A new partnership between the government of Québec and Vanderbilt University will bolster opportunities for academic and cultural exchange involving the Canadian province and the Nashville institution. The collaboration was announced June 18 at an event celebrating Québec’s deep ties to Middle Tennessee that also served as an early observance of la Fête nationale du Québec—Québec’s annual national day.
The celebration, held at Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives, featured Québecois food and drink, a preview of costumes from Cirque du Soleil’s “Songblazers” production ahead of its world premiere in Nashville on July 2, and an exhibition of items from the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ French collections.
The newly announced partnership builds on Québec’s many connections to Tennessee, which date back to the arrival of Jacques-Timothé Boucher sieur de Montbrun—known locally as Timothy Demonbreun—in the 1760s. The Québec native and successful fur trader is considered the first white settler of Nashville. More than 250 years later, Québec’s economic ties to the state are thriving, according to Isabelle Dessureault, Québec’s chief representative to the Southeast U.S.
“Tennessee, up to 2022, was the largest trade partner of Québec province in the Southeast, with almost $3 billion Canadian in trade between us,” Dessureault said at the June 18 gathering. “Montréal is a hub for aerospace, AI and renewable energy, which complement Tennessee’s strengths in health care, automotive manufacturing and technology.
“For the Québec government to sign a partnership with your iconic university—one of the most beautiful campuses in the world and an institution renowned for its advancements in science, technology, the arts and many, many other great achievements—we cannot be prouder,” she said.
The partnership calls for Vanderbilt’s Heard Libraries to collaborate with la Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec to showcase items from the university’s W.T. Bandy Collection, illustrating the depth of Québec’s cultural heritage and its intersection with modern French studies. The Heard Libraries will work to expand their collections of Québec oeuvres to ensure representation of the province’s rich literary and cultural output within the university’s academic resources. Vanderbilt will host film presentations and talks highlighting Québec cinema with the aim of bringing Québec’s vibrant culture closer to the academic community. And forthcoming issues of the AmeriQuests and Contours Collaborations journals, edited by Vanderbilt Professor of French and Comparative Literature Robert Barsky, will feature contributions from a Québec perspective and emphasize academic and cultural collaboration, among other key initiatives.
“I’ve been honored over the years to invite friends and colleagues from Québec to Vanderbilt, and we’ve been fortunate to send many Vanderbilt students and faculty to Québec, for highly productive research and learning exchanges,” said Barsky, founder and director of Québec and Canadian Studies at Vanderbilt and director of the W.T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies, housed at the Heard Libraries. “Now, thanks to this partnership and the extraordinary leadership of Vanderbilt and the Québec government, we are redoubling these efforts, and I could not be happier.”
Neko Likongo, director of international relations at L’Université du Québec à Montréal, met with Barsky, College of Arts and Science Dean Timothy P. McNamara, and staff from Vanderbilt’s Government and Community Relations as part of the Québec delegation’s June 18 visit to campus, which also included a tour of Special Collections and University Archives. At that evening’s celebration, Professor Emerita of French Virginia Scott regaled attendees with details from Demonbreun’s colorful life, and Marie Grégoire, president and CEO of BAnQ, delivered remarks via video message.
“There is a wealth of shared history between Nashville and Québec, and the deeper we dig, the more potential for collaboration we find,” University Librarian Jon Shaw said. “The Heard Libraries are immensely proud to partner with our colleagues from Québec and the university to expand our collections and bring Québec’s incredibly rich culture to a wider audience.”
