Louisiana was born in the Caribbean and raised in America. Having spent so much of my life relishing in the bacchanal of the French Quarter, I learned from an early age the deep impact that Louisiana’s Creole communities had on the state’s culture. I recognized that the architectural motifs and accents around me did not resonate with what I knew about the South. The world around me was not as exotic as it appeared to the throngs of tourists, but was its own normal. I found my recognition of Creole Louisiana to emerge after Hurricane Katrina when my father made a stronger effort to teach me French and I had the unique opportunity to learn St. Lucian Creole and some Kouri-Vini from native speakers around whom I grew up. The confluence of my father’s renewed interest in transmitting French to me and learning more about how Caribbean cultures found resonance in New Orleans awoke in me how the city could also be understood as a northern Caribbean city that shares larger connections with a world beyond the US South.
I pursued my interest in Louisiana’s Creole communities at the University of Virginia, where I had the opportunity to conduct research on the legal constructions of race in Louisiana and how that influenced Americanization and legal challenges against binary segregation. In my research, I recognized the deliberate politics of late 19th Century New Orleans that led to the systematic political dismantling of the city’s downtown Creole communities. Having grown up with neighbors who did speak some Kouri-Vini and a family that promoted Francophone schools where to educate their children, I became cognizant of how present efforts to promote Francophone and Creolophone communities in Louisiana are intricately linked to the legacy of political dismantling.
During my studies at Sciences Po Paris, I had the opportunity to attend the education conference of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), which is an international organization tasked with promoting the interests of Francophone communities and supporting initiatives at a local-level to realize Francophone programs. At the conference, I learned that Quebec was a full member, while Louisiana had no official status. Louisiana’s is unique in that it is home to both Creolophone and Francophone communities, with an estimated 250,000 speakers. Considering that French and Creole have been dominant languages in our state for well over 200 of our 300-year history, I thought it important to rethink Louisiana as a Francophone and Creolophone society that has become Anglophone, rather than an Anglophone society with Francophone and Creolophone inflections.
Following this meeting at the OIF, I reached out to State Senator Eric LaFleur and the Executive Director of CODOFIL, Charles Larroque, to ask them about launching an initiative for Louisiana to join the OIF in an official capacity. I then met with representatives from the OIF, who expressed their interest in having Louisiana join as an observer and create a special status for us. As the process advances, Governor Edwards has signed a letter expressing Louisiana’s interest to join the OIF and we are working the State Department to write a letter requesting Louisiana to join as well. Once these letters are officially sent, the OIF will consider the proposal and be able to vote on our adhesion at the upcoming 2018 OIF conference in Yerevan.
Beyond gaining official recognition for our state’s unique Francophone and Creolophone communities, the benefits of becoming an observer would be numerous. Official status as a member is reserved for nation states. But as an observer, Louisiana is eligible to join the Association Universitaire de la Franocophonie (AUF), which would allow higher education institutes to welcome students, researchers, and millions in grant funds to bolster academic programs. At a time of steep higher education cuts, this would be a welcomed boost and give clout to the economic importance of Francophone speakers in the state. Louisiana could also more easily work with French-language businesses and participate in forums to attract external investment.
When reflecting on how the forces unleashed to erode Louisiana’s Creole cultures were deeply political, our efforts to promote Creolophone and Francophone communities today should seek to create a new framework for us to flourish culturally, economically, and politically. I see the OIF initiative as a strong tool in our arsenal to work with stakeholders who want to see Louisiana look outwards towards the broader world.
-Scott Tilton
Contact: scott.tilton@sciencespo.fr
Joseph Dunn says
This is interesting. It was during my mandate as Director of CODOFIL that we resigned the French-Louisiana Accords in Paris in October 2012 on a mission led by then-Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne.
Our delegation met with then-Secretary General Abdou Diouf at the Maison de la Francophonie in Paris. During the meeting, we broached this very subject, as my predecessor David Cheramie had done during his mandate as ED of CODOFIL.
The SG informed us that allowing Louisiana to become a member of even observer of the OIF would require the governing charter of the agency to be completely reworked. Furthermore, since membership first defined by federal status, the United States would have to be a member in order for Louisiana to gain an official status. The SG suggested and recommended that Louisiana continue to attend the Sommets de la Francophonie as an invité spécial and to participate in OIF projects through its different operators, namely the AIMF (Association International des Maires Francophones), the APF (Association des Parlementaires Francophones, the AUF (Association Universitaire de la Francophonie), TV5MONDE et the FFA (Forum Francophone des Affaires).
It will be fascinating to see how this plays out, because there is also a CONSIDERABLE financial obligation to participate fully in the OIF. In 2008, Greece contributed $5 million US to the organisation in order to change from observer to full member status. Given the current ultra conservative fiscal climate in Louisiana politics, I’m not very optimistic about such a plan moving forward.
Scott Tilton says
I appreciate your insight from your role as Director of CODOFIL. The legal dimension was an important factor that I made sure to follow up on in my meeting with Ambassador Bilodeau. Full membership is reserved for countries, so that would block us from being a full-fledged member down the road. However, in talking with Ambassador Bilodeau, the OIF is open to voting on a special status for Louisiana as an observer knowing that the US does not plan to join. The key here then is to have the US make an official request for Louisiana to join as an observer.
As of now, the next step is to have the State Department officially write the letter asking Louisiana to join as an observer, which I am working on through the US embassy here in Paris at with Senator Cassidy’s office. If we have both of our letters sent, then at least a proper debate and other issues can be raised before any vote is made regarding our status at the 2018 Yerevan Conference.
Regarding the costs, observer status is significantly cheaper, around 10K euros annually. If we did obtain observer status, Louisiana would be eligible to receive millions in return through the Agence universitaire de la Franocophonie and other multilateral OIF programs. So I think a strong economic argument can be made as well.