Harbouring Francophone Public Administration in an International Congress: Challenges, Benefits, and a Glance Forward
authors
keywords
- Language and culture of public administration
- Anglosphere Francosphere
- International academic meetings
- Center-periphery cultural and scientific relations
document type
COUVabstract
In acknowledgment of its two founding languages, EGPA decided in 2011 to re-install a French-speaking area of scientific debate alongside its main English-speaking study groups. This raises several questions among which (a) the role of languages as media of scientific exchange in context-bound disciplines such as public administration, (b) the existence of a public administration “Francosphere” apposite to an established “Anglosphere”, (c) the risks of center-periphery homogenization of concepts induced by cultural and linguistic artefacts in the anglophone and the francophone world, and (d) the potential benefits of scientific exchange in a dual-language setting. A discussion ensues as to the capacity of the French-speaking seminar to act as moderator between research networks of different languages; the circulation of scientific concepts and public administration hot topics between EGPA and francophone networks is analyzed through a retrospective discussion of the themes of scientific gatherings and special issues over five years.