New Orleans turns 300
La perle de la Louisiane fête ses 300 ans.
Fière, insaisissable, profondément cosmopolite et plus vivante que jamais, la Nouvelle-Orléans célèbre ses 300 ans cette année. Mais à quoi ressemble la ville en 2018 ? Que reste-t-il de son passé français et vers quel avenir se tourne-t-elle ? La Historic New Orleans Collection nous ouvre les portes de son musée, pour découvrir l’identité et l’âme de la plus grande ville de Louisiane.
Vocable: Can you tell us about your upcoming exhibition, ‘New Orleans, The Founding Era’? John: This exhibition is a highlight of The Historic New Orleans Collection's tricentennial program. It explores the early decades of New Orleans as a colonial city through the eyes of native people, settlers and enslaved Africans. Each perspective assists in understanding that though relatively small in population, the social interactions in early New Orleans were numerous and complex. This story is told through the display of nearly 100 items, including maps, visual materials, objects, and written accounts. 2. Vocable: What does this 300th anniversary represent for the people of New Orleans? John: You may not think 300 years is very old, but for us in the United States, it represents a bigger milestone that it might in older European cities. The history of New Orleans is probably not any more complex than histories of other places, but because its colonial development was different from the original English colonies, it has a somewhat more exotic past…
3.In a large sense, people are very excited about the fact that we have survived that
1. upcoming prochain, à venir / exhibition exposition / founding era période fondatrice / highlight temps fort / early ici, premières / native people population autochtone / settler colon / enslaved réduit en esclavage / display présentation / item objet / map carte, plan / account ici, témoignage. 2. milestone jalon, étape (importante) / somewhat plutôt. 3. excited enthousiaste, emballé / amount of time. We have undergone not only the disasters of recent times of the hurricane but also, during the city’s 19th century history, a fairly high frequency of flooding as well as a very real damage done by practically annual plagues of yellow fever… So, in that 300 years, there is a strong narrative of survival.
4. Vocable: How is the city going to celebrate? John: Our museum is not a city agency; we operate for the public and our funding is from a private foundation. But we work with the city’s tricentennial commission, which organizes a four-day event in March to give the public an opportunity to hear historians, geographers and political figures talk about the different aspects of the city’s 300 years, under the theme of ‘Making New Orleans Home’. And another project of the city’s cultural committee will be to establish historical markers in different parts of the city, that relate to the time when New Orleans was practicing slavery. 5. Vocable: How would you describe the culture, the soul of New Orleans? John: New Orleans, in many ways, is a very tolerant city. I’m not only speaking of racial tolerance or religious tolerance, but people have an approach to life that allows them to be accepting of other people. New Orleans has often been characterized as having an attitude that looks south, toward the Caribbean, and it is somewhat casual. It is not inefficient,
to undergo, went, gone subir, traverser / disaster catastrophe / hurricane ouragan / flooding inondation(s) / plague ici, épidémie / yellow fever fièvre jaune / narrative histoire. 4. to operate for ici, être au service de / funding financement(s) / figure personnalité / to relate to renvoyer à / slavery esclavage. 5. casual décontracté / inefficient inefficace /
"New Orleans, in may ways, is a very tolerant city. People have an approach to life that allows them to be accepting of other people."
but efficiency isn’t always the outcome of the way life is lived here. There’s a great appreciation for living a good life in simple ways: simple food prepared in a way that makes it delicious, appreciating the incredible range of music that one can experience, in dedicated night clubs, concert halls, or on many street corners in the Vieux Carré…
6. Vocable: This sense of tolerance, of ‘living the good life’, where does it come from? John: Part of it is that the populations that have formed New Orleans have all been very different. Certainly the native population that was here prior to the arrival of the Europeans plays into the mix of cultures that we have and of course, there were French colonists; there were Africans, virtually all of whom came here as enslaved people. Around the time New Orleans was established, there was also a big influx of German-speaking immigrants, and during the Spanish colonial regime, the Acadians outcome résultat, aboutissement / range éventail, diversité / dedicated spécialisé / concert hall salle de concert / Vieux Carré French Quarter, centre historique de la ville. 6. prior avant / virtually pratiquement / influx arrivée massive, afflux / Acadian habitant de l'Acadie (région nord-américaine comprenant une partie du Canada) / arrived, as well as immigrants from Spain. As the American Revolution came and went and it became more desirable to incorporate Louisiana as part of the United States, this encouraged ‘les Américains’ to arrive from New York, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Philadelphia. And all of this creates a ‘gumbo of cultures’.
7. Vocable: What remains of the relationship between New Orleans and France today? John: Although there is less of a formal relationship between France and New Orleans today, there are people who descended from French families who still talk about that as a matter of pride. I think that now, there is more of a strong psychological bond between New Orleans and France than there are commercial ties or governmental ties. I mean those exist probably on a much lower plane, but just the idea that the modern city of New Orleans was founded by the French 300 years ago, is something that a great part of the population can relate to.
8. Vocable: In your daily life, what’s left of this French heritage? John: Well, for example, the oldest restaurant in New Orleans and one of the oldest in the United States, restaurant Antoine, still exists. And their menus are still printed in French! And every now and then, you will find it in some of the word constructions that you hear among older generations. Take the French expression, “faire le marché”; older New Orleanians might say, “I'm going to make groceries”. Little things like that are still present… And we try to do things that keep alive the presence of the performing arts that have ties to historic French authors, playwrights, and musicians. gumbo soupe épaisse aux fruits de mer ou au poulet, ici mélange. 7. matter of pride objet de fierté / bond lien, attachement / tie lien. 8. grocery produit d'épicerie / performing arts arts du spectacle / playwright dramaturge. 9. Vocable: Next fall, your museum will hold an exhibition called ‘Art of the City: Post Modern to Post-Katrina’. How is the city coping twelve years after the hurricane? John: I think there is no single answer to that question; it depends on personal circumstances and how you feel the city has changed. If you look at just the raw data, New Orleans is a smaller city in terms of population; close to 100,000 citizens fewer now than before the hurricane. That said, there are a lot more younger people, many of whom came following Hurricane Katrina because they saw opportunity here. And I think, in large measure, a number of the younger arrivals have really embraced the culture of New Orleans. And all of those things point to an improvement since Hurricane Katrina. So it’s a hard question to answer…
10. Vocable: You give the feeling that there’s a lot of hope… John: I think that’s true, and in fact, one of the first exhibits our museum put on following Hurricane Katrina was called ‘City of Hope’, and it focused on the rebuilding efforts that were underway at the time. Even though nothing is ever perfect, I think on balance a lot of people in New Orleans might tell you that maybe, there is hope.
11. Vocable: What would you tell people who are considering visiting New Orleans? John: I think 2018 would be a great time to discover the city. It will be different than other years, I think people will be taking pride in their city and hopefully that would translate well to those who are visiting. New Orleanians are going to really want to share their enthusiasm for the place they live in. 9. fall (US) = autumn (GB) / to cope ici, s'en sortir / circumstance situation / raw data données brutes, hors contexte / to embrace adopter (avec enthousiasme) / to point to indiquer. 10. exhibit ici, exposition / to focus on être consacré à / underway à l'oeuvre / on balance tout compte fait. 11. to consider songer à, envisager de / to take, took, taken pride in être fier de / hopefully je l'espère / to translate ici, être ressenti.