Christina Keppie | Western Washington University (original) (raw)
Papers by Christina Keppie
The Construction of Canadian Identity from Abroad, 2022
Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2016
This study addresses possible benefits of study abroad on second language fluency. Specifically, ... more This study addresses possible benefits of study abroad on second language fluency. Specifically, we compare the use of disfluencies as an indicator of in-class second language proficiency among American students of French who had studied abroad in France for 6 months with that of similar students who had not studied abroad. Despite numerous past studies, the field of second language acquisition has not yet conclusively demonstrated a “linear pattern of development” (Jensen & Howard, 2014) in proficiency among learners on study abroad. Data were collected post-sojourn in three informal small-group discussions with six undergraduate students enrolled in an intermediate French course at a U.S. liberal arts college in 2014. The data were analyzed for the use of filled pauses, silent pauses, and self-repairs. Despite project limitations that call for extended research on the topic, overall results suggest that study abroad decreases learners’ post-sojourn use of all three types of disflu...
British Journal of Canadian Studies, 2018
Abstract:In the year when Canadians celebrate 150 years of confederation, we recognise the freque... more Abstract:In the year when Canadians celebrate 150 years of confederation, we recognise the frequent absence of cultural minorities from national commemorative events, such as the Acadians. However, minority commemorative events serve as a strong factor in helping maintain ideologies, as imposed on the minority's general population by their cultural elite. In addition to a synthesis of ideological evidence in Acadian commemorative events, the current project addresses the importance of ethnographic work in the study of ideology of small 'nations'. Drawing upon a series of open-ended interviews, a collection known as the 2004 ArtcaDIT corpus collected by Le Musée acadien du Québec, this article details the results of a short content analysis of transcribed oral testimonies by New Brunswick Acadians who reflect on the impact and purpose of the 2004 Acadian Quadricentennial Celebration. While the data set is small, patterns suggest that views among New Brunswick Acadians of 2004 do in fact corroborate the Acadian national ideology imposed by the Acadian elite who have sought cultural minority protection of l'Acadie moderne through linguistic rights and duality. However, these results are not exclusive, as a number of testimonies also suggest a lingering adherence to traditional Acadian views that emphasises the importance of history and genealogy. Finally, this article demonstrates again the presence of the Acadian 'dilemma' which could be alleviated by further studying ideologies within other Acadian regions.
Journal of Canadian Studies, 2011
Acadie’s existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New ... more Acadie’s existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New Brunswick francophones in an effort to elucidate what is understood by the term Acadie. The author presents three Acadian discourse periods and a typological framework that have served to define Acadie in academic literature. Focussing on data collected as part of a larger project on Acadian identity, the author validates this framework through qualitative analyses, proving the existence of ideological diversity in that province that led francophones to interpret the term Acadie differently. The author concludes by postulating that Acadie is perhaps best understood as a co-linguistic community located within the Maritime provinces whose founding members are francophones and whose heritage can be traced back to the 1755 Expulsion.
International Journal of Canadian Studies, 2016
This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Acadian Congress, a ci... more This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Acadian Congress, a civil society platform established over 20 years ago as a means of building bridges between Acadians from around the world. Despite the most recent attempt in 2014 to promote Acadie in a manner that would stimulate community building through economic cooperation, I argue that, in scholarship primarily, the congress is (naturally) a product of the history of the New Brunswick Acadian national ideology and that despite an idealistic desire to embrace a movement of cultural change that would see all diasporic Acadians in social agreement, the organization continues to rest on the modernizing ideology in a manner that benefits chiefly the Acadian territorial/hegemonic beacon of New Brunswick. To counter this natural, yet hegemonic, trend, I follow the call of certain Acadian elites by proposing that scholarship in Acadian studies leads the way by diversifying itself to include more expanded re...
The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2013
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2015
At 441 pages, Oral History at the Crossroads, written by Steven High (professor and Canada Resear... more At 441 pages, Oral History at the Crossroads, written by Steven High (professor and Canada Research Chair in Oral History at Concordia University), appears to be leaning toward the hefty side of the page count, but a quick look at the table of contents will show that some 140 pages of that is actually appendices, notes, bibliography, and indexes (though the author does a great job of getting you to delve into those materials, craving explanation). An easy, flowing read, Oral History at the Crossroads documents a Canadian, federally funded, seven-year project that sought to recount the life stories of more than 500 individuals currently living in Montreal, Canada, who experienced mass displacement as a result of violence around the world. The project initiative, known as the Montreal Life Stories project, aimed not only to document these hundreds of oral histories in an attempt to understand what it means to be a survivor of mass violence living in North America, but to document these oral histories in a way that challenges previous research methods through the initiative of "shared authority" where organizers, researchers, volunteers, participants, etc., all became part of a community as equal partners in research collaboration. Readers of the book are introduced to the Montreal Life Stories project through excerpts of the gut-wrenching testimony of a Rwandan-Belgian who witnessed firsthand the mass murdering in 1994. This testimony is so emotionally charged that, as a reader, I felt like I was there with the participant, interviewer, and videographer, partaking in their interaction. This, no doubt, was the exact intent of this first introductory chapter; to lure the reader into the book and thus the project through an example of what the members of this research initiative experienced during the seven years of the Montreal Life Stories project. Oral History at the Crossroads is a two-section read covering 10 chapters. The first, "Mutual Sightings," explores the process and experience of the life story interview from six different angles, one angle per chapter. Chapter 1 is a bit of a mishmash of testimonies from both interviewers and interviewees who share their thoughts on the whole interview process and its significance. The following chapters in the first section of the book concentrate on different groups from within the project. Chapter 2, "A Flower in the River," sensitively illustrates how the Rwandan community of Montreal has banded together in their need to remember by sharing their stories with their families and commemorating the genocide every April. Chapter 3, "Bearing Witness," looks at the impact Holocaust survivors have made through their educational activism in Montreal, an aspect largely overlooked in oral history documentation. It is incredibly insightful to read, for example, how docents choose to tell their own personal story depending on their audience. Chapter 4, "Regenerative Possibilities," explores how (inter)generational dialogue was activated throughout the project and throughout the different groups of survivors. Chapter 5, "Remembering Haiti," looks keenly into the place of youth in the oral histories
RESUME Cette etude presente une analyse variationniste des adverbes de restriction en francais al... more RESUME Cette etude presente une analyse variationniste des adverbes de restriction en francais albertain. Trois variantes sont examinees, a savoir, seulement, rien que et juste. Ces trois formes entrent en correlation avec differents facteurs linguistiques et sociaux: ...
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2013
This seventh edition of Mass Communication in Canada provides an up-to-date approach to presentin... more This seventh edition of Mass Communication in Canada provides an up-to-date approach to presenting and analyzing traditional media, digitization and new, ground-gaining forms of social media. With a new, full-color format, opening questions and learning objectives for each of the 12 chapters, an attractive design that reflects the digital world of today's communication, textboxes to highlight and profile different topics, and online ancillaries to help in course planning and studying, Gasher, Skinner, and Lorimer have produced an eyecatching, user-friendly textbook for any university undergraduate invested in a good liberal arts education. Comprised of four sections, this textbook instills the reader's interest from the beginning with an immediate connection to today's ever-changing globalizing world. Each section delves extensively into Canada's past, present, and future communications industry and leaves the reader wanting to investigate further through actual research and analysis. Part I: "The Socio-Cultural Context" introduces the reader to the broad themes of mass communication in today's modern world, providing an array of applicable definitions used throughout the book, both necessary for the authors' critical perspective as well as for the reader's basic understanding of the topic and flow between chapters. The intertwining roles between society, culture, identity, and communications is presented through a historical evolution of the modern mass media, effectively underlining the constant and increasing relationship between mass communication, politics, and economics. Part II: "Theoretical Perspectives" begins with a well-rounded introduction to different theories and approaches to studying various media, such as Marx's social and political
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2013
ABSTRACT Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by tho... more ABSTRACT Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the community’s elite—its leaders. Rarely has Acadie been described through the voices of its members. The first of its kind, this article is part of a larger study (ethnographic in nature) that seeks to understand the relation between the Acadian identity of the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the French language. To do so, the meanings, similarities and differences between the concepts of Acadie and Acadien are compared and contrasted through an analysis of ideological discourse within New Brunswick’s three French-speaking communities. In doing so, regional tendencies in the role of language in the Acadian identity emerge, illustrating that the common rhetoric of previous years used in the description of Acadie and the Acadiens as poorly composed, limited, and misrepresented.
Études
The enigmas of Acadie and Acadien have long been focal points of discussion and debate in Acadian... more The enigmas of Acadie and Acadien have long been focal points of discussion and debate in Acadian Studies, particularly in New Brunswick, where regional ideologies persist despite a collective understanding of the impact of globalization on Acadians as a cultural minority. Unfortunately, not much place has been granted to other Acadian communities in this discussion, such as the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, whose residents are among the one million individuals of Acadian heritage currently living in Quebec. Despite outward efforts by organizations such as the Congrès mondial acadien to promote Acadie as an inclusive community, it continues to be defined and shaped by its New Brunswick elite. The current study gives voice to those Acadians less heard – les Madelinots – through a qualitative analysis of data from the 2004 collection ArtcaDit: témoignages vivants sur l’identité acadienne. This study illustrates the ideological attachment of the Madelinots to their environment and shared past ...
American Review of Canadian Studies
This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Aca-dian Congress, a civil... more This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Aca-dian Congress, a civil society platform established over 20 years ago as a means of building bridges between Acadians from around the world. Despite the most recent attempt in 2014 to promote Acadie in a manner that would stimulate community building through economic cooperation, I argue that, in scholarship primarily, the congress is (naturally) a product of the history of the New Brunswick Acadian national ideology and that despite an idealistic desire to embrace a movement of cultural change that would see all diasporic Acadians in social agreement, the organization continues to rest on the modernizing ideology in a manner that benefits chiefly the Acadian territorial/ hegemonic beacon of New Brunswick. To counter this natural, yet hegemonic, trend, I follow the call of certain Acadian elites by proposing that scholarship in Acadian studies leads the way by diversifying itself to include more expanded representation of la grande Acadie (the full diaspora) so that Acadians and Acadian enthusiasts may better understand their role and options in the new economy and establish educational institutions more firmly within the debate platform of Acadie as a civil society. Résumé Cet article trace un portrait de l'organisme le plus célèbre d'Acadie, le Congrès mondial acadien, une plateforme de la société civile fondée il y a 20 ans dans le but de construire des ponts entre les Acadiens du monde entier. Je soutiens que malgré la plus récente tentative, en 2014, de promou-voir l'Acadie de manière a ` stimuler la solidarité par la coopération e ´conomi-que, le Congrès est un produit naturel de l'histoire de l'idéologie nationale acadienne du Nouveau-Brunswick, et qu'en dépit du désir idéaliste d'adhérer a ` un mouvement de transformation culturelle qui unirait socialement toute la diaspora acadienne, l'organisme continue de reposer sur l'idéologie de modernisation qui profite avant tout a ` son principal territoire, le Nouveau-Brunswick. En riposte a ` cette tendance aussi naturelle qu'hégémonique, je poursuis l'appel de certaines e ´lites acadiennes en proposant que les auteurs d'e ´tudes acadiennes ouvrent la voie en se diversifiant de manière a ` inclure
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2014
Acadie's existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New ... more Acadie's existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New Brunswick francophones in an effort to elucidate what is understood by the term Acadie. The author presents three Acadian discourse periods and a typological framework that have served to define Acadie in academic literature. Focussing on data collected as part of a larger project on Acadian identity, the author validates this framework through qualitative analyses, proving the existence of ideological diversity in that province that led francophones to interpret the term Acadie differently. The author concludes by postulating that Acadie is perhaps best understood as a co-linguistic community located within the Maritime provinces whose founding members are francophones and whose heritage can be traced back to the 1755 Expulsion.
Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the... more Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the community’s elite—its leaders. Rarely has Acadie been described through the voices of its members. The first of its kind, this article is part of a larger study (ethnographic in nature) that seeks to understand the relation between the Acadian identity of the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the French language. To do so, the meanings, similarities and differences between the concepts of Acadie and Acadien are compared and contrasted through an analysis of ideological discourse within New Brunswick’s three French-speaking communities. In doing so, regional tendencies in the role of language in the Acadian identity emerge, illustrating that the common rhetoric of previous years used in the description of Acadie and the Acadiens as poorly composed, limited, and misrepresented.
The Construction of Canadian Identity from Abroad, 2022
Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2016
This study addresses possible benefits of study abroad on second language fluency. Specifically, ... more This study addresses possible benefits of study abroad on second language fluency. Specifically, we compare the use of disfluencies as an indicator of in-class second language proficiency among American students of French who had studied abroad in France for 6 months with that of similar students who had not studied abroad. Despite numerous past studies, the field of second language acquisition has not yet conclusively demonstrated a “linear pattern of development” (Jensen & Howard, 2014) in proficiency among learners on study abroad. Data were collected post-sojourn in three informal small-group discussions with six undergraduate students enrolled in an intermediate French course at a U.S. liberal arts college in 2014. The data were analyzed for the use of filled pauses, silent pauses, and self-repairs. Despite project limitations that call for extended research on the topic, overall results suggest that study abroad decreases learners’ post-sojourn use of all three types of disflu...
British Journal of Canadian Studies, 2018
Abstract:In the year when Canadians celebrate 150 years of confederation, we recognise the freque... more Abstract:In the year when Canadians celebrate 150 years of confederation, we recognise the frequent absence of cultural minorities from national commemorative events, such as the Acadians. However, minority commemorative events serve as a strong factor in helping maintain ideologies, as imposed on the minority's general population by their cultural elite. In addition to a synthesis of ideological evidence in Acadian commemorative events, the current project addresses the importance of ethnographic work in the study of ideology of small 'nations'. Drawing upon a series of open-ended interviews, a collection known as the 2004 ArtcaDIT corpus collected by Le Musée acadien du Québec, this article details the results of a short content analysis of transcribed oral testimonies by New Brunswick Acadians who reflect on the impact and purpose of the 2004 Acadian Quadricentennial Celebration. While the data set is small, patterns suggest that views among New Brunswick Acadians of 2004 do in fact corroborate the Acadian national ideology imposed by the Acadian elite who have sought cultural minority protection of l'Acadie moderne through linguistic rights and duality. However, these results are not exclusive, as a number of testimonies also suggest a lingering adherence to traditional Acadian views that emphasises the importance of history and genealogy. Finally, this article demonstrates again the presence of the Acadian 'dilemma' which could be alleviated by further studying ideologies within other Acadian regions.
Journal of Canadian Studies, 2011
Acadie’s existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New ... more Acadie’s existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New Brunswick francophones in an effort to elucidate what is understood by the term Acadie. The author presents three Acadian discourse periods and a typological framework that have served to define Acadie in academic literature. Focussing on data collected as part of a larger project on Acadian identity, the author validates this framework through qualitative analyses, proving the existence of ideological diversity in that province that led francophones to interpret the term Acadie differently. The author concludes by postulating that Acadie is perhaps best understood as a co-linguistic community located within the Maritime provinces whose founding members are francophones and whose heritage can be traced back to the 1755 Expulsion.
International Journal of Canadian Studies, 2016
This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Acadian Congress, a ci... more This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Acadian Congress, a civil society platform established over 20 years ago as a means of building bridges between Acadians from around the world. Despite the most recent attempt in 2014 to promote Acadie in a manner that would stimulate community building through economic cooperation, I argue that, in scholarship primarily, the congress is (naturally) a product of the history of the New Brunswick Acadian national ideology and that despite an idealistic desire to embrace a movement of cultural change that would see all diasporic Acadians in social agreement, the organization continues to rest on the modernizing ideology in a manner that benefits chiefly the Acadian territorial/hegemonic beacon of New Brunswick. To counter this natural, yet hegemonic, trend, I follow the call of certain Acadian elites by proposing that scholarship in Acadian studies leads the way by diversifying itself to include more expanded re...
The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2013
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2015
At 441 pages, Oral History at the Crossroads, written by Steven High (professor and Canada Resear... more At 441 pages, Oral History at the Crossroads, written by Steven High (professor and Canada Research Chair in Oral History at Concordia University), appears to be leaning toward the hefty side of the page count, but a quick look at the table of contents will show that some 140 pages of that is actually appendices, notes, bibliography, and indexes (though the author does a great job of getting you to delve into those materials, craving explanation). An easy, flowing read, Oral History at the Crossroads documents a Canadian, federally funded, seven-year project that sought to recount the life stories of more than 500 individuals currently living in Montreal, Canada, who experienced mass displacement as a result of violence around the world. The project initiative, known as the Montreal Life Stories project, aimed not only to document these hundreds of oral histories in an attempt to understand what it means to be a survivor of mass violence living in North America, but to document these oral histories in a way that challenges previous research methods through the initiative of "shared authority" where organizers, researchers, volunteers, participants, etc., all became part of a community as equal partners in research collaboration. Readers of the book are introduced to the Montreal Life Stories project through excerpts of the gut-wrenching testimony of a Rwandan-Belgian who witnessed firsthand the mass murdering in 1994. This testimony is so emotionally charged that, as a reader, I felt like I was there with the participant, interviewer, and videographer, partaking in their interaction. This, no doubt, was the exact intent of this first introductory chapter; to lure the reader into the book and thus the project through an example of what the members of this research initiative experienced during the seven years of the Montreal Life Stories project. Oral History at the Crossroads is a two-section read covering 10 chapters. The first, "Mutual Sightings," explores the process and experience of the life story interview from six different angles, one angle per chapter. Chapter 1 is a bit of a mishmash of testimonies from both interviewers and interviewees who share their thoughts on the whole interview process and its significance. The following chapters in the first section of the book concentrate on different groups from within the project. Chapter 2, "A Flower in the River," sensitively illustrates how the Rwandan community of Montreal has banded together in their need to remember by sharing their stories with their families and commemorating the genocide every April. Chapter 3, "Bearing Witness," looks at the impact Holocaust survivors have made through their educational activism in Montreal, an aspect largely overlooked in oral history documentation. It is incredibly insightful to read, for example, how docents choose to tell their own personal story depending on their audience. Chapter 4, "Regenerative Possibilities," explores how (inter)generational dialogue was activated throughout the project and throughout the different groups of survivors. Chapter 5, "Remembering Haiti," looks keenly into the place of youth in the oral histories
RESUME Cette etude presente une analyse variationniste des adverbes de restriction en francais al... more RESUME Cette etude presente une analyse variationniste des adverbes de restriction en francais albertain. Trois variantes sont examinees, a savoir, seulement, rien que et juste. Ces trois formes entrent en correlation avec differents facteurs linguistiques et sociaux: ...
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2013
This seventh edition of Mass Communication in Canada provides an up-to-date approach to presentin... more This seventh edition of Mass Communication in Canada provides an up-to-date approach to presenting and analyzing traditional media, digitization and new, ground-gaining forms of social media. With a new, full-color format, opening questions and learning objectives for each of the 12 chapters, an attractive design that reflects the digital world of today's communication, textboxes to highlight and profile different topics, and online ancillaries to help in course planning and studying, Gasher, Skinner, and Lorimer have produced an eyecatching, user-friendly textbook for any university undergraduate invested in a good liberal arts education. Comprised of four sections, this textbook instills the reader's interest from the beginning with an immediate connection to today's ever-changing globalizing world. Each section delves extensively into Canada's past, present, and future communications industry and leaves the reader wanting to investigate further through actual research and analysis. Part I: "The Socio-Cultural Context" introduces the reader to the broad themes of mass communication in today's modern world, providing an array of applicable definitions used throughout the book, both necessary for the authors' critical perspective as well as for the reader's basic understanding of the topic and flow between chapters. The intertwining roles between society, culture, identity, and communications is presented through a historical evolution of the modern mass media, effectively underlining the constant and increasing relationship between mass communication, politics, and economics. Part II: "Theoretical Perspectives" begins with a well-rounded introduction to different theories and approaches to studying various media, such as Marx's social and political
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2013
ABSTRACT Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by tho... more ABSTRACT Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the community’s elite—its leaders. Rarely has Acadie been described through the voices of its members. The first of its kind, this article is part of a larger study (ethnographic in nature) that seeks to understand the relation between the Acadian identity of the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the French language. To do so, the meanings, similarities and differences between the concepts of Acadie and Acadien are compared and contrasted through an analysis of ideological discourse within New Brunswick’s three French-speaking communities. In doing so, regional tendencies in the role of language in the Acadian identity emerge, illustrating that the common rhetoric of previous years used in the description of Acadie and the Acadiens as poorly composed, limited, and misrepresented.
Études
The enigmas of Acadie and Acadien have long been focal points of discussion and debate in Acadian... more The enigmas of Acadie and Acadien have long been focal points of discussion and debate in Acadian Studies, particularly in New Brunswick, where regional ideologies persist despite a collective understanding of the impact of globalization on Acadians as a cultural minority. Unfortunately, not much place has been granted to other Acadian communities in this discussion, such as the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, whose residents are among the one million individuals of Acadian heritage currently living in Quebec. Despite outward efforts by organizations such as the Congrès mondial acadien to promote Acadie as an inclusive community, it continues to be defined and shaped by its New Brunswick elite. The current study gives voice to those Acadians less heard – les Madelinots – through a qualitative analysis of data from the 2004 collection ArtcaDit: témoignages vivants sur l’identité acadienne. This study illustrates the ideological attachment of the Madelinots to their environment and shared past ...
American Review of Canadian Studies
This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Aca-dian Congress, a civil... more This article analyzes Acadie's most celebrated organization, the World Aca-dian Congress, a civil society platform established over 20 years ago as a means of building bridges between Acadians from around the world. Despite the most recent attempt in 2014 to promote Acadie in a manner that would stimulate community building through economic cooperation, I argue that, in scholarship primarily, the congress is (naturally) a product of the history of the New Brunswick Acadian national ideology and that despite an idealistic desire to embrace a movement of cultural change that would see all diasporic Acadians in social agreement, the organization continues to rest on the modernizing ideology in a manner that benefits chiefly the Acadian territorial/ hegemonic beacon of New Brunswick. To counter this natural, yet hegemonic, trend, I follow the call of certain Acadian elites by proposing that scholarship in Acadian studies leads the way by diversifying itself to include more expanded representation of la grande Acadie (the full diaspora) so that Acadians and Acadian enthusiasts may better understand their role and options in the new economy and establish educational institutions more firmly within the debate platform of Acadie as a civil society. Résumé Cet article trace un portrait de l'organisme le plus célèbre d'Acadie, le Congrès mondial acadien, une plateforme de la société civile fondée il y a 20 ans dans le but de construire des ponts entre les Acadiens du monde entier. Je soutiens que malgré la plus récente tentative, en 2014, de promou-voir l'Acadie de manière a ` stimuler la solidarité par la coopération e ´conomi-que, le Congrès est un produit naturel de l'histoire de l'idéologie nationale acadienne du Nouveau-Brunswick, et qu'en dépit du désir idéaliste d'adhérer a ` un mouvement de transformation culturelle qui unirait socialement toute la diaspora acadienne, l'organisme continue de reposer sur l'idéologie de modernisation qui profite avant tout a ` son principal territoire, le Nouveau-Brunswick. En riposte a ` cette tendance aussi naturelle qu'hégémonique, je poursuis l'appel de certaines e ´lites acadiennes en proposant que les auteurs d'e ´tudes acadiennes ouvrent la voie en se diversifiant de manière a ` inclure
American Review of Canadian Studies, 2014
Acadie's existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New ... more Acadie's existence has long been debated. This article analyzes the ideological discourse of New Brunswick francophones in an effort to elucidate what is understood by the term Acadie. The author presents three Acadian discourse periods and a typological framework that have served to define Acadie in academic literature. Focussing on data collected as part of a larger project on Acadian identity, the author validates this framework through qualitative analyses, proving the existence of ideological diversity in that province that led francophones to interpret the term Acadie differently. The author concludes by postulating that Acadie is perhaps best understood as a co-linguistic community located within the Maritime provinces whose founding members are francophones and whose heritage can be traced back to the 1755 Expulsion.
Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the... more Until now, Acadie and its representations have always been determined in academia by those of the community’s elite—its leaders. Rarely has Acadie been described through the voices of its members. The first of its kind, this article is part of a larger study (ethnographic in nature) that seeks to understand the relation between the Acadian identity of the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the French language. To do so, the meanings, similarities and differences between the concepts of Acadie and Acadien are compared and contrasted through an analysis of ideological discourse within New Brunswick’s three French-speaking communities. In doing so, regional tendencies in the role of language in the Acadian identity emerge, illustrating that the common rhetoric of previous years used in the description of Acadie and the Acadiens as poorly composed, limited, and misrepresented.