MICHEL DEGRAFF: So it was very, I would say,
crucial for me to do this interview in both English
and Creole, because I see Creole languages,
even in the case of Haiti-- especially in the case
of Haiti--
as a particularly revealing and clear test tube or case
study to really show how language
can be such a powerful tool either for domination
or for resistance, either for oppression or for development.
So I would love teachers who are watching this video
and will look at the course to see
how they can adapt the content in order
to address similar issues in their own community,
because I think that what you see happening
in the case of Creole languages also happens in the US,
happens in Europe, in Latin America,
in Africa, where language is often
used as this technology for domination or resistance.
And I think this course gives some basic analytical tools
to be able to analyze these patterns.
And for me, it's also very important
that teachers in Haiti and students in Haiti,
including, say, future leaders or policymakers,
get to understand this course and the readings
and to understand that Haiti could do so much
better if teachers, students, leaders
had this awareness of how our attitudes towards Creole
versus French have played over centuries in keeping
the country underdeveloped.
And if they could get a better sense of the importance
of language in education development,
then I think the country would do so much better.
For me, it's a key bottleneck that we
have to go past in order to really
be able to develop a nation, is to be
able to understand the history and the nature
of your ancestral language and to be
able to use it in a more systematic and productive way.
If you cannot do that, there is no way that you can develop
a whole nation that speaks that language.