The French Institute of Valencia, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice-principal for Culture of the Universitat de València and other entities, will present next Friday, 8 April, at 18 hours, in La Nau, the cycle ‘Rostros de la Francofonía’ (‘Faces of the Francophonie’). The professor Christine Desouches and the sociologist Dominique Wolton, two French personalities that have deeply worked on the notion of ‘Francophonie and diversity, will inaugurate this cycle, with the conference ‘Francofonía, diversidad y modernidad’ (‘Francophonie, diversity and modernity’).  Admission is free.

The event will be presented by the vice-principal for Culture and Equality of the Universitat de València, Antonio Ariño and the director of the French Institute of Valencia, Gérard Teulière. Once the round table finishes will celebrate a concert by Lina Doran at the French Institute of Valencia, after 21:30 hours.

This cycle’s aim is to make visible the francophone culture through a wide programme of activities on the occasion of the day of the Francophonie, that will be celebrated in about eighty countries around the world that have French as an official language or that belong to the International Organisation of La Francophonie, as members or observers.

The origin of this term dates back to the XIX century, when the geographer Onésime Reclus coined the word ‘francofonía’, to which the poet an Senegalese president Senghor, almost a century later, defined as ‘an integral humanism that is built around the lands and the awakening of the nations to their complementary warmth’.

The ‘Rostros de la Francofonía’ is a debate forum, organised by the Institut Français and other Valencian entities, about the evolution of French, its teaching, its future, its use in business and science and about the general cultural and linguistic diversity in the world. They are also a cultural sample in which artistic, musical, cinematographic and literary expressions of the different countries that form the countries of the francophone area are presented.

In the cycle there will be participating writers such as Romaion Puértolas, Yasmina Khasdra, Yahhia Belaskri, Monique Proulx, from the musical groups Nes, Lina Doran, Annick Tangorra, Kuami Mensah and exhibitions in charge of Omar Berrada and Aida Colmenero, apart from a wide programme of cultural activities and films. More information at: http://www.institutfrancais.es/valencia/

CHRISTINE DESOUCHES
Christine Desouches is a professor at university in Political Science (Paris I University) and a lawyer. She has been assistant director of the Centre for Legal Studies of the African World, and special advisor of the Secretary General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, responsible of political and diplomatic issues, in particular of situations of recovering from crisis, transition and peace consolidation.

Her main works are about the African constitutions published in French, the decentralised and multilateral French-speaking countries cooperation, and the Senegalese democracy.

She is a great expert on all the problematics of the French-speaking world, both linguistics and politics.

DOMINIQUE WOLTON
Sociologists, director of the Institut des Sciences de a Communication of the National Centre of Scientific research of France, where he also directed the programme Science, Technology and Society. Creator of the laboratory Communication and Politics. Founder of the magazine ‘Hermès’, dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of communication. Director of editoral collection.

During his 40 years of research, Wolton has explored huge topics such as the individual and the couple, work, media, knowledge and communication, public space and political communication, cultural diversity and globalisation, the Francophonie, etc. He wrote about thirty books, that have been translated into twenty languages, about sociology, communication and Francophonie.