Célestine Vaite’s multilingual ariting: A literary Tifaifai from the ‘inside-out’
This seminar will explore Tahitian author Celestine Vaite’s multilingual writing and the connections or reconnections forged by her use of the languages.
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Speaker Bios
Like Celestine Vaite, Manuia has a diasporic background. She was raised in New Caledonia, surrounded by various cultures and languages: French at school, Tahitian at home, the regional French of New Caledonia in informal venues. She learned Spanish and English at school, and after obtaining a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in English, Manuia became a teacher for the French government in her country. While working, Manuia did another Master’s in Literatures and Cultures of the Pacific, and eventually gave into the temptation to study how Vaite’s multilingual writing resonates with me both linguistically and culturally.