2011 will be in France a year dedicated to the Overseas Departments and Territories, and the François Mitterrand Library (BnF) pulls ahead of the forthcoming events by organizing on Wesnesday December 15 a cycle of round tables entitled ” l’outre-mer: regards en archipel”.

The question of “how to write the history, the geography and the languages of such a nebula of territories scattered around the world” will be addressed.

Presentations and panel discussions will follow one another from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and particular attention should be paid to the round table scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. : “Creole, French and multilingualism: how to live together in diversity?”.

Many different languages are spoken in Overseas France, whether official languages or lingua francas, mother tongues or national languages, written or oral. The panel will consider the complexity of the ethnic and linguistic situation, between dominant and dominated languages.

This session will be chaired by journalist Dominique Roederer, who will moderate discussions between Marie-Claude Tjibaou, president of the ADCK (Agency for the Development of Kanak culture), Ramon Renau-Ferrer, cultural mediator in Cayenne (French Guiana), Fouad Laroussi, Research Director in Mayotte, and Lambert Félix Prudent, linguist at the University of Reunion.

Read the complete programme

Wesnesday December 15, from 9 a.m. onwards

BnF

Petit auditorium, Hall Est

Quai François Mauriac

75013 Paris