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Through an analysis of francophone cultural development strategies adopted in Moncton and Sudbury, this article examines the applicability of the cultural clusters approach to mid-sized peripheral cities. To date, cultural cluster studies have focused on the experiences of very large metropolitan areas with the capacity to implement broad-scale strategies. These studies provide little information relevant to cultural development strategies in cities located outside major urban centers. Our research shows that cultural development in Moncton and Sudbury hinges on a number of factors, such as community mobilization, and proximity dynamics, factors that are not necessarily reflected in the current literature on cultural clusters. The findings indicate a number of similarities between the approaches used in these two mid-sized peripheral cities, with one significant difference: the development of the downtown area as a focal point for the city's cultural institutions and networks. The downtown core serves as a hub for Moncton's cultural scene but in Sudbury, the local cultural scene is more geographically dispersed. Our analysis finds that cultural development strategies in smaller peripheral cities differ significantly from those used in larger urban centers. The article concludes by arguing that the cultural cluster concept must be used in a flexible manner and include factors such as community mobilization and proximity relations if we are to better understand the dynamics of similar peripheral urban areas.

Keywords: Francophonie, ville, périphérie, grappe, culture, Moncton, Sudbury, Francophone community, city, peripheral regions, clusters, culture, Moncton, Sudbury, Francofonía, ciudad, periferia, aglomedrado, cultura, Moncton, Sudbury

The term « no-fault » that began to be used in the context of car insurance in the USA during the 1960s became increasingly common in the European discussions on road injuries during the 1970s. There was no clarity, however, as regards the question of what exactly was meant by « no-fault insurance ». One requirement that was assumed to have to be satisfied in order to talk about « genuine » no-fault insurance was that the personal liability for damages had been done away with. When the new Motor Traffic Damages Act was passed in 1975, the driver's personal liability for damages had not been abolished. All the same, the Act is constructed in such a way that one can speak of no-fault insurance. In a simplified what this means is that the obligatory traffic insurance carries strict liability for damages, whereas the driver's liability for negligence (culpa) against a third party has been preserved. Due to the fact that the driver's personal liability is never applied in practice, in reality, and without the legislator's aid, channelling towards traffic insurance has occurred. In this system a driver who is injured by driving into a tree, for example, can receive full compensation. His own negligence does not deprive him of the right to compensation. In exceptional cases intentional or seriously negligent acts or drunken driving may make that compensation will be readjusted. Rules from the sphere of the law of damages have been used not only for establishing prerequisites for liability, but are even applied when compensation is to be calculated or readjusted. The connection with the law of damages has certainly meant certain complications, but on the whole, the Swedish system of compensation in this field has worked well.

The article proposes an anthropology of gesture in a black American dance, the cake-walk. Retracing the way that the cake-walk was re-worked by French performers, our analysis emphasizes the specificity of French perceptions of the dance. The convergence of two scientific fields is noted in this specificity: psycho-pathology and the theory of evolution. Both were widely disseminated in the press in vulgarized form, and notions surrounding hysterical-epileptic movement and Darwinian regression were superimposed in almost every commentary on the rhythms and gestures of the cake-walk, thereby producing anxieties about contagion and degeneration.

In Quebec, a growing number of schools are organizing intensive learning for English as a second language (ESL) in the sixth grade of primary school. This article presents a portion of the results of a study on the impact of this intensive learning on students' relationship to writing in both French as the language of instruction and ESL. Mini-interviews were held with thirty students from five classes at three different moments of the school year (beginning, middle, end). The results indicate that the interviewed children have diversified writing practices in French (the language of instruction) outside of school assignments, and these practices vary little over the course of the year. For a few of them, the intensive ESL learning module stimulated the emergence of a few extracurricular writing practices in English. Most reported being positively engaged in school writing activities under certain conditions, and considered them useful in the progression of their learning. Finally, a number of students showed the development of a metalinguistic attention that enables them to perceive differences between the two languages.

Keywords: anglais intensif, école primaire, écriture, français langue d'enseignement, anglais langue seconde, intensive English, primary school, writing, French as the language of instruction, English as a second language, Inglés intensivo, escuela primaria, escritura, Francés lengua de enseñanza, Inglés como segunda lengua