You’ve heard by now enough good wishes to sigh at the sight of mine…I know, I feel the same, yet a new year is always something exciting, for us, scholars, a new beginning, a renewed energy and a time to make our little cosmo voice a bit stronger!
A wonderful old man who drafted the Declaration of Human Rights has now signed a controversial book I invite you all to read for yourselves if you read french and I have no doubt it will soon be translated. I haven’t yet had time to read it myself, but my whole life is a perpetual indignation against the general opinion and a fury that people don’t think for themselves so I can’t see how I could not agree with it…
What better way to start a year than with a bit of indignation???….HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!! LET IT BE THE YEAR FOR ALL OF US!!!! THE COSMO PEOPLE!
Facebook has been a fantastic opportunity for me to meet other networks and move from the NGO groups to new scholars and ideas. I still believe that Academie Sans Frontières is a worthwhile cause to promote and went one step forward this year by introducing a poll regarding a president for this informal group, a voice if you prefer, which you are all free to approve or suggest alternatives to! You have a full page in this blog to comment also on the universality of university, probably the cause closer to my heart as I believe we, scholars, have a responsibility to warn our fellow-citizens about the dangers of a lack of education (cf my November post with Ben Barber’s brilliant paper on this and december a fascinating paper by Renford Reese as well!)
I also created an ASF Page on Facebook so that you can add your own pages and get the info an easier way. However, I am first and foremost a sociolinguist and certainly dedicate my research to the relation between english as a global language and cultures. Having created a FB group certainly broadened my horizons!
Since last year, I reorganised my life in such a way that I should be able to contribute and update this blog more often! I remind those of you unfamiliar with this blog (and who can’t read the titles;-)—-) that you can
- have a direct access to my 1000 bibliographical entries and notes;
- read my multiculturalism page, contribute to spreading your calls for papers or conferences;
- describe your own cosmopolitan experience on our cosmo people page;
- discuss African and African-American issues on the dedicated page;
- Finally, my FB experience and new contacts has meant a world for me regarding minority and indigenous languages as I met remarkable scholars and learnt so much through their enthusiastic sharing of their research! I would thus like to share with you a video made by the University of Cambridge which was actually sent to me by an Arvanitika speaker who qualifies himself as a “terminal speaker”, Peter Constantine, a couple of minutes ago, regarding a fascinating group of romaika people still speaking ancient greek today
Did I say “Small World”? I mean it!!! Warm wishes and to wonderful new projects and new initiatives, with indignation or enthusiasm or firy dedication, as long as it’s not lukewarm, I’m all for it! This painting by the artist Romy, in black and white, with just a touch of red, simply transcribes in the most perfect manner my feelings and way to see life;-)
Daphné L. Romy-Masliah,
Baroness of Barnis-Forbes
French Citizen
Swiss Resident
of Jewish Tunisian, Turkish, Maltese and Italian descent,
Pour vous servir!
COSMO POLITIQUE 