French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons^™

Écrire Pour Résister : La Littérature Francophone En Algérie Face Aux Enjeux Politiques Contemporains, Chiraz Amani

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

Cette communication propose d’interroger le rôle de la littérature francophone en Algérie dans le contexte politique, social et mémoriel du XXIᵉ siècle, à travers l’analyse d’œuvres contemporaines de Hind Soyer, Kamel Daoud, Kaouther Adimi et Samir Toumi. À rebours des discours annonçant l’obsolescence des études littéraires, ces textes montrent que la littérature demeure un espace privilégié de réflexion critique, de résistance symbolique et de mise en récit des tensions qui traversent la société algérienne contemporaine.

Dans des genres variés — autofiction, roman historique, fiction politique ou récit mémoriel — ces auteurs interrogent les héritages de la colonisation, les impensés de …

Transcending Postcolonial Boundaries In Tierno Monénembo’S Saharienne Indigo, Aviana R. San Souci

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

Tierno Monénembo’s Saharienne Indigo tells the life story of Véronique, a woman from Guinea with a past of violence and loss, told through her interactions with the annoying and persistent Frenchwoman madame Corre. Despite these two women’s opposing affiliations with a colonized country and the one that colonized them, the two develop a close friendship throughout the book. Theirs is a relationship that defies the claims laid out in Aimé Césaire's Discours sur le colonialisme that between the colonizer and the colonized, there is only space for negative sentiments and violent actions- never sympathy. The bond between Véronique and madame …

The Narrative Voice And The Fragmented Self In Black Skin White Masks, Emmanuella Abaidoo Kwarteng

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

Libération Educative À Travers La Poésie Africaine Francophone: Les Contributions Pédagogiques De David Diop Et De Léopold Sédar Senghor, Stanley Ugochukwu Dibiah

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

Cet article met en avant l'impact transformateur de la poésie africaine francophone dans la reconstruction de l'éducation postcoloniale et l'encouragement d'un changement sociétal durable. Suite à la période coloniale, la poésie en Afrique francophone est apparue non seulement comme une expression artistique, mais aussi comme un outil puissant pour redécouvrir l'identité, la langue et l'histoire. Bien que les aspects culturels et politiques de la littérature postcoloniale aient attiré une attention académique significative, son utilisation dans l'éducation reste encore insuffisamment exploitée. Cette recherche examine comment les œuvres poétiques de David Diop et de Léopold Sédar Senghor peuvent être employées comme des …

La Satire, Un Outil Pour La Conscience Sociale : Le Rôle Public De La Littérature Aujourd'hui, Arshdeep Kaur

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

Survive Or Perish: Violence As A Survival Strategy For Abandoned Youth In Mayotte In Natacha Appanah’S Tropique De La Violence., Lydia Gyamfi

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

1990s Alt Music Slang And Socioeconomic Precarity In Despentes’ "Vernon Subutex" Series, Daniel J. Lightfoot

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

In a time of widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the political and economic status quo in France, how can literature give a voice to those discontents while inspiring hope? My contribution will explore Virginie Despentes’ use of slang from 1990s French alternative music subcultures in her narrative depictions of contemporary economic precarity and social alienation in the Vernon Subutex series (2015-17). I will discuss how Despentes uses French slang to establish a distance between economically marginalized characters and more affluent Parisians, highlighting how the former draw on vocabulary from Anglophone indie rock and hip-hop subcultures as an expression of a …

Adapting Identities: Multimodal Expressions Of African Women’S Agency In Francophone Film​, Alicia M. Hilaire

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

On Literature And Inclination, Maria Laura Cucciniello

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

I would like to discuss how literature can serve as an antidote to self-isolation and how it functions as a means to create relationships between humans, thereby providing meaning for life itself. To address this topic, one could recall Judith Butler’s reinterpretation of Adriana Cavarero’s theory of inclination (2021: 46-62). In the philosophical field of ontology, inclination works as an illustration of two different ways of existing: inclined and vertical. Both positionalities correspond to two different ontologies, namely one of caring and one of self-sufficiency. As interesting as the philosophical instances brought by Cavarero and Butler are per se …

“The Written Word, What For? Exploring Genre As Written Memory And Connection Over Time”, Hallie-Blair Quatro

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

Why is it so important to continue reading modern and contemporary French and Francophone literature? And what does this mean for a real relationship between author and reader that can grow and change over time? Through the literary analysis of two contemporary French novels-- Maryse Condé’s Tales from the Heart: True Stories from My Childhood (1999) and Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter (1979)—I demonstrate how it is each author’s use of mixed genre that allows for a connection of author to reader, but also reader to self. In each work, this mixed genre can become a generative, reconciliatory space …

La Françafrique: À La Lumière Des Romans Et Films Francophones, Joseph Diémé

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

Qu’est-ce que la Françafrique? Qui sont ses acteurs? Où et comment opèrent-ils? Cet ouvrage tente de répondre à ces questions complexes à la lumière d’essais politiques, de romans et films de pays francophones. Pas à pas, le lecteur découvre comment la fiction offre un cadre pertinent non seulement pour comprendre le concept « Françafrique », mais aussi pour identifier quelques-unes de ses ramifications sur le continent africain.

Trouble In Paradise: Paul And Virginia‘S Snapshot Of Limited Enlightenment Progressivism, Henna Neilson

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project analyzes the 1788 children's story "Paul and Virginia" by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Written in the pastoral literary genre, it tells the star-crossed love story of Paul and Virginia, childhood friends who live on the French colony Île-de-France (present-day Mauritius). The work exemplifies many highlights of the Enlightenment progressivism, socializing its young readers to criticize the oppressive class systems in Europe. However, the work is limited by the physiocratic view of slavery, which maintained that the slave trade was justified if the enslaved humans were treated "humanely". As a result, Paul and Virginia's slavery plot line includes problematic …

Aquatic Interrelations In Malika Mokeddem’S Novel N’Zid (2001), Laura C. Klein

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

This article offers an ecological analysis of Malika Mokeddem's novel N'Zid (2001), moving beyond postcolonial and anthropocentric interpretations. It centers on the protagonist Nora's individuation, arguing this process is intrinsically linked to her evolving relationship with the aquatic environment from which she emerges. The article aims to situate N'Zid within an ecological perspective, particularly relevant in the Anthropocene, an era compelling a reassessment of humanity's place. Echoing Bruno Latour, addressing inter-relationality is essential as the stable physical framework of the Moderns becomes unstable. This view necessitates rethinking environmental issues and encourages a scientific interpretation of the novel, drawing on neurosciences, …

Entry Nr. 487 Kossola, Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Robert Hanserd

500 African Voices

No abstract provided.

Entry Nr. 134 Isaac Anderson, Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Robert Hanserd

500 African Voices

No abstract provided.

Integrating The Oriental Gaze: Japonisme And Kitagawa Utamaro’S Influence In The Parisian Art World Of The Late 19th Century, Wanda Irini Goudas

MA Theses

This thesis discusses the phenomenon of Japonisme in Paris, how it manifested in the market, its accompanying theoretical discourse, and its role in fostering artistic innovation. In 1853, Japan officially opened its borders for trade with the West, resulting in an unparalleled influx of objects and artwork from Japan. This generated a widespread fascination with Japanese material culture, culminating in the phenomenon known as Japonisme. Among the imported items, ukiyo-e woodblock prints or ‘images of the floating world,’ became very significant. Exhibited widely across Paris, their peculiar themes and unique formal qualities prompted theoretical discourse and inspired shifts in artistic …

Former Des Filles Philosophes: L’Oeuvre De Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont, Au Croisement Entre Tradition Féminine Et Lumières, Emma Rioux

Senior Honors and Award-Winning Theses

No abstract provided.

« Un Monstre Incompréhensible » : La Princesse De Clèves, Roman Du Jugement Entravé, Rachael M. Finke

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Modeling French Language Preservation: An Optimal Control Problem, Charlotte Blasi

Scripps Senior Theses

The French language is one of the most globally spoken languages, with over 300 million speakers and designated the official language of 29 nations. French continues to prosper as a result of its titular nations' imperialist history that emphasized linguistic diffusion as well as the support of international organizations dedicated to promoting both the language and the culture of French-speaking nations. In this thesis, we explore the nuanced history of French-speaking countries and one institution dedicated  to promoting the French language, the OIF. We further examine the media mechanism of the OIF and construct a system of Ordinary Differential Equations …

Facebooking Under Crisis: A Comparative Study Of Online French And American Mutual Aid Organizing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Clare Reimers-Hejnal

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis studies the political discussions, practices, and projects that emerged through mutual aid Facebook groups based in France and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of particular interest is how these online spaces and the Facebook users that comprised them understood their mutual aid organizing in relationship to specific themes, including but not limited to: the COVID-19 pandemic as a "crisis", the role of government presence or absence in the wellbeing of the public, and the concept of collective yet differentiated struggle. Chapter 1 looks at four Facebook pages based in the greater Paris area: Entraide Danube, Clichy …

La Mode Comme Arme À Double Tranchant : Construction Et Déconstruction De L’Indochine Coloniale, Sasha Hanson

Honors Theses

Cette thèse explore la façon dont la mode façonnait le pouvoir, l’identité et la résistance dans l’Indochine française à travers trois oeuvres littéraires : Un barrage contre le Pacifique (1950) de Marguerite Duras, Métisse blanche (1989) de Kim Lefèvre et The Book of Salt (2003) de Monique Truong. En appuyant sur les théories postcoloniales de Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Frantz Fanon et Homi K. Bhabha, j’argumente que la mode et les vêtements font plus que révéler les hiérarchies coloniales de race, classe et genre ; ils les renforcent activement. Alors que dans son récit, Duras expose les inégalités socio-économiques à l'intérieur …

Models Of Emulation: Representations Of Foreign, Indigenous, And Accented Speech In Early American Literature, Elaina A. Frulla

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

“Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature” explores how American writers used depictions of “nonstandard” English and accented English language speech, traditionally described as “literary dialect,” as a way to negotiate identity, power, and political belonging in the formative years of nation building after the American Revolution. Beginning with Noah Webster’s mission to establish a standardized pronunciation of the English language that would simplify and purify spoken American-English and definitively differentiate it from what he saw as the corrupted, cosmopolitan British-English model, each of the three chapters examines literary representations of nonstandard emulated …

« Look The King Is Naked » : Une Étude De The Naked King (2026) D’Alexei Ratmansky Vue À Travers Le Ballet De Cour Du Roi Soleil, Simone Gingerich-Boberg , '26

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Une Crise Démographique ? Les Inquiétudes Autour De La Population En France À La Fin Du Xixe Siècle, Aidan Carroll , '26

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Risquer La Résistance: La Réponse Surréaliste À L’Exposition Coloniale Internationale De 1931, Milla Ben-Ezra , '26

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.