The Centre for Latin American and European Studies, JMI took part in the recently concluded festival titled, “Espaces de Liberte,” La Fete de la Francophone at Jawaharlal Nehru University on March 21, 2014.
The event was organised by the Centre for French and Francophone Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU, which coincided with the World Francophone Day on March 21, 2014.
This one day festival featured ‘QUEBEC’ as the Francophone member country of honour this year and included a vast range of activities like debate, theatre, quiz, dance, group song etc.
The students of Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in French were accompanied by Professors Shubhada Kaul, Maitree Verma and Xavier.
The host for the day was Ms. Asha Puri, Asst. Professor, and the esteemed judges and guests of honour included dignitaries such as: Alain Olivier, Director of the Québec Government Office in Mumbai ; Abhijit Karkun, Chairperson, Centre for French and Francophone Studies; Arnaud Gaspart, Jean Yves Gillon, Lissette Martel and Pascal Fautrat.
The cultural program began with an introduction on Quebec by Marie Jose Charbonneau followed by a power point presentation by Alain Olivier, after which a spectacular interpretation of the French play ‘Plume’ was performed by the theatre group ‘TheatrAmaYur’ of JNU under the guidance of Madame Julie David.
The next event on the agenda was the inter-university debate on the topic: “Toute societe comprend la difference sans la comprendre dans son alterite” (All societies include differences without understanding it in its difference) which saw active participation from all levels of French speaking students. This was followed by the inter-university quiz competition which was a highly competitive affair.
The day ended on a perfect note with the cultural programmes scheduled for the evening which saw performances like song, dance, skit etc from different universities.
‘Espaces de Liberte’ saw active participation from the students of Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in French from Jamia Millia Islamia participating very actively in all of the events.
Ehtesham Khan, a student of Certificate in French received special mention by the judges for his spectacular performance in the debate.
The quiz team comprising Nabeel, Roshni Azmi and Hemant Kumar missed out on winning the competition by a very small margin.
JMI students also performed a skit titled, “La dot ou l’amour” (Dowry and Love) and a song titled, ‘Tu Sera.’ A solo dance by Anuradha, student of Diploma in French was also performed.
The ‘Espaces de Liberte’ saw the participation of French speaking students from JNU, Bharti Vidya Bhawan, JMI, Amity University and Alliance Francaise, thereby providing a perfect platform to all students to hone and showcase their French speaking skills.