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(Click on image for larger)
Mayors and scholars pose at City Hall in Quebec City on August 8, 2008 as part of this year’s 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Quebec City. Among those in attendance were Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert (front row, left) and Mayor Roger Katz of Augusta (front row, 2nd from right). USM LAC Professor Barry Rodrigue, whose essay appears in the book “Franco-Amérique”, is pictured in the center of the back row. |
September 2008
A dynamic new collection of essays about French North America, entitled “Franco-Amérique”, recently was released as part of this year’s 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Quebec City. This anthology is edited by the two eminent scholars of French North America, Dean Louder and Eric Waddell, and features an essay by USM LAC Associate Professor Barry Rodrigue.
In 2007 students in Dr. Rodrigue’s class, French North America, sponsored two major Franco American events, with funding from USM’s Franco American Collection and the USM Provost’s Office, as well as from Laval University’s Center for the Study of French Culture in North America (CEFAN) in Quebec City. From March 29th to April 1st, they organized a conference of thirty scholars from the United States and Canada at The Forks. Then, from April 1-3, the Rendez-Vous de Franco-Amérique ⁄ Rendezvous of Franco-America took place in Lewiston, Auburn and Portland, which brought together scholars, artists and performers from around French North America. The conference and the rendezvous were featured in major newspapers throughout Canada.
The English language version of Rodrigue’s chapter about the French settlement of New England and New York was presented as, “one of the best examples of current writing about Franco-America” at a gathering of mayors from the United States and Canada at Quebec’s City Hall in August of this year. This chapter can be seen online at the USM LAC Franco-American studies website at www.usm.maine.edu/lac/francoamericanstudies. Two exciting initiatives have grown out of this effort. First, an English language textbook on French North America is being assembled by Drs. Rodrigue, Louder and Waddell, which is hoped to be produced by 2010. Another initiative that is being developed in tandem with this textbook is a Franco-American “Roadshow,” originally developed by Dr. Rodrigue and his students at USM LAC, and now being reanimated by the efforts of the celebrated Franco-American theater director, Grégoire Chabot of Waterville.
“Franco-Amérique” is available at the USM LAC bookstore. Extensive Franco-American resources can be found online at www.usm.edu/lac/francoresources. This website focuses on programs available at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College and the Franco-American Collection, the largest archival collection of its kind in the State.
For more information about the book or Franco American studies at USM LAC, please contact Barry Rodrigue at 753-6574 or email rodrigue@usm.maine.edu
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