Research institut

Namur Institute of Language, Text and Transmediality

Bringing together linguists and literary scholars, UNamur's Institute of Language, Text and Transmediality provides a platform for interdisciplinary diachronic and synchronic research into the multiple ways in which different types of verbal and multimodal communicative practices manifest themselves in, give shape to, are regulated by and reflect culture and society.

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Research institut

Transitions

The Transitions Institute aims to explore the different ways in which transitions are challenging and affecting nature and human societies in unprecedented ways, requiring a radical shift in our previous political, social and ethical patterns.

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Article

"School and Deafness" by M. Ghesquière and L. Meurant wins an award

On 30 November 2022, Magaly Ghesquière and Laurence Meurant (UNamur), co-authors of the book "School and Deafness” (in French “Ecole et Surdité - Une expérience d'enseignement bilingue et inclusif", received the prize for the best book for Teaching and Continuing Education from the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This is another fine award that complements the recent release of the first bilingual sign language-French contextual dictionary searchable in sign language.
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Article

World first: a French-Sign language dictionary

A bilingual French-sign language dictionary (LSFB), which can be queried in both languages, thanks to cutting-edge technology (facial recognition) and access to a vast database compiling more than 4,500 signs, words and expressions.
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Article

An ERC Starting Grant for F.R.S.-FNRS qualified researcher Vincent Jacquet!

In the summer 2022, we met Vincent Jacquet, a qualified researcher from UNamur, to obtain his FNRS qualified researcher mandate. Today, we meet him after the signature of an ERC Starting Grant for his project CITIZEN_IMPACT.
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Pole Democratic Transformations

The permanence of institutional, economic, environmental and migratory tensions is transforming the way our political systems operate. Some of these effects are marginal or conjunctural, but others induce genuine transitions in our models of society over the long term.The Pole Democratic Transformations studies more specifically how these tensions affect modes of governance citizen behavior and the conduct of public action within our political regimes from the local to the international level, via the regional and European levels.
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Pole Environmental Transformations

This research cluster embraces a very specific meaning of "territory", namely: "a portion of land space considered in its relationship with human groups who occupy and develop it with a view to ensuring the satisfaction of their needs". The concept of territorial transition embodies new local forms of development, which emphasize the sustainable well-being of the population, in line with environmental protection..
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Pole Transitions and Ages of Life

The transformation of our societies is affecting the construction of our lives and life courses. These are traversed by a dual movement of de-standardization and de-institutionalization, leading to a gradual detachment from social roles, but also to a rise in social, cultural and gender uncertainties and inequalities. The "Transitions and Ages of Life" cluster studies the way in which these life courses are recomposed according to new social constraints and normative imperatives. It thus focuses on the fragility of populations at any age of life, and also on the repercussions of political devices and measures on the construction of life courses.This cluster brings together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds who analyze both the normative transformations affecting life courses and life-age transitions..
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Tocqueville Chair

The Chair is dedicated to the study of security, from both traditional and critical approaches. Its axis of rotation is the analysis of safety performance - at cultural, organizational and technological levels - and its relationship to social order. Here, safety is approached primarily from a transdisciplinary angle. This localization of safety, at the intersection of several disciplinary influences, directly structures the theoretical and methodological orientations of the studies conducted within the Chair.
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Research poles

Image Pole Democratic Transformations See content Image Pole Environmental Transformations See content Image Pole Transitions and Ages of Life See content Image Center for Vulnerabilities and Societies (V&S) See content Image Tocqueville Chair See content
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Event

Preparing the ground. Gestures, supports and discourses of exploratory work in literature and film

The colloquium will be held on Tuesday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at the University of Namur (Belgium). Proposals for papers (programmatic title and abstract of 500 signs, followed by a biobibliography) can be sent by November 15, 2024 to Jean-Benoit.Gabriel@unamur.be and Denis.Saint-Amand@unamur.be.
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Article

MOSI, from word to sign: a bilingual reading aid from French to Langue des signes de Belgique francophone (LSFB)

Instantly obtain a translation in sign language (LSFB) of a word written in French: that's what MOSI (Du mot au signe) makes possible. This new tool is the fruit of a collaboration between the University of Namur, the asbl École et Surdité and the asbl LSFB, supported by the King Baudouin Foundation.
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