Theo’s Choice: Celebrating Diversity in the Francophone World

The French Program will host the second public event of its Spring festival “Celebrating Diversity in the Francophone World”, a discussion with Professor Thomas Cauvin, Assistant Professor of Public History at Colorado State University and co-producer of the documentary “Theos’ Choice” (Le choix de Théo), a 2018 documentary film on French heritage and language revitalization efforts in Louisiana.

The documentary follows Theodore Brode, a young Louisiana French teacher hoping to revive and preserve the French language in his community. The film explores issues of language and identity, heritage, linguistic shift or maintenance through the idea of choice – the choice to speak, learn, and sometimes even teach, French in modern Louisiana. It also offers insights into the struggles of international teachers coming from all over the Francophone World to adapt to the US school system and to promote bilingualism.

This event does not include the screening of the film, which is available on the YouTube Channel of Télé Louisiane. The event is free and open to the public, but discussion participants should view the documentary before the session.

The discussion will be conducted in French.

This event was made possible thanks to the generous support of:

• The 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education
• The Department of French and Italian
• Canadian Studies
• The Humanities Council
• The Lewis Center for the Arts
• The Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES)
• The Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies

For more information, see the event listing.