The (French) Creole Turn?

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-39
Author(s):  
Jonathan Gosnell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Translation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Edouard Glissant ◽  
Global History ◽  
The World ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Cross Fertilization ◽  
French And Francophone

In what ways can study of cultural mixing or métissages, often linked to histories of empire, colonization, and assimilation, help to better understand complexities in contemporary French and francophone societies? How can theories of creolization explain ambiguous ethnic, racial, and national phenomena that have long existed but have remained obscure? This article critically examines hybrid cultures that have coalesced as a result of pervasive French presence in the world over the last several centuries. The publications of Histoire mondiale de la France and its English translation France in the World: A New Global History sparked debate both inside and outside the Academy, on both sides of the Atlantic, about the global currents that have shaped nations like France and the United States. More readily acknowledged creolizations in French-speaking parts of the globe signal a noteworthy evolution. The analysis herein leans on oceanic thought developed by philosopher Édouard Glissant in his influential Traité du Tout-Monde. Glissant emphasizes the ephemeral, unpredictable, improvisational nature of creolizations. While common in the French and francophone world, creolizations know no boundaries and respect no borders; they are constantly and transgressively reinventing themselves. To what extent is the question of creolization in modern Québec relevant? The essay focuses in particular on French cultural cross-fertilization in the Americas and the compelling tensions between créolité and américanité. De quelles manières l’étude des métissages culturelles, souvent liées aux histoires d’empire, de colonisation et d’assimilation, peut-elle nous aider à mieux comprendre les complexités des sociétés françaises et francophones actuelles? Comment les théories de la créolisation peuvent-elles expliquer l’ambiguïté de certains phénomènes ethniques, raciaux et nationaux qui existent depuis longtemps mais qui restent obscurs. Cet article examine de manière critique les cultures hybrides qui résultent d’une présence mondiale française depuis plusieurs siècles. L’édition d’Histoire mondiale de la France et de sa traduction anglaise, France in the World: A New Global History, a suscité des débats sur les courants mondiaux qui ont forgé des nations comme la France et les États-Unis à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de l’académie, des deux côtés de l’Atlantique. Des créolisations plus facilement reconnues dans quelques régions du monde francophone signalent une évolution pertinente. Cette analyse s’appuie sur la pensée océanique du philosophe Édouard Glissant dans son influent Traité du Tout-Monde, dans lequel il met l’accent sur la nature éphémère, imprévisible et improvisée des créolisations. Quoique communes en France ainsi que dans le monde francophone, les créolisations ne respectent ni limite ni frontière; elles s’inventent de nouveau sans cesse et de manière transgressive. Dans quelle mesure la question de la créolisation est-elle pertinente au Québec actuel? Cet essai jette un regard particulier sur les métissages culturels français dans les Amériques et sur les tensions entre la créolité et l’américanité.

The Cambridge History of America and the World

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global History ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Early American ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Indentured Servants

The first volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World examines how the United States emerged out of a series of colonial interactions, some involving indigenous empires and communities that were already present when the first Europeans reached the Americas, others the adventurers and settlers dispatched by Europe's imperial powers to secure their American claims, and still others men and women brought as slaves or indentured servants to the colonies that European settlers founded. Collecting the thoughts of dynamic scholars working in the fields of early American, Atlantic, and global history, the volume presents an unrivalled portrait of the human richness and global connectedness of early modern America. Essay topics include exploration and environment, conquest and commerce, enslavement and emigration, dispossession and endurance, empire and independence, new forms of law and new forms of worship, and the creation and destruction when the peoples of four continents met in the Americas.

scholarly journals Religion in the Age of Development

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 382 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Feener ◽  
Philip Fountain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The World ◽  
Past Half

Religion has been profoundly reconfigured in the age of development. Over the past half century, we can trace broad transformations in the understandings and experiences of religion across traditions in communities in many parts of the world. In this paper, we delineate some of the specific ways in which ‘religion’ and ‘development’ interact and mutually inform each other with reference to case studies from Buddhist Thailand and Muslim Indonesia. These non-Christian cases from traditions outside contexts of major western nations provide windows on a complex, global history that considerably complicates what have come to be established narratives privileging the agency of major institutional players in the United States and the United Kingdom. In this way we seek to move discussions toward more conceptual and comparative reflections that can facilitate better understandings of the implications of contemporary entanglements of religion and development.

Sex Differences in Mass Media Preferences Across Four Asian Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malini Ratnasingam ◽  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Female Students ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Media Preferences

Background. Nearly all of the research on sex differences in mass media utilization has been based on samples from the United States and a few other Western countries. Aim. The present study examines sex differences in mass media utilization in four Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore). Methods. College students self-reported the frequency with which they accessed the following five mass media outlets: television dramas, televised news and documentaries, music, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet. Results. Two significant sex differences were found when participants from the four countries were considered as a whole: Women watched television dramas more than did men; and in Japan, female students listened to music more than did their male counterparts. Limitations. A wider array of mass media outlets could have been explored. Conclusions. Findings were largely consistent with results from studies conducted elsewhere in the world, particularly regarding sex differences in television drama viewing. A neurohormonal evolutionary explanation is offered for the basic findings.

Sandra Ramos Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
Silvia Spitta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Graphic Arts ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
The Rich

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) is one of the few artists to reflect critically on both sides of the Cuban di-lemma, fully embodying the etymological origins of the word in ancient Greek: di-, meaning twice, and lemma, denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives. Throughout her works she shines a light on the dilemmas faced by Cubans whether in Cuba or the United States, underlining the bad personal and political choices people face in both countries. During the hard 1990s, while still in Havana, the artist focused on the traumatic one-way journey into exile by thousands, as well as the experience of profound abandonment experienced by those who were left behind on the island. Today she lives in Miami and operates a studio there as well as one in Havana. Her initial disorientation in the USA has morphed into an acerbic representation and critique of the current administration and a deep concern with the environmental collapse we face. A buffoonlike Trumpito has joined el Bobo de Abela and Liborio in her gallery of comic characters derived from the rich Cuban graphic arts tradition where she was formed. While Cuba is now represented as a rotten cake with menacing flies hovering over it ready to pounce, a bombastic Trumpito marches across the world stage, trampling everything underfoot, a dollar sign for a face.

The Unquiet Frontier

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell ◽  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Global Order ◽  
American Power ◽  
Alliance Networks ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
The World ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Critical Regions

From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that U.S. decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. This book explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century. The book describes the aggressive methods which rival nations are using to test American power in strategically critical regions throughout the world. It shows how rising and revisionist powers are putting pressure on our frontier allies—countries like Poland, Israel, and Taiwan—to gauge our leaders' commitment to upholding the American-led global order. To cope with these dangerous dynamics, nervous U.S. allies are diversifying their national-security “menu cards” by beefing up their militaries or even aligning with their aggressors. The book reveals how numerous would-be great powers use an arsenal of asymmetric techniques to probe and sift American strength across several regions simultaneously, and how rivals and allies alike are learning from America's management of increasingly interlinked global crises to hone effective strategies of their own. The book demonstrates why the United States must strengthen the international order that has provided greater benefits to the world than any in history.

Bringing the Real World of Science to Children: A Partnership of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G Picciano ◽  
Robert V. Steiner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Museum ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Every child has a right to an education. In the United States, the issue is not necessarily about access to a school but access to a quality education. With strict compulsory education laws, more than 50 million students enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and billions of dollars spent annually on public and private education, American children surely have access to buildings and classrooms. However, because of a complex and competitive system of shared policymaking among national, state, and local governments, not all schools are created equal nor are equal education opportunities available for the poor, minorities, and underprivileged. One manifestation of this inequity is the lack of qualified teachers in many urban and rural schools to teach certain subjects such as science, mathematics, and technology. The purpose of this article is to describe a partnership model between two major institutions (The American Museum of Natural History and The City University of New York) and the program designed to improve the way teachers are trained and children are taught and introduced to the world of science. These two institutions have partnered on various projects over the years to expand educational opportunity especially in the teaching of science. One of the more successful projects is Seminars on Science (SoS), an online teacher education and professional development program, that connects teachers across the United States and around the world to cutting-edge research and provides them with powerful classroom resources. This article provides the institutional perspectives, the challenges and the strategies that fostered this partnership.

Rethinking Canada: Canadian Studies and Study Abroad

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Beach ◽  
George Sherman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Admissions ◽  
American University ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Canadian Education ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Canadian Studies ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
English Speaking

Americans have been studying “abroad” in Canada on a freelance basis for generations, and for many different reasons. Certain regions of Canada, for example, provide excellent, close-to-home opportunities to study French and/or to study in a French-speaking environment. Opportunities are available coast-to-coast for “foreign studies” in an English-speaking environment. Additionally, many students are interested in visiting cities or areas from which immediate family members or relatives emigrated to the United States.  Traditionally, many more Canadians have sought higher education degrees in the United States than the reverse. However, this is about to change. Tearing a creative page out of the American university admissions handbook, Canadian universities are aggressively recruiting in the United States with the up-front argument that a Canadian education is less expensive, and a more subtle argument that it is perhaps better.

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