Titled From Basque to Francoprovençal: promoting regional or minority languages through the design of a European digital museum, the doctoral dissertation by Marie Domengès received top honors in a joint supervision program between the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (UPPA), the University of Turin, and the University of Genoa. The research was conducted as part of the PhD program in Digital Humanities – Digital Technologies, Arts, Languages, Cultures, and Communication.
In particular, the research explored how museums — often overlooked in the efforts to safeguard regional or minority languages — can highlight multilingualism and contribute to the preservation, promotion, and transmission of less-used local languages, which are often at risk of extinction.
In her work, supervised by Professors Laurence Roussillon Constanty (UPPA) and Silvia Pireddu (University of Turin), Dr. Domengès carried out a study on 26 museums in France and Italy, especially in cross-border areas, to observe early multilingual approaches within these cultural institutions and identify attempts to promote regional or minority languages.
She further delved into the subject through a four-month case study in two museums: the Musée Basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne in the French Basque Country, in Bayonne, France and the Museo dell’Artigianato Valdostano di tradizione in Fénis, Italy. The goal was to understand how these institutions work to safeguard the Basque and Francoprovençal languages.
Dr. Domengès proposed best practices for the creation of multilingual and educational materials that could be used to inclusively and accessibly promote and enhance linguistic and cultural heritage.
This research not only contributes to the recognition and promotion of regional and minority languages but also perfectly aligns with the founding principles of the UNITA Alliance, which fosters cooperation among European universities to address global cultural, educational, and scientific challenges.
The PhD program in Digital Humanities, combining digital technologies, arts, languages, cultures, and communication, enabled Marie Domengès to engage with the challenges and opportunities of a multilingual approach to cultural heritage communication.
This international doctoral initiative, involving several European universities, once again highlights the importance of academic cooperation in a global context and represents another step forward in the integration and strengthening of international collaboration within the UNITA Alliance.
