Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and freedom of creation: diachronic and synchronic interdisciplinary researches – LIBEX

LIBEX is an interdisciplinary corpus-based project federating linguists, jurists, historians, literature and philosophy scholars from France and Quebec who focus on freedom of expression, of creation, of conscience and discrimination. Their research will concentrate on the relationship between religion and society, as key issues regarding the articulation of freedom of conscience and freedom of creation and the resulting social tensions will be studied.
Considering that the past thirty years were marked by a growing number of public controversies and even legal proceedings against cultural or social events such as the writings, comments or performances of artists, journalists, polemists, or the wearing of signs or clothing perceived as marking a religious affiliation, several questions guide our reflection: how are freedom of expression, creation and conscience articulated with the principles of secularism in the public space? Can the right to humour be a line of defence, including for “non artists”? Has state censorship been replaced by public debates launched by associations or groups on social networks? Does the media coverage of court proceedings aim to generate self-censorship, even among creators?
Tensions are visible in polemics and legal procedures aiming at restricting the expression when religious matters, in a broad sense, are at stake in the public sphere (for insults / libel / slander / blaspheme / public lewdness / breach of the peace / protection of the youth / incitement to discrimination / humour / parody / breach of the law on secularism..) while the means to communicate with the greatest number of people have multiplied. Practical cases will be examined through a corpus of trials, literature and media texts (social networks included) with a comparative, diachronic and synchronic perspective in a mediative objective. Our goals are to understand where these tensions come from and what creates them, how controversial speeches are received and generated, what argumentative dynamics are in circulation, and how creative and legal practices evolve together in a context of live dissemination of information, whether true or false.
Relying on the methods of discourse analysis, LIBEX will propose tools of understanding and reflection to civil society in the face of controversies involving freedom of expression, creation and conscience (judicialized or not) so that debates and/or judgments can be based on accurate facts and analyses supported by ALLSHS research. The aim is to deconstruct the hurtful discourses in circulation by placing them in context and by relating them to broader strategies of persuasion.