Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-21
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Christophe Premat, Professor, Canadian and Cultural Studies, Stockholm University
Theannounced closureof theInternational Association of Quebec Studies(AIEQ) does not just mean the disappearance of one organization among others. It requires reflecting on the concrete conditions that make it possibleinternational circulation of knowledgeabout Quebec.
In the contemporary academic space, ideas, bodies of work, and debates do not circulate spontaneously. Their dissemination depends on often invisible infrastructures, made up of funding, networks, mediation devices, and actors capable of sustaining them. The AIEQ has long occupied this interface position, both discreet and structuring. However, the association is now threatened with closure following the withdrawal of funding granted by the Quebec Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie (MRIF), its main institutional supporter.
According to thejustifications advanced by the Quebec government, this decision would be part of a reorientation of the province’s budgetary and diplomatic priorities, as well as a desire to refocus public interventions on programs considered to be more directly aligned with Quebec’s economic and strategic objectives.
For several actors in the academic and cultural fields,this funding cuthowever weakens an essential instrument of cultural and scientific diplomacy, which had contributed for nearly thirty years to the international influence of Quebec and Quebec studies.
Making an object of study exist internationally
Created in 1997At the initiative of Quebec academics and institutions, with the support of the Government of Quebec, the AIEQ aims to structure and internationalize the field of Quebec studies. Its funding is primarily based on the support of the Government of Quebec, notably throughMinistry of International Relations and La Francophonie(MRIF), as well as on university and scientific partnerships. While Quebec has long been an object of analysis for historians, sociologists, or literary scholars, its international recognition remains uneven and largely dependent on individual initiatives.
To be“Québécois”, it is often working from outside Quebec, whether in Europe, Latin America, or Asia, onhis literature, its history, its political life, or its social transformations. It is also, more broadly, to participate in the construction of atransnational space for the production and circulation of knowledge about Quebec.
This space is all the more difficult to build because Quebec does not enjoy, on the global academic scene, the centrality of other national spaces. One of theessential contributions of the AIEQwas precisely to help establish this field by connecting dispersed researchers with each other.
AsresearcherFrench intoCanadian studies, I am interested in the circulation of knowledge and Francophone literatures, a dynamic that contributes to the competition of what is called thesoft powers, that is to say the forms of cultural, intellectual, and linguistic influence that a state or a Francophone space exerts internationally without resorting to political or military coercion.
Concrete achievements, at the heart of scientific trajectories
To measure this role, one must go down to the level of practices. The devices ofsupport for mobility, the organization of scientific events or the development of research networks play a structuring role in academic careers. They allow researchers and students to access resources, integrate into international scientific communities, and develop sustainable collaborations.
These initiatives also promote the circulation of knowledge and the visibility of Quebec and Francophone studies in various university settings. By supportingconferences, research stays, collective publications, or institutional partnerships, they help to integrate these objects of study into international dynamics of research and teaching.
In another register, thetours of Quebec writerssupported by the AIEQ allow foreign audiences to discover works that are often little broadcast outside of Quebec. When aresearcher is invitedIn several European universities, these meetings are not solely a matter of cultural mediation: they directly feed research, enrich teaching, and inspire new scientific projects.
These examples, among others, illustrate a fundamental reality: the AIEQ is not just a one-time funder. It intervenes at the heart of scientific trajectories, by facilitatingmeetings, by opening access and making possible projects that would otherwise remain as intentions.
An economy of scholarly exchanges
To fully understand this role, it is useful to employ the tools ofsociology of intellectual fields, notably those developed by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. From this perspective, the production of knowledge cannot be dissociated from the social conditions of its circulation. Ideas do not impose themselves solely by their content, but also by the networks that carry them, the institutions that legitimize them, and the resources that enable their dissemination.
In this perspective, the AIEQ can be seen as an actor in this “economy of scholarly exchanges.” It helps distribute resources – financial, symbolic, relational – that allow certain entities, here Quebec, to circulate in the international academic space. It also participates in the creation of a collective capital for the researchers affiliated with it, by offering them opportunities for visibility and recognition.
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In this perspective, the notion of Quebecism takes on a particular meaning. It does not only refer to an object of study, but to a position within a network of relationships. To be a Quebecist is to occupy a place in a network, to benefit from certain resources, but also to contribute to their reproduction by participating in collective projects, organizing events, or training new researchers.
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A cultural diplomacy without a direct state apparatus
The action of the AIEQ goes beyond the strict academic framework. By supporting the international dissemination of thecultureQuebecoise, she takes part in a form of cultural diplomacy that does not rely exclusively ontraditional state channels. It connects institutions, researchers, and the public, and promotescirculationswhich partly escape strictly political logics.
This dimension is particularly visible in contexts where Quebec is sparsely represented in university programs.In some universities in Central Europe or Asia, Quebec studies exist thanks to the commitment of a few individuals and the occasional support of organizations like the AIEQ. Without these intermediaries, thepresence of Quebec in these academic spaceswould be much more fragile, even nonexistent.
A structural fragility
Like many infrastructures of this type, the AIEQ relies on a precarious balance. Its capacity for action depends on limited public funding and the commitment of a dispersed network of partners. This fragility is not exceptional: it more broadly characterizes the mechanisms that support the humanities and social sciences, especially when they operate on an international scale.
The disappearance of the AIEQdoes not mean the end of Quebec studies. Researchers will continue to work, publish, and teach. But the conditions under which these activities take place will be changed. Opportunities for meetings will become rarer, collective projects will be more difficult to implement, and some academic spaces could gradually turn away from a subject that has become more difficult to access.
What the disappearance of an infrastructure reveals
Beyond the particular case of the AIEQ, it is the question of the circulation of knowledge that is at stake. In an academic world that strongly valuesinternationalization, the material and institutional conditions of this internationalization often remain underestimated.
The example ofQuebec studiesshows that this circulation depends on intermediary actors capable of connecting spaces, coordinating initiatives, and supporting trajectories. When these actors disappear, it is not only administrative structures that are extinguished, but networks, habits of collaboration, and forms of intellectual presence.
In this sense, theclosure of the AIEQdoes not constitute merely an institutional event. It calls for taking seriously these discreet infrastructures which, without directly producing knowledge, make its circulation possible. And it reminds us that the international visibility of a subject of study, far from being guaranteed, relies on collective, patient, and always fragile work.
Christophe Premat is the director of the Canadian Studies Center at Stockholm University. He is a member of the International Association of Quebec Studies (AIEQ). The Canadian Studies Center at Stockholm University has developed a strategy to promote Quebec studies for the period 2026-2028. He is co-editor-in-chief of the Nordic Journal of Francophone Studies, which has published interviews with Quebecois authors supported by AIEQ.
–ref. The end of the International Association for Quebec Studies: a worrying signal –https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-the-international-association-for-quebec-studies-a-worrying-signal-281695