by Nair Banks Nair Banks is a senior in Political Science, French, and Gender and Women’s Studies at The University of Illinois. Nair’s future plans include moving to Washington, D.C. to work as a paralegal and studying for the LSAT. Nair wrote this blog post in the 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ course in spring 2019. On International Francophonie Day, March 20th, 2019, French president Emmanuel Macron advocated for the promotion of the French language in Africa. One year ago, he had similar goals, expressing to francophone Africans: "If we go about it right, France will be the first language in Africa and maybe even the world in the coming decades!" As it turns out, this declaration comes across as shockingly ignorant: in what sense would Africans “go about it right”, if they wanted to promote the former colonizer’s language? Not only does Macron’s proclamation echoes French colonial discourse about some sort of a civilizing mission implemented in Africa through Fr...