[ARTICLE] What is 'arabofrancophonie'?
Jul. 12th, 2003 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFrom Al-Ahram Weekly:
What is 'arabofrancophonie'?
Arabofrancophonie, Paris: Haut Conseil de la Francophonie & l'Harmattan, 2001. pp319
One of the casualties of the events of 11 September 2001, the Ninth Summit of la francophonie, a loose grouping of 49 states culturally, linguistically, or historically linked with France, starts this week in Beirut, Lebanon. Originally planned for last October, the summit was postponed following the attacks on New York and Washington, with this year's summit having the same theme, the dialogue of civilizations, as that planned for last. Events will be presided over by Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali, former United Nations Secretary General and Egyptian minister of state for foreign affairs, who has been the organisation's Secretary-General since 1997.
Educated in France and an ardent francophile, Boutrous- Ghali's presence at the top of la francophonie helps explain Egypt's membership of the international grouping, which also includes former French colonial possessions in the Arab world, such as Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, as well as large chunks of French-speaking West Africa and parts of South-East Asia and Canada. Since his appointment as Secretary General, which coincided with the creation of the organisation's permanent secretariat, Boutrous-Ghali has presided over attempts to weld it into a grouping with a greater presence on the world stage, its member states sharing common platforms as well as being linked by their common ties to France.
An important institution of la francophonie is the Université Senghor in Alexandria, which, established at the 1989 Dakar francophone summit, brings French-speaking students from across Africa to benefit from a French university education in Egypt's port city.
According to the late Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal, whose words have been adopted as the organisation's banner, "francophonie is a humanism that stretches around the earth, a symbiosis of the dormant energies of every continent and every race, awakening in mutual warmth". Senghor, with President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia and Hamani Diori of Niger, was one of the founders of the francophone Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation, a forerunner of today's organisation. His words are a way of saying that la francophonie is at once local and universal, its mission being to provide a context within which the contributions of different peoples can take on a universal dimension, thanks to their shared French heritage.
A magnificent, perhaps rather quixotic, sentiment, ideas such as this have also meant that the platforms of la francophonie have tended towards those adopted by France itself: rearguard actions against the spread of "Anglo-Saxon" attitudes and the global dominance of the English language. Today, la francophonie, as well as being a linguistic grouping, also has ambitions towards being a cultural and political one, sharing concerns over globalization and threats to cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as over the rise of ethnic and cultural particularisms. The theme of the Beirut Summit is the dialogue of civilizations, with particular attention turning to the role of the organization in Euro-Arab dialogue.
'Arabofrancophonie', the subject of the present volume, a miscellaneous collection of papers and articles assembled by the Haut Conseil de la francophonie, denotes those Arab countries -- Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Syria and Lebanon -- that use French, along with Arabic, and, in the case of the Maghreb countries, different dialects of Berber. While few of these countries recognize French as an official language, that title being generally conferred only on Arabic, French continues to be the language of the elites, of public administration and of business, especially in the Maghreb.
The problem with 'arabofrancophonie', like 'francophonie', lies in how solid a concept it is or can be made to be. While some contributors to the book adopt a minimal definition, contenting themselves with arabofrancophonie as the community of people who share Arabic and French as mother tongues, or as working languages, or as some mixture of the two, others want to give the term a much wider, more ambitious sense. Arabofrancophonie, these writers suggest, should be seen in geopolitical terms as a Franco-Arab grouping having the potential to act on the international stage, much as la francophonie itself has sought to do under Boutrous- Ghali's leadership.
This disagreement of definition and on scope gives the book a rather fragmented feel, some of the contributors wanting to promote an agenda and others wanting only to agree on a definition. The most valuable pieces are those that provide information on the nature of arabofrancophonie, on how it is lived and on its possible future in a world where French is fast losing out to English, even in traditionally strong areas, such as diplomacy and culture. These include articles on, among other things, the teaching of Arabic in France, and of French in Arab countries, on actual or possible Franco-Arab cooperation and on France's population of Arab origin, the so-called beurs. Among the pieces in the book wanting to give a thicker sense to arabofrancophonie are those by Charles Josselin, formerly French minister of cooperation and francophonie, and Ghassan Salamé, Lebanese minister of culture.
The largest and most prestigious of all French institutions teaching Arabic is INALCO in Paris, the Institut national des langues et civilizations orientales. Founded in 1795, its origins going back to 1669, when an interpretation school was set up in Istanbul to foster commercial exchange with what was then the Ottoman Empire. INALCO today dispenses the famously rigorous education for which France's grandes écoles are well-known. However, for high-school students, or non-specialists, the picture is less rosy, with only 0.1% of French students taking Arabic, as against 89.6% studying English as a second or foreign language.
Ahmed Moatassime, professor at the Sorbonne in Paris and in his native Morocco, writes here that a further problem is that those students who do study Arabic are mostly themselves of Arab origin. He quotes the great French Arabist Jacques Berque on the "Latin-Arab Mediterranean", France's "place in the world beginning," Berque wrote, "in the Islamo- Mediterranean region... and a part of our future depends on the way in which, through education as well as in other fields, we construct our place in the Islamo- Mediterranean world." It would be a pity if young French people not of Arab origin were to ignore this Islamo- Mediterranean component of their heritage, which is also a part of their future.
The kind of Arabic that should be taught in France is a topic taken up by Dominique Caubet. Most candidates taking Arabic at French schools traditionally opted to study the Algerian, Moroccan or Tunisian dialects that they spoke at home. Recent reforms, however, have removed this option, insisting on the study of the written language, and causing widespread dissatisfaction, particularly among those who cannot write Arabic. This is a controversial area, Caubet arguing that "deciding that all candidates should be able to read Arabic without instruction, and implying that in France the spoken and written languages are to be considered as one, has put the cart before the horse and goes against the grain of previous French teaching."
Similarly, for Hadj Miliani, writing on the importance of Franco-Arab rap and rai music for young people of Maghreb origin in France, "the recognition of the culture of origin as a positive component of [the French] plural identity is a prerequisite for the affirmation of the identity" of such young people. This music, sung in French and in various dialects of Maghreb Arabic with Arab rhythms and using the instruments of French or Western youth music, is a way of "going beyond the sometimes unflattering labels" of the host culture and "occupying the cultural field in order to bring about collective action." For these reasons, it is important that the linguistic vehicle of that original culture, dialectical Arabic, be given due recognition on educational syllabuses.
Arabofrancophonie, Miliani points out, when employed by the young singers of rap or rai, is a way of rediscovering Arab roots and culture, while producing something that is characteristically French, and he appends a discography to his article including the records of the arabofrancophone groups discussed, for example La Mafia maghrébine (Maghreb Mafia), Alliance ethnik (Ethnic Alliance), Big Brother Hakim, and Carte de séjour (Residence Permit).
The challenge of integration into French society for those of Arab origin is a theme also taken up by Christophe Magnenet-Hubschwerlin. In France, "the life of Michel will always be easier than that of Mohamed," he feels. For Jean- Pierre Chagnollaud, editor of the review Confluences- Méditerranée, any true dialogue of cultures must address the question of "the circulation of persons in the Francophone Mediterranean area." How, Chagnollaud asks, can we think about "the deployment of shared cultural references, of strong cultural exchanges, of the mixing of imaginations, if young Arabs have practically no access to Europe," as a result of tough European immigration policies and the advent of 'Fortress Europe'?
In his introduction to the book, Josselin describes arabofrancophonie as a "project" -- "globalization has obliged the major languages of culture and communication to find ways of preventing linguistic uniformity, which reduces language to nothing more than an instrument...the Arab World and the Francophone World, containing similar numbers of speakers, sharing the same attachment to language as a foundation for identity, have a natural inclination towards strategic alliance," he writes, through various forms of reciprocity and partnership.
Salamé takes up this theme, seeing in la francophonie not so much a way of combating the "single way of thought" borne along by an increasingly globalised English, but as a kind of "laboratory organisation", in which "international relations less obsessed by market values, or by military force and technology" can be tested out, and, it may be hoped, generalised. Other writers are less diplomatic: Merzi Haddad, for example, a lecturer in Catholic theology as well as in Islamic history, argues that it is "as a remedy to a sterile and triumphant Americanism that francophonie, allied to arabophonie, could come forward as an alternative."
This book, presenting the full range and variety of arabofrancophonie(s), suggests numerous ways of being at once French and arabophone, or Arab and francophone, and lends useful perspectives on current debates.
By David Tresilian
What is 'arabofrancophonie'?
Arabofrancophonie, Paris: Haut Conseil de la Francophonie & l'Harmattan, 2001. pp319
One of the casualties of the events of 11 September 2001, the Ninth Summit of la francophonie, a loose grouping of 49 states culturally, linguistically, or historically linked with France, starts this week in Beirut, Lebanon. Originally planned for last October, the summit was postponed following the attacks on New York and Washington, with this year's summit having the same theme, the dialogue of civilizations, as that planned for last. Events will be presided over by Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali, former United Nations Secretary General and Egyptian minister of state for foreign affairs, who has been the organisation's Secretary-General since 1997.
Educated in France and an ardent francophile, Boutrous- Ghali's presence at the top of la francophonie helps explain Egypt's membership of the international grouping, which also includes former French colonial possessions in the Arab world, such as Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, as well as large chunks of French-speaking West Africa and parts of South-East Asia and Canada. Since his appointment as Secretary General, which coincided with the creation of the organisation's permanent secretariat, Boutrous-Ghali has presided over attempts to weld it into a grouping with a greater presence on the world stage, its member states sharing common platforms as well as being linked by their common ties to France.
An important institution of la francophonie is the Université Senghor in Alexandria, which, established at the 1989 Dakar francophone summit, brings French-speaking students from across Africa to benefit from a French university education in Egypt's port city.
According to the late Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal, whose words have been adopted as the organisation's banner, "francophonie is a humanism that stretches around the earth, a symbiosis of the dormant energies of every continent and every race, awakening in mutual warmth". Senghor, with President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia and Hamani Diori of Niger, was one of the founders of the francophone Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation, a forerunner of today's organisation. His words are a way of saying that la francophonie is at once local and universal, its mission being to provide a context within which the contributions of different peoples can take on a universal dimension, thanks to their shared French heritage.
A magnificent, perhaps rather quixotic, sentiment, ideas such as this have also meant that the platforms of la francophonie have tended towards those adopted by France itself: rearguard actions against the spread of "Anglo-Saxon" attitudes and the global dominance of the English language. Today, la francophonie, as well as being a linguistic grouping, also has ambitions towards being a cultural and political one, sharing concerns over globalization and threats to cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as over the rise of ethnic and cultural particularisms. The theme of the Beirut Summit is the dialogue of civilizations, with particular attention turning to the role of the organization in Euro-Arab dialogue.
'Arabofrancophonie', the subject of the present volume, a miscellaneous collection of papers and articles assembled by the Haut Conseil de la francophonie, denotes those Arab countries -- Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Syria and Lebanon -- that use French, along with Arabic, and, in the case of the Maghreb countries, different dialects of Berber. While few of these countries recognize French as an official language, that title being generally conferred only on Arabic, French continues to be the language of the elites, of public administration and of business, especially in the Maghreb.
The problem with 'arabofrancophonie', like 'francophonie', lies in how solid a concept it is or can be made to be. While some contributors to the book adopt a minimal definition, contenting themselves with arabofrancophonie as the community of people who share Arabic and French as mother tongues, or as working languages, or as some mixture of the two, others want to give the term a much wider, more ambitious sense. Arabofrancophonie, these writers suggest, should be seen in geopolitical terms as a Franco-Arab grouping having the potential to act on the international stage, much as la francophonie itself has sought to do under Boutrous- Ghali's leadership.
This disagreement of definition and on scope gives the book a rather fragmented feel, some of the contributors wanting to promote an agenda and others wanting only to agree on a definition. The most valuable pieces are those that provide information on the nature of arabofrancophonie, on how it is lived and on its possible future in a world where French is fast losing out to English, even in traditionally strong areas, such as diplomacy and culture. These include articles on, among other things, the teaching of Arabic in France, and of French in Arab countries, on actual or possible Franco-Arab cooperation and on France's population of Arab origin, the so-called beurs. Among the pieces in the book wanting to give a thicker sense to arabofrancophonie are those by Charles Josselin, formerly French minister of cooperation and francophonie, and Ghassan Salamé, Lebanese minister of culture.
The largest and most prestigious of all French institutions teaching Arabic is INALCO in Paris, the Institut national des langues et civilizations orientales. Founded in 1795, its origins going back to 1669, when an interpretation school was set up in Istanbul to foster commercial exchange with what was then the Ottoman Empire. INALCO today dispenses the famously rigorous education for which France's grandes écoles are well-known. However, for high-school students, or non-specialists, the picture is less rosy, with only 0.1% of French students taking Arabic, as against 89.6% studying English as a second or foreign language.
Ahmed Moatassime, professor at the Sorbonne in Paris and in his native Morocco, writes here that a further problem is that those students who do study Arabic are mostly themselves of Arab origin. He quotes the great French Arabist Jacques Berque on the "Latin-Arab Mediterranean", France's "place in the world beginning," Berque wrote, "in the Islamo- Mediterranean region... and a part of our future depends on the way in which, through education as well as in other fields, we construct our place in the Islamo- Mediterranean world." It would be a pity if young French people not of Arab origin were to ignore this Islamo- Mediterranean component of their heritage, which is also a part of their future.
The kind of Arabic that should be taught in France is a topic taken up by Dominique Caubet. Most candidates taking Arabic at French schools traditionally opted to study the Algerian, Moroccan or Tunisian dialects that they spoke at home. Recent reforms, however, have removed this option, insisting on the study of the written language, and causing widespread dissatisfaction, particularly among those who cannot write Arabic. This is a controversial area, Caubet arguing that "deciding that all candidates should be able to read Arabic without instruction, and implying that in France the spoken and written languages are to be considered as one, has put the cart before the horse and goes against the grain of previous French teaching."
Similarly, for Hadj Miliani, writing on the importance of Franco-Arab rap and rai music for young people of Maghreb origin in France, "the recognition of the culture of origin as a positive component of [the French] plural identity is a prerequisite for the affirmation of the identity" of such young people. This music, sung in French and in various dialects of Maghreb Arabic with Arab rhythms and using the instruments of French or Western youth music, is a way of "going beyond the sometimes unflattering labels" of the host culture and "occupying the cultural field in order to bring about collective action." For these reasons, it is important that the linguistic vehicle of that original culture, dialectical Arabic, be given due recognition on educational syllabuses.
Arabofrancophonie, Miliani points out, when employed by the young singers of rap or rai, is a way of rediscovering Arab roots and culture, while producing something that is characteristically French, and he appends a discography to his article including the records of the arabofrancophone groups discussed, for example La Mafia maghrébine (Maghreb Mafia), Alliance ethnik (Ethnic Alliance), Big Brother Hakim, and Carte de séjour (Residence Permit).
The challenge of integration into French society for those of Arab origin is a theme also taken up by Christophe Magnenet-Hubschwerlin. In France, "the life of Michel will always be easier than that of Mohamed," he feels. For Jean- Pierre Chagnollaud, editor of the review Confluences- Méditerranée, any true dialogue of cultures must address the question of "the circulation of persons in the Francophone Mediterranean area." How, Chagnollaud asks, can we think about "the deployment of shared cultural references, of strong cultural exchanges, of the mixing of imaginations, if young Arabs have practically no access to Europe," as a result of tough European immigration policies and the advent of 'Fortress Europe'?
In his introduction to the book, Josselin describes arabofrancophonie as a "project" -- "globalization has obliged the major languages of culture and communication to find ways of preventing linguistic uniformity, which reduces language to nothing more than an instrument...the Arab World and the Francophone World, containing similar numbers of speakers, sharing the same attachment to language as a foundation for identity, have a natural inclination towards strategic alliance," he writes, through various forms of reciprocity and partnership.
Salamé takes up this theme, seeing in la francophonie not so much a way of combating the "single way of thought" borne along by an increasingly globalised English, but as a kind of "laboratory organisation", in which "international relations less obsessed by market values, or by military force and technology" can be tested out, and, it may be hoped, generalised. Other writers are less diplomatic: Merzi Haddad, for example, a lecturer in Catholic theology as well as in Islamic history, argues that it is "as a remedy to a sterile and triumphant Americanism that francophonie, allied to arabophonie, could come forward as an alternative."
This book, presenting the full range and variety of arabofrancophonie(s), suggests numerous ways of being at once French and arabophone, or Arab and francophone, and lends useful perspectives on current debates.
By David Tresilian
