L’hospitalité en milieu associatif : entre idéal et praxis. Imaginaire postcolonial et relations entre les participants à un cours de français

Abstract

This article deals with the construction of interpersonal relations between participants in French courses organized in a French association specializing in welcoming migrants and homeless people. We first emphasize the connections between colonialism and the practices linked to institutional hospitality and language teaching. We then present, based on the analysis of excerpts of conversations and interactions recorded during French classes, the transversal and shared nature of the postcolonial imagination. We demonstrate how participants in French courses update, reaffirm or challenge it, in processes of alterization and identification. We emphasize how this imagination structures the didactic context, (re)produces social stratification and establishes power relationships.