity [...] (Principle 29, UNESCO 1982), we are launching the first edition of the poetry competition in indigenous African languages, nicknamed Mashairi ("poetry" in Swahili). This symposium marks the official opening of the competition. Papers are not limited to Africa, however, but are open to all geographical areas.