{"id":19277,"date":"2023-01-19T21:26:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=19277"},"modified":"2026-04-16T21:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:33:22","slug":"language-and-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2023\/01\/language-and-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Language and Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ashli Landa \/ Photo by Ethan Brown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you stroll into Alliance Fran\u00e7aise Mpls\/St Paul in Minneapolis, Marouane El Bahraoui \u02bc25 (Temara, Morocco) might be the first person you see at the receptionist\u2019s desk. He\u2019ll greet you in French, and show you to your class, walk you through one of the monthly art exhibits, or talk with you about upcoming Francophone events he’s coordinating. With support from Macalester’s French Department, he’s also focused on an internship project with a much wider scope: decolonization of the Francophone movement.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe [international Alliance Fran\u00e7aise] was started in the late 19th century to promote the language in French colonies,\u201d he says. \u201cMy goal with this project is to decolonize Francophone culture, because people who visit for classes or events should know that it\u2019s not all beautiful, spreading French culture and language. It started as a colonial movement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrancophones are not just French\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a French (and English and Arabic) speaker himself, El Bahraoui is eager to change public perception of what the \u201caverage\u201d French speaker looks like. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrancophone identity is not just mainland France,\u201d he says. \u201cIt could be North African, it could be West African, it could be Asian for the case of Cambodia, it could be from the Caribbean. That is Francophone identity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being immersed in the variety of nationalities in the Twin Cities is one of the elements El Bahraoui appreciates the most about his internship. \u201cI really enjoy getting to know the diverse communities here,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people coming from different places, different countries, and still enjoying and participating in Francophone culture. It\u2019s been so great talking to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFight the colonizer with their own language\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deeply invested in politics and history, El Bahraoui was inspired to start his research by the story of Haiti\u2019s uprising, revolution, and independence from French colonizers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe enslaved peoples there revolted against the French, using the same three words the French Revolution used: liberty, equality, and fraternity,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was the colonized saying, \u2018We\u2019ll gain our independence with your own language. We will be emancipated through the same language that you said is superior to ours.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complex intertwining of identity, culture, history, and language for French-speaking, non-white peoples is a subject El Bahraoui aims to bring to light through his internship project and other French-language publications: \u201cI\u2019m writing for the Alliance\u2019s blog, which I encouraged them to utilize. I\u2019m bringing this new voice of news and stories from other French-speaking regions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn different perspectives and from different lenses\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Mac, El Bahraoui found the foundations for a greater global focus, in and out of the classroom. \u201cAt Mac, internationalism is a big thing\u2014one of the school’s central pillars. We embrace that in class, conferences, and seminars, but I wanted to go beyond that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a friend, El Bahraoui created a radio show that invites international students to tell their stories and connect with their multicultural experiences through music. \u201cThat interaction with different people and embracing internationalism through music really broadened my perspective about a lot of things,” he says. “It\u2019s about understanding other cultures and societies from different perspectives and different lenses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of personal growth\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the opportunity to put into practice a cause close to his heart, El Bahraoui is also grateful for where his internship can take him in the future. He\u2019s aiming for a career in diplomacy, and knows the value of work experience and a strong global network and mindset. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe connections that I\u2019m making with people are the most important thing,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll carry them with me wherever I go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the diverse Twin Cities, Marouane El Bahraoui \u201925 has found opportunities to utilize his passion, advance his career, and bring an international lens to the local Francophone movement<\/p>","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":19319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19277"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30949,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19277\/revisions\/30949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}