IN
THIS ISSUE (No.7) |
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| L'INSTITUT
D'ETUDES CRÉOLES ET FRANCOPHONES (IECF) |
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The
activity of the IECF is concentrated in four main areas:
1.
Documentation and information 1.1
Primary documentation and data base: This is a fundamental
area and is the main reason for the creation of the Institute. It
had appeared that, despite the development of French studies on
Creoles and despite the importance of the French Creole-speaking
community (more than 1,500,000 speakers – which put the Creoles
far ahead of other regional languages), the only centres of documentation
about the Creole world were located outside France. This is why
a centre of documentation was created (“Societies, cultures
and languages of the world of Creole”). Thanks to a very active
policy of acquisition of primary documents (1,200 a year average),
considerable resources were gathered in five years. The transfer
of the old “colonial library” to the Overseas Archives
in Aix-en-Provence, close to the university, completed the documentation
of materials from before 1970. It can now be said that virtually
all of the documentation on French Creole societies, cultures and
languages is available at Aix-en-Provence. Moreover,
as previously stated, the development of research on the subject
of “Languages, education and development in the Creole world”
has lead to a broadening of the field of study to include the entire
French-speaking world. A
network of international scientific cooperation was established
in 1988 to do research on “languages and development”,
and a research program in 1989-91 analysed and did a typology of
linguistic situations in the French-speaking world, identifying
social and economic areas where linguistic and social factors may
contribute to modernization. Linguists, economists, anthropologists
are involved in this research program. The African states concerned
are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Mali, Senegal,
Chad, and Zaire. 1.2
Distribution of information. Bibliographies are published and distributed
from the data base: this is the case of La bibliographie
des Etudes Creoles (‘Bibliography of Creole studies’)
first published in 1983 and revised in a new edition in 1991, and
of La bibliographie selective: aménagement linguistique
et développement (‘Selective bibliography: Language
planning and development’). The
two newsletters of the IECF, each appearing 3 times a year, aim
to provide the quick diffusion of information which is the primary
goal of the IECF: •
Gazet sifon blé / lavwa ka bay (which means something
like ‘gossip’ in some French Creoles) was established
in 1984 (with 48 issues having been produced as of October 1995).
It has a circulation of 400 and is distributed either free of charge
to the institutions that collaborate with the IECF and the researchers
who participate to the programs, or by subscription (50 francs a
year; 60 francs if sent overseas). The newsletter essentially deals
with the world of French Creoles (information regarding publications,
meetings, symposiums, short book reviews, announcements of theses,
etc). 1.3
The IECF has a library of recorded tapes mainly on three
Creoles (Réunion, Rodrigues and Haiti) with about 200 hours
of recording. These resources are linked with the production of
the linguistic and ethnographic atlas of Réunion (first edition
published in 1985, second 1989, third in production), of Rodrigues
(in production) and of Haiti.
2.
Research It
is impossible to detail here all the research by the IECF in association
with other programs both in Aix-en-Provence and Réunion.
At least 30 researchers are involved. •
Creole Studies (including the production of a linguistic atlas,
description of Creoles and the theory of creolization); 2.1
In these different programs, the research team has produced
numerous publications (80 each year). 2.2
Periodic publications: The editorial responsibilities are
numerous and varied. Two examples are: 2.3
Organisation of international sympos-iums (10 in the last
5 years), including the 7th International Colloquium on Creole Studies,
held in Mauritius in 1992.
3.
Teaching Teaching
done by the IECF is in two main areas: university and non-university. 3.1
Regular university teaching: Teaching regarding Creole
languages and cultures is provided for different levels (undergraduate,
Masters, PhD). Masters and PhD students, as well as visiting scholars,
can access the resources of the IECF, including the data base and
primary documents (available in the reading room). Two computers
with the software SUPERDOC and WINWORD 6 are in free access at the
library. 3.2
Teaching by request to answer to the needs of other organizations.
This is often in the form of short intensive workshops with the
content chosen according to the needs of the organization. For example,
M.C. Hazaël-Massieux taught at the University of Nice, in the
summer of 1995, in answer to a request by some American university
lecturers.
4.
Participation and promotion The
IECF participates in conferences and discussions for the general
public organized by various associations, such as the West Indies
Association in Aix-en-Provence, and has helped out with exhibitions
by loaning maps, documents, books etc. about Creoles.
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