“Legitimizing ‘iel’ ? Language and Trans communities in Francophone and Anglophone Spaces”, H-France Salon, vol.11, n°14
“Legitimizing ‘iel’? Language and Trans communities in Francophone and Anglophone Spaces” :
a special online issue of H-France Salon, Volume 11, issue 14.
The last few years have seen an increased visibility of non-binary persons who are publicly claiming their identities and pronouns beyond the gender binary in both English and French. While the singular “they” has gained favor among many in Anglophone spaces due in part to the precedent for such a usage in English, Francophone non-binary persons have had to face further challenges regarding language and syntax given the binary nature of French grammar itself. This special issue considers recent attempts to make available gender‑equitable, ‑neutral, and ‑expansive language and identities to French speakers within linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical spaces. In offering to the readers of H-France our reflections on these developments, the contributors to this special issue expand on the fruitful exchange initiated at a symposium at Vassar College in April 2018—when earlier versions of this material were first presented—and invite dialogue with a broader public. In so doing, we hope that the questions we raise will be taken in the spirit of ongoing inquiry rather than as prescriptive positions (as indicated by the titular question mark), and that our chapters will be read as open-ended engagements with the rapidly-developing public conversations on non-binary issues beyond the academy. We also hope that the embedded hyperlinks and the appended glossary will allow our readers to engage directly, if they so wish, with the many multimedial resources cited in this issue.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Vinay Swamy (Vassar College) and Louisa Mackenzie (University of Washington, Seattle)
I. Histories
“« Le masculin l’emporte » : évolution des stratégies linguistiques dans les associations LGBT+ en France”
Flora Bolter
Fondation Jean Jaurès
“Linguistic Uprisings: Toward a Grammar of Emancipation”
Luca Greco
Université de Metz
II. Pedagogies
“‘Faut-il choisir ?’: Transgender Access to the French Language Classroom”
Blase A. Provitola
Columbia University
“Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante”
Florence Ashley
McGill University
III. Art, Activism, Academia
“Transnational Reflections on Embodying Non-binary Pronouns”
Logan Natalie O’Laughlin
Duke University
“Beyond ‘French-American’ Binary Thinking on Non-Binary Gender”
Louisa Mackenzie
University of Washington, Seattle
“Assignée garçon or Grappling with the Trans Question in the French Language”
Vinay Swamy
Vassar College