Francophone Cultures I

The programme is entitled: Entre Haïti et le Québec. Migrations, rencontres, accueils
It is divided into three parts:
A. Haïti terre déchirée ; Québec terre d'accueil
B. Cultures et écritures migrantes : l'exemple d'Émile Ollivier
C. Le kont et autres témoignages d'Haïti

The course aims to retrace the main steps in the history of Haiti and Québec. For the case of Québec, after considering the first contacts with the West, we will examine the evolution of the Nouvelle-France first and then the Québec, the linguistic claims underlying a specific cultural definition in the English-speaking Canadian context. For the case of Haiti, after examining the occupation of the island, we will start from the conquest of independence in 1804 and then present the personalities that characterised the country's complex political scene (Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, Papa Doc, Baby Doc...) and eventually arrive at the difficult current situation.
The case of Émile Ollivier, a Haitian writer who emigrated to Québec, will then be examined. He left an important reflection on the identity and cultural consequences involved in migration, the discovery of diversity as a source of enrichment, and the willingness to welcome the other in a dynamic of exchange between Haiti and Québec, Québec and Haiti.
The last part of the course will focus on testimonies from Haiti. We will first consider the birth and the cultural importance of the oral kont and the practices of transmission and preservation; we will then look at short stories, tales, and extracts from novels by Haitian and Quebecois authors and reflect on their different functions: the recovery of the oral tradition, the re-appropriation or reclaiming of the imaginary, the encounter with Otherness, and social and political denunciation.