La construction identitaire d'une exilée volontaire - parcours à travers les langues et les discours -

This study addresses issues of identity construction and processes of personal and ideological transformation through the experience of migration and contact with languages. I examine several questions such as the emergence of author's voice, language and power, migrantsf hybridity, and writing as locations for negotiating multiple identities. More specifically, I analyze my own situation as a multilingual French person in exile and my return to French writing in an Anglophone context (Vancouver, British Columbia). The theoretical framework of the study is based on socio-constructivist concepts linked to identity, language and writing. I adopt a view of identity that considers the multiplicity of subject positions, the relationship to the Other in socially unequal contexts and the fluid nature of identity construction. I examine how a person constructs new mixed identities in a linguistic minority context and in exile, and how they are expressed in the writing process. The study of my linguistic origins, as well as of the status of the French language and minority languages in France and in Canada reveals the challenges of maintaining a language in a minority context. The methodology used in this research consists of writing and interpreting autobiographical narratives and poetry. These texts reveal themes such as challenges linked to exile, tension amongst languages, multiplicity of voices and the emergence of a creative plural space. This research fostered a personal and ideological awareness in regard to linguistic richness and brought to light pedagogical implications linked to multiple identities in school settings. It provides a forum for extended reflection on languages in minority contexts and pluri1:ingualism in our contemporary societies. It also opens avenues for further exploration of identity construction and inclusion of linguistic diversity in classrooms.