In recent years, the visibility of non-binary individuals has greatly increased on both sides of the Atlantic. While the singular “they” has gained favor with many in English-speaking spaces, non-binary French-speaking people have faced other challenges regarding language and syntax, given the binary nature of French grammar. Increasingly, students of French and other binary-gendered languages are asking instructors for guidance on how to navigate and express non-binary gender in those languages. It is important to respond in ways that are linguistically coherent and also culturally situated. Vinay Swamy considers the French context and the import of imbricated relationships between language, gender and nation to understand the stakes at hand in creating and sustaining inclusive and expansive possibilities within Francophone linguistic, cultural and educational spaces.
Vinay Swamy is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College, NY. He received his doctorate in French Studies with a certificate in Gender Studies from Northwestern University. His teaching and research interests are located in French and Francophone literary and cinematic traditions and their intersection with political and cultural histories, as well as the construction of social identities in contemporary France. He also teaches in the International Studies and Women’s Studies programs. Professor Swamy is the author and editor of several works including Interpreting the Republic (Lexington Books, 2011); Screening Integration (University of Nebraska, 2011); Les Écrans de l’intégration (Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 2015); and “Legitimizing ‘iel’?” (H-France Salon, 2019 vol 11, issue 14). He is also the translator of Through the Keyhole (Manchester University Press, 2016) by Marcela Iacub. In 2021-22, Professor Swamy is pursuing his research on nonbinary gender as a Fulbright Research Scholar in France.
(Book in French, available in paper and epub formats from 1 Feb 2022).
