Professor Helen Drake to speak at International Conference
On Saturday 17 November 2018, Professor Helen Drake, Director of the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance at Loughborough University London, will be at Aix-Marseille University, France.
Helen Drake will be delivering a keynote at the International Conference addressing ‘London-Paris, 1918-2018: revisiting Franco-British Relations’.
Professor Helen Drake’s talk is entitled ‘The Future of Franco-British Relations: Possible Scenarios’ and is subtitled as ‘States of Brexit’. She will ask how it is that ‘Brexit’ has come to mean so many different things at once.
Helen will explore this paradox with particular reference to the dimensions of Brexit that stand to affect the perennial chassé-croisé or flow of citizens, ideas and culture across the Channel in both directions. She will argue that the Leave-or-Remain, In-or-Out binary versions of Brexit were only ever illusions, in stark contrast to the many states of Brexit that will live on long after the conclusion of any Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU27.
She will point to the elements of domestic political life in the UK and France (including questions of trust and emotion) that will condition the realities of Brexit for both partners in the Franco-British couple.
In a lighter-hearted vein, Helen will include some anecdotes from her personal journey of self-discovery from the 11-year old schoolgirl agog at the delights of French grammar, to @FrancoBrit: an Anglo-Saxon, UK-based, academic Anglaise.