SFPS Monthly Mailing: October 2017

*The featured image is Palimpsest III by Robert Kehlmann*

1. Calls for Papers

1.1 European Peripheries in Postcolonial Literatures

1.2 Displacements – Sixteenth Annual SDN Conference

1.3 Other ’68s: Lineages and Legacies of May ’68

1.4 African Literature and the Press / Presse et littérature africaine(s)

1.5 Arizona Graduate Conference in French

1.6 Nature, environnement et écologie (Numéro spécial d’alternative francophone)/Nature, Environment, and Ecology (Special Issue of Francophone Alternative)

 

2. Job Opportunities

2.1 Tenure/Tenure-Track Position: Afro-Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies, Dartmouth College

2.2 Lecturer in French, Department of Modern Languages, Aberystwyth University

2.3 Lecturer in French, Modern Languages, University of Aberystwyth

2.4 Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Department of French, Columbia University

2.5 Postdoctoral Research Associate in Politics, University of Liverpool

2.6 Assistant Professor of French 20th- and 21st-Century Literature, Modern Languages and Classics, University of Alabama

2.7 Associate or Full Professor for Laurence H. Favrot Chair in French Studies, Rice University

2.8 Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies, Georgetown University

 

3. Announcements

3.1 Common Histories: A Workshop on Slavery and the Creative Arts (21 October)

3.2 Ethnography and Modern Languages: Critical Reflections (4 November)

3.3 Editorial Board of Modern and Contemporary France (Application deadline: 4 November)

 

4. New Titles

4.1 Writing After Postcolonialism: Francophone North African Literature in Transition (Bloomsbury, 2017)

4.2 A Colonial Affair: Commerce, Conversion, and Scandal in French India (Cornell University Press, 2017)

4.3 Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France (University of California Press, 2017)

4.4 Thinking About History (University of Chicago Press, 2017)

4.5 Decentring France: Multilingualism and Power in Contemporary French Cinema (Manchester University Press, 2017)

4.6 La Littérature haïtienne dans la modernité (Karthala, 2017)

4.7 Écrire et penser le genre en contextes postcoloniaux (Peter Lang, 2017)

 

1. Calls for Papers/Contributions

 

1.1 European Peripheries in Postcolonial Literatures

Symposium, University of Liège, 24 May 2018

Former colonial metropolises, London and Paris in particular, form popular loci for the so-called postcolonial/ethnic minority literary texts set in Europe (see e.g. McLeod 2004; Adesanmi 2005; Kuietche Fonkou 2010; De Souza & Murdoch 2013; Perfect 2014). With their landmarks and suburbs, these multicultural metropolitan centres serve as settings in narratives exploring a variety of diasporic and minority experiences in Europe. In this way, the texts contribute to the project of rewriting European cityscapes from a new perspective, and draw attention to the ways in which Europe itself is postcolonial (Schulze-Engler 2013).

Yet, due to the diversification of mobilities in the postcolonial era, traditional post/colonial centres are no longer the unique or axiomatic places in which postcolonial literary representations of Europe are set. Less central – and equally less studied – locations such as provincial cities, cities in countries with no direct involvement in colonialism, rural areas, or islands situated on the fringes of Europe, have also found their way into the postcolonial literary imaginary. Examples could include Edinburgh in Tendai Huchu’s The Maestro, the Magistrate and the Mathematician; the Spanish enclaves in Marie NDiaye’s Trois femmes puissantes; or the small Portuguese village of Mamarrosa in Monica Ali’s Alentejo Blue.

The aim of this symposium is to explore the ways in which European locations that easily come across as peripheral from a metropolitan Londonian or Parisian perspective are represented in postcolonial literatures. How are these peripheries valued vis-à-vis more central European locations? Do the texts perpetuate or destabilize binary spatial oppositions (e.g. urban metropolis vs. provincial backwater) in their representations of Europe? If depictions of European metropolises in postcolonial/minority literatures tend to reflect on themes such as cosmopolitanism and transculturation, which issues seem to pertain to depictions of European peripheries?

We invite papers that analyse the representation of European peripheries and less central cities in postcolonial literary texts set anywhere on the continent and written in any language. Papers adopting a comparative approach to postcolonial narratives of different European central and peripheral locations are also welcome. The language of the symposium is English. After the symposium, selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal (edited by Janine Hauthal, VUB, and Anna-Leena Toivanen, ULg).

Please send 250-word abstracts for 20-minute papers to Anna-Leena Toivanen at eb.ca.glu@nenaviot.aneel-anna by 29 October 2017.

The symposium is organized by CEREP, Centre for Teaching and Research in Postcolonial Studies of the University of Liège.

For more information, see http://labos.ulg.ac.be/cerep/european-peripheries-postcolonial-literatures/.

 

1.2 Displacements (Sixteenth Annual SDN Conference)

Newcastle University (UK), 9-11 April 2018

We invite proposals for papers treating the conference theme in relation to French and Francophone culture, history, literature, music and art history in the long nineteenth century.  Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Migratory displacements
• Emigration and émigrés
• Exile and expulsion
• Displacement and identity
• Diasporas
• Resettlement, restitution, rehabilitation
• Hospitality and sanctuary
• Rootedness, home and belonging
• Borders and the Nation State
• Colonial relocations and dislocations
• Urban renewal and new geographies
• Industrialization and transportation
• Rural and Urban
• Earthquakes and tectonic shifts
• Incarceration and deportation
• Mobility and wanderlust
• Dispersal, dispossession and circulation
• Victory and defeat
• Historiography and historical distance
• Adaptation, translation & textual displacement
• Displacement and condensation
• Transference, doubling and the Uncanny
• Metonymic displacements
• Transposition and intermediality
• Allegory and irony
• Dislocation and disorientation
• The Mal du siècle
• Marginalization and alterity
• Syntactic displacements
• Displacements of power
• Overthrow and revolution
• Women’s and workers’ movements
• Instability and destabilization

Proposals for individual papers or panels should be in the form of an abstract (c250 words) sent as an e-mail attachment in Word to sdn.proposals@yahoo.co.uk.

The deadline for proposals is 15 November 2017.

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XVIe COLLOQUE ANNUEL DE LA SDN

Appel à Communications

DÉPLACEMENTS

Newcastle University

9 – 11 avril 2018

Nous vous invitons à nous faire parvenir vos propositions pour des communications traitant le thème du colloque par rapport à la culture française ou francophone, l’histoire et l’histoire de l’art, la littérature et la musique de 1789 à 1914. Vous trouverez ci-dessous une liste non-exhaustive de sujets possibles :

• Déplacements migratoires
• Émigration et émigrés
• Exil et expulsion
• Déplacement, mémoire, identité
• Diasporas
• Retour, restitution, réhabilitation
• Hospitalité, accueil et sanctuaire
• Racines et terroir
• Les Frontières et l’État
• Colonisation
• Renouvellement urbain
• Nouvelles géographies
• Industrialisation et transports
• Ville et campagne
• Tremblements de terre et changements tectoniques
• Incarcération et déportation
• Mobilité et esprit d’aventure
• Dispersion, dépossession et circulation
• Victoire et défaite
• Historiographie et distance historique
• Adaptation, traduction et déplacement textuel
• Déplacement et condensation
• Le transfert, le double et l’Unheimlich
• Déplacements métonymiques
• Transposition et intermédialité
• Allégorie et ironie
• Bouleversement et désorientation
• Le Mal du siècle
• Marginalisation et altérité
• Les déplacements syntaxiques
• Déplacements du pouvoir
• Le renversement et la révolution
• Mouvements féministes et ouvriers
• Instabilité et déstabilisation

Les propositions (250 mots environ) pour des interventions individuelles ou des séances entières sont à adresser par courriel, en anglais ou en français, avant le 15 novembre 2017 à l’adresse suivante : sdn.proposals@yahoo.co.uk.

 

1.3 Other ’68s: Lineages and Legacies of May ’68

An international conference to be held at the University of Nottingham, 11-12 May 2018

Organised by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

Confirmed keynote speaker: Dr Chris Reynolds, Nottingham Trent University

The events of May 1968 were, in one sense, uniquely French. The alliance of students and workers, the Situationist occupations and even the slogans of les événements had a pronounced Gallic accent. And yet, writing precisely in 1968, it was a French-Algerian philosopher who recalled that the month of April that year coincided with ‘the weeks of the opening of the Vietnam peace talks and of the assassination of Martin Luther King’. If this conference is thus a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of a recognizably French historic month, it is at the same time an interrogation of the memory of events that took place that year in cities other than Paris (Prague, Mexico City, Río) and in countries other than France. What were the global socio-political but also artistic and intellectual antecedents of the uprisings of May ’68? What were its synergies with Marxism and Maoism, and with revolutionary militancy and Third World movements of national liberation? How was the French nouvelle critique (itself indebted to a certain German tradition and elaborated by intellectuals whose origins frequently lay beyond French borders) shaped by the events, and indeed how did it shape them? How might one trace the global impact of May ’68 through to the present day? What are its legacies, as one says these days—legacies understood not as bequests that one receives intact, objectively, but rather as inheritances that remain to be sifted, deciphered, worked through and criticized? And how have the various languages of May ’68 been appropriated by formal politics, either on the left or on the right?

In addition to a keynote lecture by Chris Reynolds, the conference will include a screening of Dominique Beaux’s new documentary film, Mai 68, l’autre côté des barricades, and a Q&A with the director.

We welcome papers examining the history of the uprisings in France from fresh perspectives but likewise proposals on a broad range of topics relating to the different contexts and contested legacies of May ’68. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Histories and mythologies of May ’68
• The ’60s generation
• May ’68 in literature, film, and the visual arts
• Political activism and its discourses—from 1968 to the present
• Guerrilla militancy
• Movements of decolonization and national liberation
• The new social movements (feminism, LGBTQ,…)
• Critical theory
• Liberation theology

Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited, by 17 November 2017. Please send a short abstract (250 words) and bio-bibliography (100 words) to may68conference@gmail.com. Proposals for complete panels with 3 papers are also welcome.

Please note that the main language of the conference will be English but that papers in other languages are also very welcome.

 

1.4 CfP/Appel: African Literature and the Press / Presse et littérature africaine(s)

19 – 20 March 2018  – Conference – Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier 3 – RIRRA21

This conference will reflect on the reciprocal relationship between the press and African literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. From colonial news bulletins to online magazines, via illustrated glossy magazines and daily papers created after the independences, the press has been a decisive mode of dissemination for African writers. Research in literary, social and cultural history has highlighted in recent decades the multiple contact points between the press and literary form on the African continent, though to more a limited extent in francophone contexts (Ricard, 1987 ; Lüsebrink 2003 ; Bosch-Santana, 2014 ; Thérenty 2014 ; Jaji, 2014 ; Peterson, Hunter et Newell, 2016). The press published in Africa has offered a significant space to African writers since the end of the nineteenth century. In the francophone context Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink’s pioneering work invites us to reframe early African literary history by expanding the canonical francophone African corpus. Elsewhere, Stephanie Newell theorises the innovation and creativity of authors and their publics in the press produced in British West Africa between 1880 and 1940. Beyond the colonial period, what continuities and discontinuities might emerge in the African press up to the present day ?

Our primary focus in this conference will be on the presence of African writers in the press produced on the African continent, and/or aimed principally at an African or diasporic audience. While intellectual journals such as Présence Africaine or Black Orpheus and the South African magazine Drum, have been amply studied (Mudimbe, 1997; Helgesson, 2007; Frioux-Salgas, 2009; Arndt, 2016), newspapers (such as Dakar-matin, which became Le Soleil) and ‘big’ magazines (such as Bingo : l’illustré africain, Awa: la revue de la femme noire, Jeune Afrique, or in English, African Parade and Joe) have only recently begun to be analysed in terms of their interaction with contemporary literary production. These are crucial spaces where debates and social networks leave their trace alongside dynamic exchanges with oral and written literary texts (Frère, 1999).

Inscribed in a politicised public space, how does the press nourish African literary production via its references and intellectual debates, the impulse to entertain, certain rubrics and literary forms (poetry, conte, short stories, serialization), and the interventions of writers as journalists? What are the real and imagined geographical spaces of these publications in terms of their distribution, the location of their readership, their choice of language, and the space they reserve for a cosmopolitan imaginary? How does the ephemeral and often transnational character of the African press modify the inscription of literature in time and space, beyond dynamics of centre-periphery? How might the African press ‘world’ literature differently to the circuits of literary publishing located in the global North?

We welcome proposals drawing on empirical material: a periodical or a particular moment, specific journalists, authors or columnists and their writing styles in the press (and in turn what their subsequent or parallel literary writing might owe to that work in the press); analysis of literary texts presented in these publications in French, English, and African languages. Papers exploring methodological issues are also welcome: how can we study this abundant corpus (archives, digitization, databases, literary analysis, historical and social contextualisation)?

Further possible topics:

– The circulation of models, rubrics, texts (including from one language to another, on a diasporic and transatlantic scale)

– Modes of encounter, exchange and networking between writers, journalists, financers, publishers

– The role of the press in the promotion, circulation, institutionalisation, and forms of African literature

– Social trajectories and presence of African writers in the press : interviews, portraits, literary criticism, journalism

Please send abstracts (300 words) with a title and a short biography (50 words max) to: colloquepresseafricaine@gmail.com by 1 December 2017. The principal language of the conference will be French. We plan to publish a special issue from a selection of the papers presented.

The conference will take place on 19-20 March 2018 at the Université Paul Valéry, opening the second Semaine de la Francophonie. It is organised by Ruth Bush (Université de Bristol) and Claire Ducournau (Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier – RIRRA21), as part of an ongoing project on Popular print and reading cultures in francophone Africa, financed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK). The project is in partnership with the Musée de la Femme Henriette Bathily, the Archives Nationales du Sénégal, and the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire-Cheikh Anta Diop.

For more information, see https://africainwords.com/2017/09/24/cfpappel-african-literature-and-the-press-presse-et-litterature-africaines/?fb_action_ids=10159450583745319&fb_action_types=news.publishes.

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19 et 20 mars 2018 – Colloque  – Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier 3 – RIRRA21

Presse et littérature africaine(s)

Appel à communications

Ce colloque invite à réfléchir sur les relations réciproques entre la presse et la littérature africaine(s) au xx^e et au xxi^e siècles. Depuis les bulletins coloniaux jusqu’aux revues en ligne en passant par les magazines illustrés et les grands quotidiens créés après les indépendances, le périodique a constitué, pour les écrivains issus d’Afrique, un support de publication décisif. Les travaux d’histoires littéraire, sociale et culturelle ont mis ces dernières décennies en avant les multiples formes de croisements entre presse et littérature : sur le continent  africain, ils se sont cependant plus timidement étendus aux contextes francophones, en dépit de quelques études pionnières (Ricard, 1987 ; Lüsebrink 2003 ; Thérenty 2014 ; Jaji, 2014 ; Bosch-Santana, 2014 ; Peterson, Hunter et Newell, 2016). C’est dès la fin du xix^e siècle que la presse publiée en Afrique a offert des lieux d’expression aux écrivain·e·s, importants en quantité, et souvent cruciaux au niveau de leur contenu et de leur réception, comme l’a notamment montré Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink dans un ouvrage invitant à reconsidérer l’histoire littéraire africaine traditionnelle, en élargissant le corpus canonique de langue française. Stephanie Newell a théorisé ailleurs la souplesse et la créativité du travail des auteur·e·s et de leurs publics dans la presse produite en Afrique occidentale britannique entre 1880 et 1940. Au-delà de la période coloniale, quelles continuités et quelles discontinuités touchent la presse africaine jusqu’à aujourd’hui ?

Plus encore qu’à la présence des auteur·e·s africain·e·s dans une presse européenne généraliste, une attention particulière sera portée à leurs prises de parole dans des parutions affichant leur rattachement à l’Afrique, qu’elles soient produites sur le continent, qu’elles soient destinées à un public national, africain ou encore diasporique. Si les revues intellectuelles, sur le modèle de Présence africaine ou de Black Orpheus, ou le magazine Drum en Afrique du Sud, ont été bien étudiés désormais (Mudimbe, 1997; Helgesson, 2007 ; Frioux-Salgas, 2009; Arndt, 2016), les journaux (comme Dakar-matin, devenu Le Soleil) et les magazines, parfois de grande diffusion, à l’image deBingo : l’illustré africain, Awa : la revue de la femme noire, Jeune Afrique, ou, en langue anglaise African Parade et Joe, ont en effet été beaucoup moins abordés sous l’angle de leurs interactions avec la production littéraire qui leur est contemporaine. Ce sont pourtant des espaces où se mettent en place des sociabilités, des débats, et des dynamiques d’hybridation avec la littérature, qu’elle soit écrite ou orale (Frère 1999).

Comment ces périodiques, inscrits dans un espace public politisé, ont-ils aussi nourri la production littéraire africaine, à travers des références et des débats intellectuels propres, la place du divertissement, de certaines rubriques et de formes littéraires courtes (poésie, conte, nouvelle, feuilleton), ou les interventions d’écrivain·e·s journalistes ou pigistes ? Quels sont les espaces géographiques de référence de ces parutions, quant à leurs zones nationales de distribution, quant à la localisation de leurs publics, quant à leurs choix linguistiques, mais aussi quant à la place qu’elles réservent à un imaginaire cosmopolite ? En quoi le caractère éphémère et, souvent, transnational, de cette presse africaine modifie-t-il l’inscription de la littérature dans l’espace et dans le temps ? En d’autres termes, dans quelle mesure la prise en compte de la presse africaine permet-elle de penser un autre type de mondialisation des littératures que celle que produit un marché éditorial dominé par l’hémisphère nord ?

Les propositions s’appuieront de préférence sur un matériau empirique : un périodique ou un moment précis, des figures d’auteurs journalistes ou pigistes dont il s’agira de caractériser l’écriture dans la presse, ou ce que lui doit l’œuvre développée ailleurs, l’attention à tel ou tel texte littéraire présent dans ces parutions, en français, en anglais, et/ou dans des langues africaines. Elles pourront mettre l’accent sur des aspects méthodologiques : comment étudier, en effet, ce corpus extrêmement abondant (archives, numérisations, bases de données, analyses textuelles, contextualisation historique et sociale) ? Les communications pourront ainsi s’articuler autour des sujets suivants :

–       circulation de modèles, de rubriques et de textes (y compris d’une langue à l’autre, à l’échelle diasporique et transatlantique) ;

–       dynamiques de sociabilités, d’échanges et de réseaux entre écrivains, journalistes, financeurs, éditeurs ;

–       rôle de la presse dans la promotion, la circulation, l’institutionnalisation, la forme de la littérature africaine ;

–       trajectoires sociales et présences d’écrivain·e·s africain·e·s dans la presse : entretiens, portraits, critiques littéraires, journalistes.

Merci d’envoyer vos propositions (300 mots), avec un titre et une courte biographie (50 mots maximum) à colloquepresseafricaine@gmail.com d’ici le 1er décembre 2017. La langue principale du colloque sera le français. Nous envisageons la publication d’un numéro de revue à la suite de ces rencontres.

Ce colloque, qui aura lieu les lundi 19 et mardi 20 mars 2018, en ouverture de la deuxième Semaine de la Francophonie de l’Université Paul Valéry, est organisé par Ruth Bush (Université de Bristol) et Claire Ducournau (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 – RIRRA21), dans le cadre du projet“‘Popular’ print and reading cultures in francophone Africa”/“L’imprimé ‘populaire’ et les modes de lecture en Afrique francophone”, financé par le Arts and Humanities Research Council (Royaume-Uni). Ce projet relève d’un partenariat entre l’Université de Bristol, l’Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, l’Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire-Cheikh Anta Diop, les Archives Nationales du Sénégal et le Musée de la Femme Henriette Bathily.

En savoir plus: https://africainwords.com/2017/09/24/cfpappel-african-literature-and-the-press-presse-et-litterature-africaines/?fb_action_ids=10159450583745319&fb_action_types=news.publishes.

 

1.5 Arizona Graduate Conference in French

23-24 February 2018

University of Arizona

The Department of French & Italian at the University of Arizona is delighted to invite MA and doctoral students in French to submit an abstract for an oral presentation (20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions/comments) or a round-table for work in progress (15 minutes + 15 minutes for a constructive discussion and helpful feedback). It may be a research paper written for a graduate class or it may be part of a thesis or dissertation in one or more of the following areas:

• Theoretical and applied linguistics
• First, second language acquisition
• Teaching French as a second/foreign language
• Digital technologies (and pedagogy)
• French and Francophone literature, culture and civilization
• Francophone cinema
• Women’s studies, queer studies and sexuality

Participants will also be able to sign up for two research workshops:

1. Dr. Alain-Philippe Durand (Dean and Professor of French, University of Arizona): “How to build a research agenda in hip hop studies and an overview of the field”.
2. Dr. Emily Hellmich (Assistant Professor of French Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition & Teaching, University of Arizona): Digital technologies and language learning.

In addition, we are delighted to welcome two confirmed invited plenary speakers: Dr. Denis Jamet from the Université de Lyon whose plenary is entitled “Euphemisms for physical and mental illnesses in French and English”; and Dr. Lydie Moudileno from the University of Southern California whose plenary is entitled “The Multicultural Comedy: Race, Humor, and the Republic”.

The deadline to submit an abstract is December 4, 2017. Abstracts and talks may be in French or in English. Finally, participants will be invited to submit a paper for our Arizona Working Papers in French & Italian.

Please see our conference website for details. We look forward to welcoming you to Tucson for a stimulating conference that will open with a Francophone short film festival!

 

1.6 Nature, environnement et écologie: pour une approche écocritique de la littérature francophone (Numéro spécial d’alternative francophone)/Nature, Environment, and Ecology: Ecocritical Approaches to Francophone Literature (Special Issue of Francophone Alternative)

Appel à contribution: Numéro spécial d’alternative francophone
Nature, environnement et écologie: pour une approche écocritique de la littérature francophone

La relation entre les hommes et la nature n’a cessé d’évoluer au cours des siècles. Un moment clé dans la pensée occidentale moderne est quand Descartes déclare dans Discours de la méthode (1637) qu’il faut nous « rendre maître et possesseur de la nature ». Ce positionnement spécifique de l’homme par rapport à la nature a eu des conséquences désastreuses qui nous ont menés à une crise écologique mondiale. Selon l’anthropologue Phillipe Descola, le dualisme cartésien serait une nouvelle perspective qui ne constituerait rien de naturel. Dans son livre Par-delà nature et culture, Descola explique comment la pensée occidentale moderne, qui a donné également naissance à un grand nombre de notions actuelles dans le domaine de l’écocritique, s’est forgée en opérant une différence ontologique entre nature et culture. Cette vision du monde particulière s’est exportée quand la pensée moderne s’est répandue partout dans le monde pendant la période coloniale où elle s’est vue confrontée à une multiplicité d’idées divergentes sur la nature et l’humanité qui, aux yeux de la plupart des peuples non européens, n’étaient pas antagonistes. La critique universitaire de cette ontologie occidentale et moderne porte le nom d’écocritique. Ce domaine d’étude a pris naissance aux États-Unis où il s’est épanoui presque exclusivement au sein des départements d’études anglaises. En France, c’est dans les années 1990 que Michel Serres et Bruno Latour ont ouvert la voie à une écocritique à la française. Plus récemment, de nouvelles voix, comme celles de Pierre Schoentjes et Alain Suberchicot, ont formulé des critiques spécifiques qui visaient la prépondérance des perspectives américaines dans le domaine en proposant des méthodologies plus adaptées à la sensibilité française.

Cependant, il y a une lacune qui persiste dans les études portant sur l’aire culturelle et littéraire
francophone. Deloughrey et Handley, dans leur introduction au livre Postcolonial Ecologies : Literatures of the Environment, constatent que, « [e]n somme, le savoir des Lumières, l’histoire naturelle, la politique écologique et le langage de la nature – c’est-à-dire ces mêmes systèmes logiques dont nous nous servons aujourd’hui pour parler de la préservation de l’environnement et du développement durable – procèdent de la longue histoire de l’exploitation coloniale de la nature, ainsi que de l’assimilation des épistémologies naturelles du monde entier » (nous traduisons).

Dans ce numéro spécial d’Alternative francophone, nous souhaitons entendre de nouvelles voix qui poursuivraient cette discussion, qui n’a que trop tardé, et dont le but est de mettre en lumière la place du monde naturel et sa relation avec l’humanité dans la littérature francophone. Nous accueillerons en particulier des contributions touchant les thématiques suivantes (d’autres sujets en lien avec ces thématiques seront également considérés) à travers les divers genres des littératures francophones (roman, poésie, théâtre, littérature-jeunesse, BD, etc.,) :

– Écocritique coloniale ou postcolonial, la décolonisation et l’environnement
– Pollution, changement climatique, justice environnementale, extraction coloniale/néocoloniale
– Biopolitique et biopouvoir
– Écoféminisme
– Ontologies et épistémologies non-européennes
– Utopie ou dystopie écologique
– Le parasitisme ou le posthumanisme
– L’écocritique matérielle
– Les études animales

Les articles devront faire entre 6000 et 8000 mots et être envoyés au plus tard le 1er janvier 2018 à James Boucher (james.boucher@rutgers.edu ), Cynthia Laborde (cynthia.laborde@uta.edu ), Sathya Rao (srao@ualberta.ca) et⁄ou Chris Reyns-Chikuma (reynschi@ualberta.ca ). Les auteurs seront notifiés de la décision du comité éditorial par courriel dans un délai d’environ 5 semaines. Nous demandons aux auteurs de bien respecter le protocole de publication du journal
(https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/af/index.php/af/about/submissions#authorGuidelines).

En savoir plus: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/af/index.php/af/announcement/view/342.
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Call For Papers: Special Issue of Alternative Francophone

“Nature, Environment, and Ecology: Ecocritical Approaches to Francophone Literature”

The relationship between humanity and nature is constantly evolving. A defining moment in Western thought at the dawn of the modern period, is Descartes’ declaration in Discourse on Method (1637) that it is Man’s destiny to become the “master and possessor of nature”. This specific positioning of humanity vis-à-vis nature has had disastrous consequences, resulting in a global ecological crisis. According to anthropologist Phillippe Descola, Cartesian dualism is a relatively new way of looking at the world, a perspective that is hardly natural at all. In his book Beyond Nature and Culture, Descola explains how Western thought, from which the majority of our current conceptions on ecocriticism itself derive, forged itself in no small part by sanctifying an ontological division between nature and culture. This particular vision of the world was then exported when modernist thinking spread out across the globe during the colonial period, where it was confronted with a plethora of diverse ideas on nature and humanity, a distinction which many non-European peoples would not make.

The critical discourse that takes this modernist, Western ontology as its object is known as ecocriticism, an academic discipline that developed in the United States, where it has flourished nearly exclusively in English departments. In France, it isn’t until the 90s, with the leading voices of thinkers such as Michel Serres and Bruno Latour, that a viable French ecocriticism can be said to have come into existence. More recently, new voices, like those of Pierre Shoentjes and Alain Suberchicot, have contributed critical visions that attempt to decouple ecocriticism from its Anglophone roots, by adopting methodologies more consistent with French cultural specificity. That being said, there is a persistent lack of decentered ecocritical voices that focus on Francophone literature and culture. Deloughrey and Handley, in their introduction to Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment, point out that, “In sum, European Enlightenment knowledge, natural history, conservation policy, and the language of nature—the very systems of logic that we draw from today to speak of conservation and sustainability—are derived from a long history of the colonial exploitation of nature, as well as the assimilation of natural epistemologies from all over the globe”.

For this special issue of Alternative francophone, we encourage new reflections that address the question of the positioning of the natural environment vis-à-vis humanity in Francophone literature by engaging in new ecocritical approaches. Contributions may be based upon the following themes (but need not be limited to them) in the various literary genres of Francophone literature such as the novel, poetry, theater, children’s, literature, comic books:

– Colonial or postcolonial ecocriticism, decolonization and the environment
– Pollution, Climate change, environmental justice, colonial/neocolonial extraction
– Biopolitics and biopower
– Ecofeminism
– Non-European ontologies and/or epistemologies
– Ecotopias, dystopias
– Parasitism and/or posthumanism
– Material ecocriticism
– Animal Studies

Articles should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words and be emailed no later than January 1st, 2018 to James Boucher (james.boucher@rutgers.edu ), Cynthia Laborde (cynthia.laborde@uta.edu ), Sathya Rao (srao@ualberta.ca ) and Chris Reyns-Chikuma (reynschi@ualberta.ca ). Authors will be notified of the editorial committee’s decision by email within a period of 5 weeks or so. Articles should comply with the journal submission guidelines
(https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/af/index.php/af/about/submissions#authorGuidelines).

For more information, see https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/af/index.php/af/announcement/view/342.

 

2. Job Opportunities

 2.1  Tenure/Tenure-Track Position: Afro-Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies, Dartmouth College

The African and African American Studies (AAAS) Program at Dartmouth College invites applications for an open-rank position in Afro-Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies, with a preference for historians and social scientists. The position begins on July 1, 2018. We are interested in innovative scholars whose work interfaces with a variety of geographical regions. Scholars of all ranks will be given equal consideration. We will start to review applications on October 20, 2017, and will continue until the position is filled.

AAAS at Dartmouth College originated in 1969, making it one of the oldest programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty are committed to interdisciplinary approaches to understandings of Africa and the African diaspora within a global context. We seek to build AAAS through the addition of cutting-edge scholars who transcend disciplinary boundaries within the College, as well as nationally and internationally.

Dartmouth College combines a commitment to innovative scholarship with dedication to excellent teaching. The Dartmouth student body is diverse by many measures. We are interested in applicants with a record of and interest in successful teaching and mentoring of students from all backgrounds (including first-generation college students, low-income students, members of racial, ethnic and religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community). The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to contribute to Dartmouth’s undergraduate diversity initiatives in research, such as the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.

Dartmouth is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer with a strong commitment to diversity. In that spirit, we are particularly interested in receiving applications from a broad spectrum of people, including women, persons of color, persons with disabilities, veterans or any other legally protected group. Applications by members of all underrepresented groups are encouraged.

Qualifications: PhD or ABD (with PhD in hand by July 1, 2018).

Application Instructions:  Please provide (1) a letter of application, indicating current research, future research, and teaching philosophy; (2) a current CV with the contact information listed for 3-5 references. Submit materials through the Interfolio dossier service at apply.interfolio.com/44943.  Direct any questions to AAAS@dartmouth.edu.

For more information, see https://www.jbhe.com/2017/09/dartmouth-college-tenure-track-position-afro-caribbean-african-diaspora-studies/.

 

2.2 Lecturer in French, Department of Modern Languages, Aberystwyth University

Grade 7: £34,956 – £38,183 per annum

The Department of Modern Languages at Aberystwyth is looking to appoint a Lecturer in French (Teaching and Research), to contribute to core teaching in French Studies. You will teach a combination of literary/cultural modules and language modules within the undergraduate provision of the Department. You will have an excellent command of written and spoken French and English and an established research trajectory which will enable you to contribute to the University’s REF submission for Modern Languages. You will have appropriate experience of teaching French language as well as a range of nonlanguage courses (e.g. current affairs, literature, linguistics, cultural studies, film studies), at university level. The role will also include administration and student welfare responsibilities as well as participation in a range of student recruitment activity.

Applications are invited in any area of French Studies post 1900 although preference may be given to candidates specialising in fields other than the literature of metropolitan France.

To make an informal enquiry, please contact Professor Wini Davies at wid@aber.ac.uk.

Closing date: 30 October 2017

Interviews are expected to take place during the week commencing 6th of November.

For information and to apply, please go to http://jobs.aber.ac.uk. We are a Bilingual Institution which operates a Welsh Language scheme and is committed to Equal Opportunities.

To promote a flexible workforce, the University will consider applications from individuals seeking full time, part time, job share, or term time only working arrangements.

Appointments are normally made within 4-8 weeks of the closing date.

 

2.3 Lecturer in French, Modern Languages, University of Aberystwyth

Salary Scale: £35,550 – £38,833 per annum (full time, 36.5 hours per week)

Interview date: Week commencing 6 November 2017

Preferred Start Date: 1 Ionawr / January 2018

Closing Date: 30/10/2017

Documents: Swydd Ddisgrifiad Llawn – Full Job Description.pdf (PDF, 193.74kb)

Job Description

To promote a flexible workforce, the University will consider applications from individuals seeking full time, part time, job share, or term time only working arrangements.

The Department of Modern Languages at Aberystwyth is looking to appoint a Lecturer in French (Teaching and Research), to contribute to core teaching in French Studies.  You will teach a combination of literary/cultural modules and language modules within the undergraduate provision of the Department. You will have an excellent command of  written and spoken French and English and an established research trajectory which will enable you to contribute to the University’s REF submission for Modern Languages.

You will have appropriate experience of teaching French language as well as a range of non-language courses (e.g. current affairs, literature, linguistics, cultural studies, film studies), at university level. The role will also include administration and student welfare responsibilities as well as participation in a range of student recruitment activity.

Applications are invited in any area of French Studies post 1900 although preference may be given to candidates specialising in fields other than the literature of metropolitan France.

To make an informal enquiry, please contact Professor Wini Davies at wid@aber.ac.uk.

 

2.4 Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Department of French, Columbia University

The Department of French at Columbia University invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position with specialization in 20th/21st century literature and/or cinema. Ph.D. must be awarded by the appointment start date (July 1, 2018). Beyond teaching in the field of specialization, the successful candidate will teach two courses a year in Columbia’s Core Curriculum, typically Literature Humanities. Native-like fluency in French required.

The review of applications will begin November 1, 2017 and continue until the position is filled.

All applications must be submitted through Columbia University’s Recruitment of Academic Personnel System (RAPS) and must include a letter of application, CV, dissertation abstract, research statement, writing sample and three letters of recommendation. For more information and to apply, please go to:

https://academicjobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=65198

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

 

2.5 Postdoctoral Research Associate in Politics, University of Liverpool

Salary: £33,518 to £38,833 p.a.

Hours: Full Time Contract

Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Closes: 7th November 2017

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Histories, Languages and Cultures Working under the direction of Dr Alex Balch and in close co-operation with other Co-Investigators associated with the project, you will assist in delivering a number of research outputs relating to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Network Plus award: You will be located in the School of Histories, Languages and Cultures and will focus on the development of specific research outputs and activities. You should have a PhD in a relevant discipline. For more information, see http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BEW952/postdoctoral-research-associate-grade-7/. For full details and to apply online, please visit: https://recruit.liverpool.ac.uk.

 

2.6 Assistant Professor of French 20th- and 21st-Century Literature, Modern Languages and Classics, University of Alabama

The Department of Modern Languages & Classics at The University of Alabama invites applications for a tenure-track position of Assistant Professor with primary specialization in 20th- and 21st-century French literature, culture, and civilization. PhD or equivalent in French or related field in hand by August 16, 2018, native or near-native command of French and English, evidence of scholarly excellence required. Applicants must have an active research agenda and a commitment to undergraduate as well as graduate teaching in French at all levels. Applicants should apply online at http://facultyjobs.ua.edu, attaching letter of application, curriculum vitae, and article-length writing sample. Candidates should have three recent letters of recommendation sent directly, by mail, to the French Search Committee, Department of Modern Languages & Classics, Box 870246, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0246. For more information on the French program, please see mlc.ua.edu/french/. Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2017. Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. The University of Alabama is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, and actively seeks diversity among its employees. Additional Position Information: UA EEO Statement The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status, and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants to and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. For more information, see https://facultyjobs.ua.edu/postings/41835.

 

2.7 Associate or Full Professor for Laurence H. Favrot Chair in French Studies, Rice University

Rice University invites applicants at the rank of associate or full professor for the endowed Laurence H. Favrot Chair in French Studies.

While we will consider candidates in all fields, we have particular interest in those whose work has focused on the Francophone world beyond France. Evidence of outstanding scholarly accomplishment and a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching are essential. Native or near-native fluency in French and English. PhD or equivalent in French or related field is required. Applications should include cover letter, c.v., three letters of recommendation, and an article-length publication. Review of applicants begins on November 15, 2017 and will continue until the position is filled. Tenured faculty at Rice have a standard teaching load of two courses per semester, conduct research in their area, and perform university service.

Application, including letters of recommendation, is electronic only via the Rice University RICEWorks website: https://jobs.rice.edu/postings/11689. For letters of recommendation, you will be asked to input the necessary information on your evaluators, who will receive an email generated by the system. In this email, they will be given instructions on the process for submitting their letters.

Rice University has been designated one of the top 87 universities in the world (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking – !/page/0/length/25/name/Rice/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats); its endowment ranks among the top ten of all American universities. Rice University is an Equal Opportunity Employer with commitment to diversity at all levels, and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.

 

2.8 Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies, Georgetown University

Georgetown University, Department of French & Francophone Studies. Tenure-track Assistant Professor position for a specialist in ONE of the three following areas:  1) French/Francophone Cultural Studies; 2)French/Francophone Contemporary Theater & Performance Studies  (including ability to conduct performance workshops in French); 3) French Medieval/Mediterranean Studies.  Beyond courses taught in French in the specific area of research expertise, the candidate will be expected to teach a variety of offerings in French at the lower- and mid-division levels, including language learning and writing-intensive courses.  Ph.D. in hand by August 2018 and near-native fluency in French AND English are required. The Georgetown University French & Francophone Studies Department has a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and research at all levels.  Cover letter, CV, two sample syllabi, a writing sample, and three letters of recommendation must be received by November 20, 2017.  We plan to interview at MLA. Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse faculty and staff.

Applications will be accepted through Interfolio: http://apply.interfolio.com/44836.

 

3. Announcements

 3.1 Common Histories: A Workshop on Slavery and the Creative Arts

21 October 2017, 10:30-15:00

The Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX

AHRC ‘Translating Cultures’ theme, Centre for the Study of International Slavery and UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts are delighted to present a workshop on coming to terms with our common histories. All are welcome.

We share common histories of slavery, the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism and the impacts of the British Empire. There are difficulties surrounding modern discourses on these shared histories where in many cases, places and people who continue to be enriched by the wealth created and maintained through slavery and its legacies find it uncomfortable to engage in accepting and addressing implications today of these shared histories.

The workshop explores the ways we can deploy the Arts as a way of creating new spaces and opportunities to remove the discomfort of historical and modern injustice and inequalities that are a result of slavery, colonialism – and the reluctance to discuss these.

It is important to stress that there continues to be a pressing need to create new opportunities that allow young people especially, to explore possibilities of shaping their shared futures in a manner that draws on our shared histories into a positive direction. How do we facilitate these opportunities through international artistic collaboration?

The workshop will be led by Professor Kofi Anyidoho (University of Ghana), Chirikure Chirikure (Zimbabwe), Tawona Sitholé (poet in residence, University of Glasgow) and Gameli Tordzro (Pan African Arts Scotland).

Registration for this event is free. Tea and coffee will be served from 10.30 and lunch will be provided. Places are limited. Advance registration essential.

For more information, see https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/common-histories-a-workshop-on-slavery-and-the-creative-arts-tickets-38730293350?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=estw&utm-source=tw&utm-term=listing.

 

3.2 Ethnography and Modern Languages: Critical Reflections

4 November 2017, 9.45am-5pm

Institute of Modern Languages Research, Senate House, London

This workshop is intended to provide a forum to critically reflect on the position of ethnographic approaches and methods within modern languages research and teaching.

Ethnography is a growing area of interest among Modern Languages scholars, particularly among early career researchers and those working across the AHRC’s Open World Research Initiative and the Translating Cultures theme.

Ethnography has also played a central role in earlier and current pioneering work to transform the Modern Languages curriculum within universities. At the same time, ethnographic approaches often lack visibility within Modern Languages disciplinary discussions and institutional structures.

This workshop invites a series of both early career and experienced researchers and lecturers in Modern Languages to reflect on how they have engaged with ethnography in their research and/or teaching practices. Discussions will focus on how these approaches can be more effectively supported and developed, and how they complement and enter into productive dialogue with more established areas of Modern Languages research, such as literary and cultural studies.

For more information, including the programme, see http://translatingcultures.org.uk/event/ethnography-and-modern-languages-critical-reflections/.

 

3.3 Editorial Board of Modern and Contemporary France (Application deadline: 4 November)

Applications are invited for membership of the Editorial Board of Modern and Contemporary France. We encourage applications from specialists in any of the areas covered by the journal including politics, contemporary society, and popular culture. The initial term of appointment is two years. It is normally expected that Editorial Board members are, or shall become, members of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF) http://www.asmcf.org/.

Members of the Board play an important role in the peer review process and advise on all aspects of the life the journal. The Board currently meets twice a year in London. We regret that the ASMCF is unable to meet the cost of travel to meetings from outside the UK and Ireland.

An application form  – available from the Hon. Secretary of the ASMCF, Dr Fiona Barclay (fiona.barclay@stir.ac.uk) – should be completed and submitted with a short (1-2 page) cover letter. Deadline for applications: Friday 4 November 2017.

Informal enquiries should be addressed to the Executive Editor, Prof. Gill Allwood (gill.allwood@ntu.ac.uk).

 

4. New Titles

4.1 Writing After Postcolonialism: Francophone North African Literature in Transition (Bloomsbury, 2017)

By Jane Hiddleston

Focusing on francophone writing from North Africa as it has developed since the 1980s, Writing After Postcolonialism explores the extent to which the notion of ‘postcolonialism’ is still resonant for literary writers a generation or more after independence, and examines the troubled status of literature in society and politics during this period. Whilst analysing the ways in which writers from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have reacted to political unrest and social dissatisfaction, Jane Hiddleston offers a compelling reflection on literature’s ability to interrogate the postcolonial nation as well as on its own uncertain role in the current context. The book sets out both to situate the recent generation of francophone writers in North Africa in relation to contemporary politics, to postcolonial theory, and evolving notions of ‘world literature, and to probe the ways in which a new and highly sophisticated set of writers reflect on the very notion of ‘the literary’ during this period of transition.

For more information, see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-after-postcolonialism-9781350022812/.

 

4.2 A Colonial Affair: Commerce, Conversion, and Scandal in French India (Cornell University Press, 2017)

By Danna Agmon

A Colonial Affair traces the 1716 conviction of Nayiniyappa, a Tamil commercial agent employed by the French East India Company, for tyranny and sedition, and his subsequent public torture, the loss of his wealth, the exile of his family, and his ultimate exoneration. Danna Agmon’s gripping microhistory is a vivid guide to the “Nayiniyappa Affair” in the French colony of Pondicherry, India. The surprising and shifting fates of Nayiniyappa and his family form the basis of this story of global mobilization, which is replete with merchants, missionaries, local brokers, government administrators, and even the French royal family.

Agmon’s compelling account draws readers into the social, economic, religious, and political interactions that defined the European colonial experience in India and elsewhere. Her portrayal of imperial sovereignty in France’s colonies as it played out in the life of one beleaguered family allows readers to witness interactions between colonial officials and locals. Students and scholars of the history of colonialism, religion, capitalism, and law will find Agmon’s narrative of European imperialism of great interest.

For more information, see http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100368870.

 

4.3 Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France (University of California Press, 2017)

By Jean Beaman

While portrayals of immigrants and their descendants in France and throughout Europe often center on burning cars and radical Islam, Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France paints a different picture. Through fieldwork and interviews in Paris and its banlieues, Jean Beaman examines middle-class and upwardly mobile children of Maghrébin, or North African immigrants. By showing how these individuals are denied cultural citizenship because of their North African origin, she puts to rest the notion of a French exceptionalism regarding cultural difference, race, and ethnicity and further centers race and ethnicity as crucial for understanding marginalization in French society.

For more information, see https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520294264.

 

4.4 Thinking About History (University of Chicago Press, 2017)

By Sarah Maza

What distinguishes history as a discipline from other fields of study? That’s the animating question of Sarah Maza’s Thinking About History, a general introduction to the field of history that revels in its eclecticism and highlights the inherent tensions and controversies that shape it.

Designed for the classroom, Thinking About History is organized around big questions: Whose history do we write, and how does that affect what stories get told and how they are told? How did we come to view the nation as the inevitable context for history, and what happens when we move outside those boundaries? What is the relation among popular, academic, and public history, and how should we evaluate sources? What is the difference between description and interpretation, and how do we balance them? Maza provides choice examples in place of definitive answers, and the result is a book that will spark classroom discussion and offer students a view of history as a vibrant, ever-changing field of inquiry that is thoroughly relevant to our daily lives.

For more information, see http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo17212779.html.

 

4.5 La Littérature haïtienne dans la modernité (Karthala, 2017)

By Anne Marty

Constitué d’articles publiés entre 2000 et 2013, résultat de plus de quarante années de recherches effectuées par Anne Marty dans la littérature haïtienne, l’ouvrage ne se confond pourtant pas avec une collection d’essais. Des thèmes précis en sous-tendent l’architecture, montrant la dynamique à l’œuvre.

Le premier de ces thèmes est celui du féminin, étudié à partir des auteures et des personnages représentés. Plus d’une vingtaine d’auteures sont évoquées ou traitées, de Virginie Sampeur à Maggy De Coster. Leur présentation ainsi que l’analyse de leurs œuvres sont mises en perspective et montrent la place importante qu’elles prennent dans le champ littéraire haïtien. Anne Marty montre aussi que la représentation du corps féminin est un des puissants leviers de la fiction, et que c’est à partir de cette représentation que l’intime parvient aux mots. Analyses éclairantes et perspicaces, elles mettent en relief la façon dont ces auteures se démarquent des stéréotypes courants qui constituent le fonds de l’idéologie masculine.

Un deuxième thème parcourt le travail, celui du rappel de l’action délétère de la dictature sur la société haïtienne. Elle montre comment les écrivains, surtout à partir des années duvaliéristes, ont résisté et cherché à rénover une langue instrumentalisée pour l’expression du pire. Enfin, elle prend en charge la littérature qui, après janvier 2010, se dresse contre l’effondrement.

L’ouvrage d’Anne Marty est important en ce qu’il rend compte à la fois du long terme, cette perspective radicale que déploie une littérature qui fut dès ses commencements une littérature critique, et du court terme, celui des circonstances et des accidents d’une histoire souvent chaotique.

En savoir plus: http://www.karthala.com/lettres-du-sud/3176-la-litterature-haitienne-dans-la-modernite-9782811117290.html.

 

4.6 Decentring France: Multilingualism and Power in Contemporary French Cinema (Manchester University Press, 2017)

By Gemma King

In a world defined by the flow of people, goods and cultures, many contemporary French films explore the multicultural nature of today’s France through language. From rival lingua francas such as English to socio-politically marginalised languages such as Arabic or Kurdish, multilingual characters in these films exploit their knowledge of multiple languages, and offer counter-perspectives to dominant ideologies of the role of linguistic diversity in society. Decentring France is the first substantial study of multilingual film in France. Unpacking the power dynamics at play in the dialogue of eight emblematic films, this book argues that many contemporary French films take a new approach to language and power, showing how even the most historically-maligned languages can empower their speakers. This book offers a unique insight to academics and students alike, into the place of language and power in French cinema today.

For more information, see http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526113573/.

For a Q&A with the author, see: http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/articles/author-q-decentring-france/.

 

4.7 Écrire et penser le genre en contextes postcoloniaux (Peter Lang, 2017)

Par Anne Castaing and Élodie Gaden

À l’heure où se banalisent les discours féministes et, avec eux, une conception universelle de l’émancipation ; à l’heure où les questions de différence et d’intégration deviennent cruciales pour penser les sociétés contemporaines dans le Nord comme dans le Sud, il est urgent de conserver une réflexion dynamique sur la diversité comme sur l’hétérogénéité du genre et de ses formulations. Cet ouvrage propose donc une réflexion sur les corrélations et les négociations entre genre et nation (coloniale comme postcoloniale), sur la représentation fantasmée de l’« Orientale » et sur la cristallisation des identités nationales, religieuses et de genre. Il interroge ainsi les singularités culturelles et historiques du genre et de ses formulations, des subalternités et de leurs modes de résistance. Il s’intéresse enfin à la dimension genrée des migrations coloniales et postcoloniales.

L’approche plurielle que ce volume propose de l’articulation entre identités de genre et débat postcolonial dérive d’une valorisation de la circulation des disciplines et des méthodes (histoire, anthropologie, histoire littéraire, poétique, esthétique cinématographique, philosophie), toutes préoccupées par des questions de représentations. Elles mobilisent de même des terrains divers, au Nord comme au Sud (Afrique du Sud, Antilles, Inde, Viêtnam, Canada, Nouvelle-Calédonie, Maroc), colonisés comme décolonisés, certains demeurant peu sollicités par la critique postcoloniale.

En savoir plus: https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/79341.