Christine Dallaire & Jean Harvey – University of Ottawa
Français
This comparative research focuses on Francophone minority and majority identities emulated by youth participating in Canada’s Francophone and Quebec Games. 1) It begins with a study of discourse on Francophone identities at the Games. The Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française (FJCF) created the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne to instil a sense of belonging among Francophone youth and thus counter the growth of language transfer and support the development of minority communities. These Games gather adolescents from Francophone minority communities, as well as young Quebec athletes. How do they define “Francophone” in a gathering that includes youth from minority communities as well as from a majority community that controls a provincial government? The Jeux du Québec fall under Quebec’s policy on sports and recreation and help build a distinct cultural identity, that of the “Quebec nation.” Do these Games, held solely in French, promote a cultural or linguistic and civic identity of the Quebec nation? The analysis will also cover the federal and Quebec governments, which support and finance these Games for reasons of identity building and sport development. Lastly, the study will cover youth discourse on identity. Is theirs a reflection of prevailing discourse or do they define themselves differently? How are the identities of Francophone minority youth linked to Quebec youth at the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne? 2) The study also covers the convergence of discourse on identity and on sport. To what extent do sports promote the reflection of Francophone identities at these Games? The proposed research will address the complementarity or conflictual linkage between the Games’ sports and identity goals. 3) The third objective of this research is to evaluate the benefits that youth claim to derive from their participation in the Games. What benefits do they think they derive from the Games? Do the Games spur their Francophone pride? Do they benefit in a particular way from the gathering and sociability of youth? Do the Games improve their sports performance or encourage the practice of sports?
This study is a continuation of the work undertaken to answer the question “Who is a Francophone?” It will also assess the benefits that youth derive from their participation in the Games. It will examine their motivation as well as their experience in the Games. The analysis will lead to an assessment of the benefits for the participants as well as the contribution of the Games to the promotion of sports. These results will be useful to organizers in improving the organization of the Games. They will be used by decision-makers and policy-makers to better understand and consider the various dimensions of the impact of youth participation in the Games. This project will thus contribute to the study of sports and identity policies, as it approaches the issue from a new angle by focussing on the identities emulated by youth in these political contexts.
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