The jury of the Ramon Llull International Prize unanimously decided to award this distinction in its Catalanistics and Cultural Diversity modality to the Association française des catalanistes (AFC) currently chaired by Maria Immaculada Fàbregas Alegret.
The jury has emphasized this association’s commitment to the internationalization of Catalan through the studies it has led and carried out. It contributes to promoting Catalan language, literature and culture in a wide range of areas and in collaboration with French universities (and also with the Vives Network), other French and international scientific associations (Société française des hispanistes et ibéro-américanistes) (International Forum of Catalanist Associations) and organizations such as the Institut Ramon Llull or the Institut d 'Estudis Catalans.
Created in 1991, the AFC has an extensive Catalan curriculum in a country where Catalan is a native language but where its use is very limited despite public and private initiatives. The AFC publishes the Revue d 'études catalanes (REC) which, in order to increase its visibility, is now published in a digital version, supporting editorial activity in the Catalan language in French territory (through publications in the Trabucaire publishing firm in Perpignan) and various initiatives that contribute to the dissemination of Catalan. It also awards an annual research grant to young researchers from French universities who work on Catalan issues, regularly organises study seminars, round tables and conferences at French universities that attract researchers from France and around the world.
The AFC's work is essential to maintain and give prestige to the Catalan language in France. In this sense, it promotes and defends Catalan studies in French academia, which, despite the political vicissitudes, is the country (outside the Spanish state) with the most Catalan students (2,000 students in eighteen universities). France is also the only country offering not only Catalan language and culture classes, but also Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Catalan studies. The AFC ensures that Catalan studies at French universities are of sufficient quality and continue to attract more and more students.
The prize, endowed with €6,000, is announced annually and jointly by the Ramon Llull Foundation and the Congrés de Cultura Catalana Foundation. This acknowledgement aims to assess the whole of the individual work of a person from outside the linguistic domain, written in any language, and which has involved a remarkable knowledge of the Catalan historical and cultural reality, or the work of an institution from outside the linguistic domain dedicated to promoting the Catalan language and culture in their country, in modality a); or the theoretical or practical contribution of a person from any country that has involved an important contribution to the knowledge, recognition, promotion or defence of one or more stateless cultures and nations, or of cultural diversity as a universal value, in modality b).
This year, the jury was formed by Agustí Alcoberro, Carles Duarte, Teresa Fèrriz and Jaume Subirana, from the Fundació Congrés de Cultura Catalana; and Teresa Colom, Jordi Ginebra, Maria Josep Cuenca, and Joan Sans from the Fundació Ramon Llull.
This award was given for the first time in 1986 to the Anglo-Catalan Society and in recent editions the winners were Dominic Keown (2023), Mary Ann Newman (2022), Joseph Lo Bianco (2021), Ko Tazawa (2019), Christer Laurén (2018), Jon Landaburu (2017), Kathryn Woolard (2016) and Philip D. Rasico (2015).
The award to the Association française des catalanistes will be presented at a ceremony to be held in November in Andorra, where the Ramon Llull Awards will also be announced in the categories of literary translation and international promotion of Catalan creation.
Association française des catalanistes (AFC)
Catalan studies in French lands go back a long way. In 1969, Professor Mathilde Bensoussan began classes in Catalan language at the University of Rennes, thus becoming a pioneer in teaching Catalan in the French university world. From then on, they also began teaching Catalan at the University of Perpignan (first included in a Department of Iberian Studies, autonomous since 1982, and later linked to the training "Regional Cultures and Languages", typical of the French State).
In 1977, the Centre d 'Études Catalanes was created at the Sorbonne University as an emblematic pole of Catalan studies in the hexagon. At the same time, the teaching of Catalan spread to universities in other French cities: in Grenoble, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Lille, Ais de Provence, Montpeller, Amiens, Rennes and Lorient. Catalan is currently taught in 16 French universities, of which 11 receive a grant from the Institut Ramon Llull for teaching.
The creation of the Association française des catalanistes in 1991 marks a milestone in Catalan studies in France as it crystallises the desire of French university lecturers and researchers to work together and increase the visibility of Catalan studies in the French speaking world.
Since 1998, the association has published the Revue d 'études catalanes (REC) annually, in paper format until 2006. From 2014, it embarked on a second stage in digital format, taking advantage for scientific dissemination offered by new technologies. In March 2024, the Sorbonne University hosted its 10th congress.
The work carried out during all these years is the result of teamwork and dedication of the management teams. From the outset until today, the following have occupied the position of president of the AFC: Montserrat Prudon, Mahtilde Bensoussan, Eliseu Trenc, Christian Camps, Michel Bourret, Mercè Pujol, Christian Lagarde and, since 2018, Maria Immaculada Fàbregas Alegret, with the collaboration of Estrella Massip i Graupera (vice president), Maria Llombart Huesca (treasurer), Fabrice Corrons (secretary) and Michel Martínez (assistant secretary).
