SFPS Monthly Mailing: November 2017

1. Calls for Papers

1.1 Colonial Tourism: Sites, Resistances and Performances

1.2 The Society for the Study of French History 2018 Annual Conference ‘Political Economy and Cultures of Inequality’

1.3 Revolution/Révolution: A Graduate Conference in French and Francophone Studies

1.4 “1968” in reviews

1.5 Visions and Revisions: Romance Utopias and Dystopias

1.6 Conference: Languages Memory

1.7 Enfance·s: Equinoxes Graduate Conference at Brown University

 

2. Job Opportunities

2.1 Assistant Professor of Literature and Visual Culture of Francophone North Africa (Dickinson College)

2.2 Professor and Head of the School of Modern Languages (University of Bristol)

2.3 Visiting Assistant Professor of French Studies (Colby College)

2.4 Faculty Fellow in French Studies (Colby College)

2.5 Official (Tutorial) Fellowship in French and Associate Professorship or Professorship of French (University of Oxford)

2.6 Assistant or Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies (Penn State)

2.7 Instructor of Francophone African Literature & Culture (University of Chicago)

 

3.Announcements

3.1 Regional Conference Grant Scheme (IMLR)

3.2 Call for Contribution Proposals – Routledge Handbook of French History

 

4. New Titles

4.1 Perspectives on French Colonial Madagascar (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)

4.2 French Ecocriticism From the Early Modern Period to the Twenty-First Century (Peter Lang, 2017)

4.3 Translating Frantz Fanon Across Continents and Languages (Routledge, 2017)

4.4 Engagement in 21st Century French and Francophone Culture Countering Crises (University of Wales Press, 2017)

 

1. Calls for Papers/Contributions

 

1.1 Colonial Tourism: Sites, Resistances and Performances

17th International Conference of Historical Geographers 

15- 20 July 2018 at the University of Warsaw

The session seeks critical readings of tourist infrastructures of the colonial state which occupied a distinctive position in the development of settler society. Hotels, inns, safari camps, tours, holiday camps, and resorts, together with colonial administrations, shipping, rail and eventual airline companies played critical roles in developing this network. These tourist sites and experiences often constituted a centrepiece of colonial representations and practices, as well as sites to showcase and subjugate indigenous peoples. They also played a key role in colonial violence. To a large extent, colonial tourism realised a form of occupation which Mbembe (2013: 25) argues was ‘…[about] writing on the ground a new set of social and spatial relations’, involving the ‘manufacturing of a large reservoir of cultural imaginaries’. Notwithstanding some evidence that through the work they offered, these sites supported the livelihoods of the indigenous population, as a central hub of the colonial occupation they were frequently seen as exploitative, a locus of white power, sexual violence and inequity. Yet in the west, these sites often featured as a centrepiece of luxury, the exotic and indeed many continue to trade on colonial nostalgia. As noted by Hom (2012: 30) ‘…colonial tourism disavowed the violent, insidious nature of imperialism, covering it over with a patina of leisure and making palatable, even pleasurable, the destruction of indigenous social fabrics and the unchecked demolition of economic, political, and social systems’. Addressed critically, places, sites and buildings for tourists and travellers, became features of the built and social landscapes and can be understood as a space which participated heavily in the capitalist production of colonial spaces. We welcome contributions from researchers who work intersects with these ideas or in areas related to possible broad themes or related topics:

• The Colonial Holiday
• The cultural and political topologies of colonial tourism
• Labouring at colonial tourist sites
• Honeymoons in the Colonies
• Resistance to the Colonial Tourist Gaze
• Colonial Hotels and Colonial Wars
• Colonial Tourist Sites as contact zones
• Colonial Holidays, memory and nostalgia.

Deadline: 1 December 2017.

Contact Info:

Dr Denis Linehan & Dr Joao Sarmento

School of Geography

University College Cork

Western Road

Cork

IRELAND

Contact Email: denis.linehan@ucc.ie

 

1.2 The Society for the Study of French History 2018 Annual Conference

‘Political Economy and Cultures of Inequality’

University of Warwick

9-10 July 2018

Public concerns about inequality have grown in recent years. They do so at a time when historians are turning their attention increasingly to political economy. Thomas Piketty’s Le capital au XXI siècle (2013) has been especially influential in sparking debates over the history of inequality and political economy, and it is to these debates that this conference seeks to contribute. How have political and economic cultures come together to create, reinforce or contest inequality? How has inequality been conceptualised in France and the francophone world? And what impact have wealth inequalities had on politics and culture? In engaging with these themes, participants should feel free to interpret them in the broadest possible terms.

Invited speakers include:

Michael Kwass (Johns Hopkins University), Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (Sciences Po) and Jackie Clarke (University of Glasgow). There will also be a round-table on the conference theme as well as a special panel in honour of seiziémiste Mack Holt and another in memory of Richard Bonney, a founding member of the Society and founding editor of the associated journal, French History.

In addition to the conference theme, we also invite papers or panels on any aspect of French history from the early medieval to the contemporary period and we welcome contributions that reflect the broad diversity of the history of France and its former colonial empire.

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers in English or in French. Panels of three papers are especially welcome, as are contributions from postgraduate students and overseas scholars. Paper proposals should comprise a title, abstract of 300 words and a one-page CV in a single pdf file. The deadline for submission of proposals is 15 December 2017. Please send these to the organising committee: Pierre Purseigle, Penny Roberts and Charles Walton: SSFH2018@warwick.ac.uk

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The Society for the Study of French History

Colloque Annuel 2018

« Economie politique et cultures des inégalités »

University of Warwick

9-10 juillet 2018

La question des inégalités a pris, ces dernières années, une place de choix dans le débat public. Les historiens, quant à eux, portent un intérêt croissant à l’économie politique. La publication du livre de Thomas Piketty, Le capital au XXI^ème siècle (2013), a provoqué un vif débat sur les approches historiques des inégalités auquel ce colloque entend contribuer. De quelle manière l’économie comme les cultures politiques s’articulent-elles pour créer, renforcer ou dénoncer les inégalités ? Comment la question des inégalités a-t-elle été conceptualisée en France et dans l’espace francophone? Quel impact la répartition inégalitaire des richesses a-t-elle eu sur la vie politique et culturelle? Nous encourageons les participants à interpréter ce thème aussi librement qu’ils le souhaitent.

Conférences plénières données par:

Michael Kwass (Johns Hopkins University), Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (Sciences Po) and Jackie Clarke (University of Glasgow).

Nous vous invitons par ailleurs à proposer des communications ou des séances sur tout autre aspect de l’histoire de France des débuts du Moyen-Âge au temps présent. Nous espérons que les contributions à ce colloque reflèteront l’histoire de France et de son ancien empire colonial dans toute sa diversité.

Nous vous invitons à proposer des communications de vingt minutes en anglais ou en français. Les propositions de séance, incluant trois communications, seront particulièrement appréciées, tout comme les contributions de doctorants et celles de chercheurs étrangers.

Les propositions devront inclure le titre et le résumé de la communication (300 mots max.), ainsi qu’un C.V. d’une page, le tout compris dans un seul fichier PDF. La date-limite de dépôt des propositions est le 15 décembre 2017. S’il-vous-plaît les envoyer au comité d’organisation: Pierre Purseigle, Penny Roberts et Charles Walton: SSFH2018@warwick.ac.uk.

 

1.3 Revolution/Révolution: A Graduate Conference in French and Francophone Studies

Hosted by the Yale French Department

April 6-7 2018

Keynote Speaker: Madeleine Dobie (Columbia University)

“La révolution littéraire et la révolution politique ont fait en moi leur jonction.” (Victor Hugo, in Tas de pierres, n.d.)

We speak of revolutions in many different registers, from political to literary. What does it mean for a movement to coalesce under the label of “revolution?” What makes a change “revolutionary?”

Revolution, etymologically meaning “a turnaround,” simultaneously evokes a radical upheaval of politics and dogma and its apparent opposite: a circular return to a point of origin. Revolutionary temporality can be difficult to define, whether due to deliberate occlusion, such as the sublimation of the Algerian Revolution under the name of “les événements,” or as a result of the nebulous nature of the revolutionary acts being named, e.g. “the gender revolution.” It is frequently difficult to situate a moment of rupture with the past. Indeed, the relation between past and present, between future and historical, remains a key aspect of the revolutionary; many revolutions are named for the date(s) during which they are said to have taken place, including “the 1848 Revolution,” “May 1968,” and “the August Revolution.” What can revolutions reveal about our relationship to history and vice versa?

Is all progress actually amplification and re-inscription of past events, or is there such a thing as a future radically altered from its past? In what way does the revolutionary risk or thwart such historical repetitions? Sources as varied as Frantz Fanon’s Les Damnés de la terre and Hélène Cixous’s “Le Rire de la Méduse” address revolutionary breaks with the past in no uncertain terms, as in Cixous’ words,“the future must no longer be determined by the past.” How can we further theorize what such shifts could entail? What is literature’s role in the revolutionary?

We invite papers that address the theme of “Revolution,” broadly conceived. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

–Revolutions against the French state (e.g. French Revolution; July Revolution; 1848 Revolution; the Paris Commune).

–Revolutions in former French colonial empire (e.g. Haitian Revolution; Algerian Revolution; the August Revolution; the Quiet Revolution).

–Artistic and literary movements (e.g. La Pléiade; romanticism; the rise of the novel; naturalism and realism; symbolism and decadence; surrealism; écriture féminine; the nouveau roman).

–The legacy of May 1968 and its various afterlives (e.g. in literature, in cinéma militant).

–The institutionalization of revolutionary discourse in France.

–Reactionary movements in the context of historical French fascism.

–Radical movements in the context of historical French leftism.

–Myths of political purification and regeneration in France.

–Redefinitions of French identity in politics and cultural production.

We welcome submissions from current graduate students for papers focusing on French and Francophone culture. Presentations may be in French or English and should not exceed twenty minutes. Please send abstracts of up to 250 words to yalefrenchgradconference2018@gmail.com by December 15 2017. Proposals should include your paper title, name, contact information, and institutional/departmental affiliation.

You can find additional information on the conference website:

https://revolutionyalegradconference2018.wordpress.com

Warmest regards, Sophia Helverson & Jason Hong (co-organizers) and the graduate students of Yale French Department

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Revolution/Révolution

Conférence en études françaises et francophones

Organisée par le département d’études françaises de l’université de Yale

6-7 avril 2018

Conférencière invitée : Madeleine Dobie (Université de Columbia)

“La révolution littéraire et la révolution politique ont fait en moi leur jonction.” (Victor Hugo, Tas de pierres)

Nous employons plusieurs registres pour parler de révolutions, du politique au littéraire. En quoi un mouvement devient-il une révolution en gestation ? Qu’est-ce qui confère à un évènement l’étiquette « révolutionnaire » ?

Dans son sens étymologique, le terme « révolution » signifie un « pivotement », ce qui évoque simultanément une sédition politique ou doctrinaire radicale, et son prétendu contraire : un retour périodique à un point d’origine. La temporalité révolutionnaire demeure souvent insaisissable ou difficile à reconstruire, rendue plus obscure par des occultations délibérées, telle que la sublimation de la Révolution algérienne sous le nom  «les événements », ou par la nature nébuleuse des actes révolutionnaires évoqués, comme l’illustre la «  gender revolution ». Il est souvent difficile de situer les points de rupture avec le passé. En outre, délimiter le domaine du « révolutionnaire » nous invite à repenser incessamment la relation entre le passé et le présent, entre l’avenir et l’histoire ; maintes révolutions revêtent ainsi la date présumée de leur institution, comme c’est le cas pour « la Révolution de 1848 », celle de « Mai 68 », ou encore « la Révolution d’Août ».  En quoi est-ce que les révolutions articulent et interrogent notre propre relation à l’Histoire, et inversement ?

Est-ce que l’idée de progrès assume une réinscription cyclique des événements du passé dans des contextes nouveaux, ou peut-on concevoir un futur radicalement autre ? En quoi la notion de révolution peut-elle entraver les répétitions de l’Histoire ? Des sources aussi variées que Franz Fanon (Les Damnés de la Terre) et Hélène Cixous (« Le Rire de la Méduse ») conçoivent les ruptures révolutionnaires avec le passé sans équivoque, comme l’illustre Cixous lorsqu’elle déclare que « le futur doit cesser d’être déterminé par le passé ». Comment pouvons-nous continuer à théoriser ces discontinuités ? Comment la littérature peut-elle contribuer à enrichir la notion de révolution ?

Nous invitons les candidats à soumettre des présentations qui traitent du thème « Révolution » au sens large. Voici une liste non exhaustive des sujets possibles :

–Révolutions contre l’État français (ex : la Révolution française, la Révolution de Juillet, la Révolution de 1848, la Commune de Paris, etc.).

–Révolutions dans l’ancien empire colonial français (ex : la Révolution haïtienne, la Révolution algérienne, la Révolution d’Août, la Révolution tranquille, etc.).

–Mouvements révolutionnaires artistiques et littéraires (ex : la Pléiade, le Romantisme, la naissance du roman moderne, le Naturalisme et le Réalisme, le Symbolisme et la Décadence, le Surréalisme, l’écriture féminine, le Nouveau Roman, etc.).

— L’héritage de Mai 68 et ses renaissances (en littérature, en cinéma militant, etc.).

–L’institutionnalisation du discours révolutionnaire en France.

–Mouvements réactionnaires au fascisme dans l’histoire de France.

— Mouvements radicaux dans l’histoire de la gauche politique française.

–Mythes de purification et régénération politiques en France.

–Redéfinitions de l’identité française dans les discours politiques et les productions culturelles.

Les étudiants de Master et de Doctorat sont invités à soumettre leur proposition de communication traitant de la culture de langue française. Elle ne devra pas dépasser 250 mots (en vue d’une communication d’une vingtaine de minutes, en anglais ou en français).

Les propositions devront être envoyées à l’adresse suivante yalefrenchgradconference2018@gmail.com au plus tard le 15 décembre 2017, en spécifiant le titre de la présentation ainsi que le nom, l’adresse électronique et le département de l’auteur.

Pour toutes informations supplémentaires, veuillez consulter le site de la conférence:

https://revolutionyalegradconference2018.wordpress.com

Sincèrement, Sophia Helverson & Jason Hong (co-organisateurs) et les étudiants du département d’études françaises de Yale

 

1.4 Conference: Languages Memory

Language Acts and Worldmaking is delighted to announce its first conference, Languages Memory. In this first conference, we want to enliven our awareness of the ways in which languages are experienced, practised, taught and researched. The conference will be held at Bush House, London, 13-14 June 2018.

The deadline for the call for papers is 15 December 2017.

The project: Language Acts and Worldmaking explores language as a material and historical force that acts as the means by which individuals construct their personal, local, transnational and spiritual identities. This we call ‘worldmaking’. Teaching, learning and studying a language means understanding the historicity of concepts, beliefs and social practices—how they operate in the past and present.

The conference: In our first conference, Languages Memory, we want to enliven our awareness of the ways in which languages are experienced, practised, taught and researched. We will reflect upon the place of language learning and engage with the material and historical force of languages in the world. We welcome international participation and comparison as an invaluable way to share and learn from different perspectives. We are looking for interventions that relate to these issues, thinking across the six research strands of our project.

Ideas are invited for papers, panels, and workshops. We are looking for all sorts of responses to the themes of the conference. Your idea could be, for example, an individual presentation, an academic panel of papers, an interactive workshop, or open discussion. We welcome proposals from all spheres, including academics, educators, community groups, artists and other cultural practitioners, students, professional organisations, NGOs, business representatives, and others.

Propose ideas for engaging with Languages Memory and we will build our conference around your responses. Here are some key themes:

• Worldmaking and languages
• History, legacy and future of UK, EU and international languages policies and comparative perspectives
• Language ideologies and pedagogies
• Languages in moments of crisis
• New ecologies of memory
• Digital methods and memory practices in relation to Modern Languages Technologies of language learning across time
• Languages and coloniality; the postcolonial and the transnational
• Languages and the archive; mnemonics and memory palaces
• Lost languages, linguicide and future languages
• Remembering language as play
• Diasporic communities and language memory

 

We are looking for the following types of submissions:

• Long (20 minutes) or short (10 minutes) papers
• Panels (composed of 3-5 discussants, based on a single theme)
• Posters/art works
• Workshops
• Other formats (please provide details as listed below)

Proposals should be limited to 300 words in total—please do not include supporting materials or bibliographies at this stage. All proposals should include the following:

• Your name, role, and institution or affiliation
• Title of your proposal
• Type of session
• Topic/key words
• List of contributors (if applicable)
• Time needed
• Aim of session
• Target audience
• Any resources or support needed

Please reply in the first instance to languageacts@kcl.ac.uk by 15 December 2017. We will reply by 31 January 2018 and we aim to have a full conference programme by the end of February 2018.

Place: We are delighted the conference will take place in Bush House, former home of the BBC World Service. This will allow us to host a wide variety of activities, so be as inventive as you wish in your proposals.

Get in touch: If you have any questions about the conference or the project, please do contact us at languageacts@kcl.ac.uk We look forward to hearing from you.

For more information, see https://languageacts.org/news/conference-languages-memory-call-papers/. 

 

1.4 “1968” in reviews

University of Birmingham, UK: 23 April 2018

Confirmed invited speakers: Mererid Puw Davies and Emanuela Patti

Supported by the British Academy/Leverhulme trust

Print culture was central to the expression and exchange of views during, and in the immediate aftermath of the political upheavals of the late 1960s. Less studied in that respect than journals devoted to politics or theory, literary and cultural reviews published responses by writers to their environment that contributed to protest and reaction through their rapid publication times and the role of journals in generating exchange and leading literary developments. Even when articles did not directly address political questions, the prevailing culture of some reviews developed in new directions in the subsequent months and years.

This symposium will compare responses to events associated with “1968” in literary and cultural reviews across geographical areas, making new connections across languages and cultures and interrogating the role of reviews in contributing to political action and to developing cultural forms in the wake of “1968”. In the ‘core’ centres of protest in France, Germany, and Italy, what role was played by reviews, and did they change direction from the late 1960s onwards? Was journal culture equally important in ‘peripheral’ western European areas including Belgium, Northern Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland (Reynolds, 2014) or non-European centres such as Brazil, South Africa, and the USA? In eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania, or Yugoslavia, what kinds of writing could appear in reviews? Did writers living in exile publish responses, and what is left unsaid in censored publications?

Proposals of up to 250 words for papers of 20 minutes should be sent to the organiser Emma Wagstaff: e.r.wagstaff@bham.ac.uk by 15 December 2017. The language of the symposium will be English.

For more information, see https://1968inreviews.wordpress.com/.

 

1.5 Visions and Revisions: Romance Utopias and Dystopias

24th Annual Carolina Conference for Romance Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

April 5-7, 2018

Utopian and dystopian visions span Western intellectual history from Thomas More’s coinage of the former term in 1516 to the powerful twentieth century literary dystopias that influence our understanding of the current political climate worldwide, such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and Sheree Thomas’ anthology Dark Matter.  Etymologically, utopia means “no place”–a place that does not (yet?) exist–but it is also a play on words, being close to the Greek for “good place,” thus the association of utopia with an idealized society.  While the utopian genre began as a way to envision political alternatives and solutions for social and economic inequality, dystopias show the potential dangers of such experiments.

In Romance Studies, we have the opportunity to examine the development of utopia and dystopia as genres within the literary traditions of Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese speaking countries. We can also look at how these concepts have been transformed by decolonial and postcolonial perspectives in order to influence the political and intellectual struggles of the colonized worlds. In literature, as well as in cinema, philosophy, contemporary theory, and video games (ecc.), how do authors, filmmakers, and artists use utopias and dystopias to address, debate, and/or comment on real-world issues such as, but not limited to, nuclear warfare, neoliberalism, global climate-change, technological “progress,” and socio-economic inequalities? How are these ideas used to elucidate elements of society that might otherwise remain unnoticed, whether potential solutions to human suffering or warnings about the cataclysmic potential contained within a present that may seem innocuous on the surface? What do utopian and dystopian visions and revisions have to teach us about the intersections between art, politics, technology, and science?

Topics of interest and approaches may include but are not limited to:

• Animality
• Animation
• Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic literature
• Biopolitics
• Comics
• Colonial, decolonial, and postcolonial studies
• Cultural studies
• Ecocriticism
• Enlightenment era
• Feminism (western and non-western)
• Film studies
• Gender studies
• Genre theory
• Historical fiction
• Middle Ages and Renaissance studies
• Performance
• Political science
• Popular culture
• Posthumanism
• Queer theory
• Science fiction, fantasy, and horror
• Virtual spaces and video games
• Visual arts
• War

Please submit abstracts of 300 words in English to ccrs2018@gmail.com by December 18, 2017.  Presentations of no more than twenty minutes should be conducted in English in order to facilitate connections among subject areas more so than language concentration.  We also welcome proposals for language-specific roundtables in Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese.  Panel proposals and roundtables should include a completed form from each participant. See [ccrs.unc.edu]ccrs.unc.edu for more information.

Please submit a single-page Word document in the following format:

Name:

Email address:

Affiliation:

Classification: (Professor, Ph.D. Student, M.A. Students, Post-doc, independent researcher, etc.)

Title:

Abstract (300 words, single-spaced):

Relevant Time Period(s) and Country(-ies):

Keywords (up to 6):

 

1.6 Enfance·s: Equinoxes Graduate Conference at Brown University

March 16-17, 2018 | Brown University | Providence, Rhode Island

Keynote Address:

Pauline de Tholozany

Assistant Professor of French, Clemson University

Although enfance is most commonly understood as referring to the developmental period between birth and adulthood, it is also a metaphorical concept, touching on all that is in process, in flux, or coming into being. Equinoxes 2018 aims to address the inherent ambiguity and the ontological instability of the enfance model as it plays out in French and Francophone contexts and corresponding cultural productions.

From récits d’enfance, to the births and growths of political and artistic movements, to the Bildungsroman as the representation of coming into adulthood, enfance has been articulated through an array of epistemological lenses by novelists, theorists, educators, and artists. The ways in which we construct and conceive of childhood broadly writ speak not only to the formative period itself but also to its conception and inception, results, aftermath, and prolongations. As a temporal concept, enfance·s opens up possibilities for teleological, rhizomatic, or aleatory processes; be they theoretical or personal narratives, accounts of childhood inform our conceptualization of how intersecting factors contribute to the evolution of persons, ideas, or nations.  How might examining a philosophy in its infancy lead us to question and revise our understanding thereof?  What is at stake in unearthing repressed childhood experiences in a literal or metaphorical sense?  How does the notion of enfance·s allow us to complicate the boundaries between beginnings and endings, the real and the imaginary, or newness and tradition?  Do the categories of childhood and adulthood actually correspond with a (perceived) loss of innocence?  How do the ways in which we have configured and reconfigured the notions of childhood and adulthood over time gesture toward our evolving understanding of maturity?

As an interdisciplinary conference, Equinoxes encourages submissions from a variety of fields including but not limited to philosophy, history, ethnography, anthropology, literature, media studies, sociology, art history, and political science, provided that the presentation relate to French or Francophone spheres.

Possible topics of discussion might include:

• New nations, cultures, and their literatures
• Pasts/Presents/Futures
• Récits d’enfance
• Children’s literature; literature about children; children in literature
• Littérature jeunesse as a genre
• Early days; births and beginnings
• Education and school
• Didactic texts; pedagogy
• Psychology and trauma; psychoanalysis
• Imagination and play
• Invention and creation
• Adolescence; subject formation
• Bilingualism; code-switching; language acquisition
• Transfuges and split identities
• (Loss of) innocence
• Art ludique/whimsy
• Im/maturity
• Nostalgia
• Inheritances

Graduate students who wish to participate in the conference should submit an abstract of no more than 250 words. Abstracts must be sent, as attachments, to equinoxes-conference@brown.edu before January 5, 2018. Emails should include the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information. Presentations, whether in English or in French, should not exceed 20 minutes.

***

Appel à contributions: Enfance·s

16-17 Mars 2018 | Brown University | Providence, Rhode Island

Discours inaugural:

Pauline de Tholozany

Professeure de français associée, Clemson University

Bien que l’enfance soit communément comprise comme se référant à la période de développement entre la naissance et l’âge adulte, c’est aussi un concept métaphorique qui touche à tout ce qui est en transformation, en flux, ou en devenir. Equinoxes 2018 se propose d’explorer l’ambiguïté inhérente et l’instabilité ontologique du modèle de l’enfance tel que développé dans les contextes français et francophones, et dans leurs productions culturelles respectives.

Récits d’enfance, naissance et développement de mouvements politiques et artistiques, ou Bildungsroman comme représentation de l’entrée dans l’âge adulte : l’enfance a été articulée à travers divers points de vue épistémologiques par des écrivains, intellectuels, pédagogues, et artistes. Les manières avec lesquelles nous construisons et concevons l’enfance dans son sens large ne sont pas seulement révélatrice des années formatives elles-mêmes, mais aussi de leur conception et origine, de leurs résultats, conséquences, et de leurs prolongations. En tant que concept temporel, enfance·s ouvre la possibilité de processus téléologiques, rhizomatiques, et aléatoires ; qu’il s’agisse d’histoires personnelles ou théoriques, les récits d’enfance informent notre conceptualisation de la manière dans laquelle différents facteurs intersectionnels contribuent à l’évolution de personnes, d’idées, ou de nations. Comment l’examen d’une philosophie à ses débuts peut-il mener à remettre en question et revenir sur la compréhension que l’on en a ? Quels sont les enjeux soulevés par la mise à jour d’expériences d’enfance réprimées, aussi bien littéralement que métaphoriquement ? Comment la notion d’enfance nous permet-elle de compliquer les frontières entre débuts et fins, le réel et l’imaginaire, le nouveau et la tradition ? Les catégories d’enfance et d’âge adulte correspondent-elles vraiment à une perte d’innocence, telle qu’elle est perçue ? Les notions d’enfance et d’âge adulte ont été configurées et reconfigurées à travers le temps : qu’est-ce que ces évolutions disent de notre vision de la maturité ?

 

En tant que conférence interdisciplinaire, Equinoxes encourage les propositions de divers champs de recherches, y compris mais pas limité à : la philosophie, l’histoire, l’ethnographie, l’anthropologie, la littérature, les études de médias, la sociologie, l’histoire de l’art, et les sciences politiques, tant que les présentations se rapportent aux sphères françaises ou francophones.

Possibles sujets de discussion :

• Jeunes nations, cultures, et leurs littératures
• Passés/Présents/Futurs
• Récits d’enfance
• Littérature pour enfants ; littérature à propos d’enfants ; enfants dans la littérature
• Littérature jeunesse en tant que genre littéraire
• Premiers jours ; naissances et débuts
• Education et école
• Textes didactiques ; pédagogie
• Psychologie et trauma ; psychanalyse
• Imagination et jeu
• Invention et création
• Adolescence ; formation du sujet
• Bilinguisme ; code-switching ; apprentissage de la langue
• Transfuges et identités divisées
• (Perte d’) innocence
• Art ludique/fantaisie
• Im/maturité
• Nostalgie
• Héritages

Les étudiants gradués qui souhaitent participer à la conférence doivent soumettre un résumé de 250 mots au maximum. Les résumés doivent être envoyés en pièce jointe à equinoxes-conference@brown.edu avant le 5 janvier 2018. Incluez nom d’auteur, affiliation institutionnelle et contact dans votre email. Les exposés, qu’ils soient en anglais ou en français, ne dépasseront pas 20 minutes.

  

 

2. Job Opportunities

 

2.1 Assistant Professor of Literature and Visual Culture of Francophone North Africa (Dickinson College)

The Department of French and Francophone Studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies. We seek a candidate whose scholarship focuses on the literature and visual culture of Francophone North Africa. Preference will be given to those who specialize in Francophone cinema, digital humanities, and/or contemporary issues. An ability to contribute to Dickinson’s existing programs in Africana Studies, Film Studies and/or International Studies is desirable.

Applicants must have or be close to completing a Ph.D., demonstrate native or near-native fluency in French, exhibit excellence in teaching, and have an active scholarly agenda. In addition to teaching upper-level courses in their area of specialization, candidates will be expected to teach all levels of French language and culture and to mentor students. The annual teaching load is five courses and the ability to create inclusive learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body will be an important characteristic of the successful candidate.

Dickinson College is a highly selective four-year, independent liberal arts college with 2300 students.  It is located 20 minutes west of Harrisburg, PA, and is a two-hour drive from Baltimore, Washington DC and Philadelphia. The College is committed to building a representative and diverse faculty, administrative staff, and student body. We encourage applications from all qualified persons.

Interested candidates should submit their application via QUEST (online application system) at https://jobs.dickinson.edu; they will include a letter of application in which they describe their teaching philosophy and scholarship, curriculum vitae, graduate transcripts, and three letters of recommendation.   Interested candidates should submit their application by November 20.  Inquiries can be addressed to Professor Benjamin Ngong, Chair, Department of French and Francophone Studies, at ngongb@dickinson.edu.

 

2.2 Professor and Head of the School of Modern Languages (University of Bristol)

University of Bristol – School of Modern Languages

Salary: Competitive salary plus benefits

Hours: Full time

Contract type: permanent

Deadline: 26th November

The University of Bristol is looking to appoint an outstanding candidate as Professor and Head of the School of Modern Languages who can provide inspirational leadership and strategic management within the School.

This is a key academic leadership position within the University of Bristol, supporting the attainment of the University’s vision and overall objectives, and participating in the collective formulation and delivery of the University’s academic strategy.  We are looking for a proven track record of excellent partnership working both internally and externally as well as academic excellence within your chosen field with the ability to engage, lead and influence across wide range of inter-faculty disciplines.  The Head of School will also have a deep commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

The School of Modern Languages (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sml/) is one of the most popular for undergraduate students in the UK, teaching around 8% of all undergraduate linguists. It provides innovative and creative teaching on more than 60 taught programmes of study, including a very popular three-language pathway.

With a population of over 400,000, Bristol is the largest city in the South West and the region’s leading centre for business, culture and education. Bristol was named the best city to live in by the Sunday Times in their “Best Places to Live in Britain” 2014, which noted that the city boasts “one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, varied and beautiful housing stock, decent schools, buzzy culture and night life and access to some fantastic countryside”.

To apply, please submit a comprehensive CV along with a covering letter setting out your interest in the role and details of how you match the role and person specifications for the post.

Applications should be received by 11:59pm on Sunday 26^th November 2017.

The interview process is anticipated to be held over two days on 22^nd and 23^rd February 2018.  Candidates are asked to hold these dates in their diaries accordingly.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact Professor Michael Basker, Dean of Faculty, at dean-arts@bristol.ac.uk or Professor Susan Harrrow, current Head of School, at s.r.harrow@bristol.ac.uk.

The University is committed to creating and sustaining a fully inclusive culture.  We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

 

2.3 Visiting Assistant Professor of French Studies (Colby College)

The Department of French and Italian at Colby College invites applications for a 3-year visiting position in French at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning September 2018. Faculty in our department increasingly work across traditional boundaries, from Early Modern France to nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first century cultural studies, and the Francophone world (the Americas, the Indian Ocean, Sub-Saharan and North Africa). The ideal candidate will teach five courses across our existing curriculum (language, literature, and culture), while complementing our multidisciplinary approach to teaching and research. The fields of particular interest to us include: Eco-criticism, Language Studies (including Phonetics and Translation), LGBTQ Studies, Media/Digital Studies, Migration Studies, and Visual Culture. The search committee is especially interested in candidates who, through their teaching, research, and/or service will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the campus community.

Candidates must have a native or near-native fluency in French and English and a strong commitment to teaching all levels of French language. PhD preferred, ABD considered.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, three letters of recommendation, statement of teaching philosophy and research interests, and a representative sample of current scholarship via Interfolio at the following link, https://apply.interfolio.com/45465. Review of applications will begin on November 27, 2017, and will continue until the position is filled. Interviews will be conducted at the MLA in January 2018.

 

2.4 Faculty Fellow in French Studies (Colby College)

The Department of French and Italian at Colby College invites applications for a one-year position in 20^th and 21^stcentury French literature and culture, beginning September 2018. Faculty in our department increasingly work across traditional boundaries, from Early Modern France to nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first century cultural studies, and the Francophone world (the Americas, the Indian Ocean, Sub-Saharan and North Africa). The ideal candidate will teach four courses across our existing curriculum (language, literature, and culture). Preferred areas of expertise include: cinema, theater, the visual arts, contemporary France, Holocaust studies, and/or multidisciplinary cultural studies that complement existingareas of specialization in the department.

Candidates must have a native or near-native fluency in French and English and a strong commitment to teaching all levels of Frenchlanguage. PhD preferred, ABD considered.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, three letters of recommendation, a statement of teaching philosophy and research interests, and a representative sample of current scholarship via Interfolio at the following link: https://apply.interfolio.com/45467.  Review of applications will begin on November 27, 2017, and will continue until the position is filled. Interviews will be conducted at the MLA in January 2018.

Colby is a private, coeducational liberal arts college that admits students and makes employment decisions on the basis of the individual’s qualifications to contribute to Colby’s educational objectives and institutional needs. Colby College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, or veteran’s status in employment or in our educational programs. Colby is an Equal Opportunity employer, committed to excellence through diversity, and encourages applications from qualified persons of color, women, persons with disabilities, military veterans and members of other under-represented groups. Colby complies with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in an institution’s education programs and activities. Questions regarding Title IX may be referred to Colby’s Title IX coordinator or to the federal Office of Civil Rights. For more information about the College, please visit our website: www.colby.edu.

 

2.5 Official (Tutorial) Fellowship in French and Associate Professorship or Professorship of French (University of Oxford)

Magdalen College, Oxford – in association with the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford

Salary: £46,336 to £62,219 p.a (plus £15,000 p.a. taxable and pensionable College housing allowance or free College)

Hours: Full time

Contract type: Permanent

Deadline: 12th December

Salary range: £46,336 to £62,219 p.a. (plus £15,000 p.a. taxable and pensionable College housing allowance or free College accommodation, and other benefits). Associate Professors who are awarded the title of full Professor may receive from the University an additional salary payment of £2,700 p.a. (without change to the duties of the post).

Magdalen College, High Street, Oxford, OX1 4AU

Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford, 41 & 47 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JF

Start date: 1 October 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter

Magdalen College, Oxford and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford propose, if a suitable candidate applies, to appoint to an Official (Tutorial) Fellowship in French and an Associate Professorship or Professorship of French. This is a permanent position, subject to successful completion of a review.

Applications are sought from candidates whose areas of research specialisation include Transcultural Literary Studies, with a focus on French, and are not restricted to 20^th or 21^st century specialists. Transcultural Literary Studies are to be understood within the Oxford Sub-Faculty of French’s long historical view, so that inter-cultural encounters can be defined as colonial as well as post-colonial, immigrant as well as emigrant. Our methodological perspective is deliberately broad with respect to cultural materials, theoretical approach, and geographical range throughout the French-speaking world.

Candidates should have native or near-native standard competence in both English and French and they should have received a doctoral degree by the advertised closing date for this position, or, in exceptional circumstances, have submitted a completed doctoral dissertation for examination by this date.

The successful candidate will have the ability to provide excellent tutorial teaching, classes, and lectures, and will be required to engage in scholarly research and publication; to teach the texts for the first-year French literature papers, a broad range of either early modern or modern French literature for second- and final-year students, and language work; and to oversee the work of the College lectrice/lecteur and any lecturers in French associated with the College. Candidates should show evidence of the potential to attract external funding for research, and evidence of experience at, or potential for, participating effectively in the other work required by the College and Faculty, including administration.

Applications, containing a completed application cover sheet (including the names and addresses of three referees), a detailed covering letter (which should set out information about the candidate’s research and the subjects which the candidate could offer to teach for the College and for the Faculty), a full curriculum vitae including a list of publications, and two samples of written work, should be sent by email to Miss Liz Howdill (Academic Administrator, Magdalen College, Oxford, OX1 4AU), email liz.howdill@magd.ox.ac.uk (tel. (+44) 0 1865 276113; fax (+44) 0 1865 276094), to arrive by noon GMT on 12 December 2017. Candidates should ask their referees to send references directly to the Academic Administrator by this deadline without further prompting. Further particulars and an application cover sheet are located on the College website at: www.magd.ox.ac.uk/job-vacancies. It is anticipated that interviews will be held on 29 January 2018.

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Oxford.

Magdalen College and the University of Oxford are Equal Opportunities Employers.

 

2.6 Assistant or Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies (Penn State)

Pennsylvania State University, French and Francophone Studies

The Department of French and Francophone Studies at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant or associate professor, beginning Fall 2018. We are seeking candidates with a strong record of research and teaching experience in 20th-/21st-century culture and society. We are a vibrant department with interdisciplinary strengths in francophone studies; cultural history; and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Besides a specialty in 20th-/21st-century culture and society, the ideal candidate would have an interest and experience in one or more of our three areas of strength and/or in migration studies, material culture, or the digital humanities. Start date is August 2018 and the teaching load is two courses per semester. Applicants must have a Ph.D., native or near-native fluency in both French and English, an active research agenda, and a record of successful teaching at multiple levels. To apply, please submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, writing sample (no more than thirty pages) and contact information for three references. Application received by November 1, 2017, will be considered for MLA interviews; those arriving later will be accepted until the position is filled. Apply online at https://psu.jobs/job/74179. Open until filled.

 

2.7 Instructor of Francophone African Literature & Culture, University of Chicago

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago seeks a specialist in Francophone literature and culture of Africa and the African diaspora of the 20th and 21st centuries for an initial two-year appointment expected to begin July 1, 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter. Additional expertise in theater and performance, film, Atlantic and/or Caribbean studies, gender studies, and/or post-colonial studies is welcome. The ability to work in languages besides French is highly desirable, as we expect the successful candidate to collaborate with faculty within and beyond our department.

A goal of the search is to increase the diversity of the faculty in Romance Languages & Literatures and across the Humanities Division, and we therefore welcome applicants from groups historically underrepresented in academia, such as black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Successful candidates will be appointed as Provost Fellows with an initial two-year faculty appointment at the rank of Instructor. This initial period is intended to serve in lieu of a postdoctoral appointment. Provost Fellows will teach one class/year, receive research support, and will participate in programming designed to help support them in their transition to Assistant Professor. Provost Fellows will ordinarily be promoted to Assistant Professor at the end of their two-year term.

Candidates are required to have the PhD in hand, and no more than two years of postdoctoral experience, by the start of the appointment. Applications must be submitted through the University of Chicago’s Academic Career Opportunities website, http://tinyurl.com/UofCfrancophone, by December 15, 2017.

Applications must include: 1) a cover letter that addresses current research, future plans for research, teaching experience and philosophy, and planned contributions to intellectual life at the University; 2) a curriculum vitae; 3) a statement that describes the applicant’s prior and potential contributions to diversity in the context of academic research, teaching, and service; 4) one sample of scholarly writing (a published article or unpublished paper or chapter); and 5) three letters of reference.

Position is contingent upon budgetary approval.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University’s Notice of Nondiscrimination at http://www.uchicago.edu/about/non_discrimination_statement/. Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-0287 or email ACOppAdministrator@uchicago.edu with their request.

Posting link: http://tinyurl.com/UofCfrancophone

 

3. Announcements

3.1 Regional Conference Grant Scheme (IMLR)

The Regional Conference Grant Scheme aims to support the study of modern languages outside London, to promote inter-institutional collaborations, and bring together scholars from the wider region as participants or attendees. Applicants can apply for a maximum of £2,500, with up to three grants awarded each year. The call for applications for the 2018 competition is now open, for events to be held between 1 September 2018 and 30 June 2019. The closing date for applications is 31 January 2018. Further details/how to apply. See https://modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/events/regional-conference-grant-scheme.

 

3.2 Call for Contribution Proposals – Routledge Handbook of French History

The Society for the Study of French History is preparing, at the publisher’s request, an outline of a work with some 60 contributions (5000 words each), covering the history of France, in the broadest sense, from its earliest history to the present.

In order to secure the most diverse possible range of contributors, we are holding an open Call for Contribution Proposals, details of which are below. The closing-date for this is 31 January 2018. If you are interested in making a contribution to one of the categories below, please send a one-page outline of your proposal, and a one-page summary CV, to <david.andress@port.ac.uk>.

Contributions will need to be written in a style suitable for undergraduate students, as engaging introductions to the topic, including clear suggestions of key further reading and points of controversy to consider.

The Handbook will be structured with a variety of types of contribution. We are seeking:

Some 12 chronological overviews presented as a ‘spine’ of pieces from more established scholars, identifying key developments in the history and recent historiography of the relevant period;

The same number of contributions that further address some aspect of each ‘spine’ period/topic from the perspective of later ‘uses’ of that historical period in debates about history, politics and identity;

Some 36 other contributions providing the majority of detailed studies, with a particular focus on authorship by early-in-career scholars, addressing particularly salient points of historiography and debate within or across one or more ‘spine’ periods, from any and all branches of historical scholarship. We will be aiming to achieve, in broad outline, an even coverage of these pieces across the 12 topics detailed below, without every piece necessarily being constrained by the chronological framing of those topics.

Our current broad definition of the chronological ‘spine’ of the book is as follows. N.B. the phrasing here is merely indicative, and we seek contributors who categorise the content of their contributions as they see fit, as long as we can achieve coverage without any chronological gaps:

• The origins of ‘France’ – prehistory to Clovis
• Early-medieval France – to the end of the Capetians
• Later-medieval France – Valois France to 1494
• Renaissance and Reformation France to 1610
• Absolutist France to 1715
• Enlightened & Revolutionary France to 1815
• Regimes & Revisions, 1815-1905
• Trials & Tribulations, 1905-1958
• The Fifth Republic, 1958-present

Alongside these, a further three chapters focusing explicitly on France’s global impact, to be integrated into the ‘spine’ in final presentation:

• From origins to the first ‘loss of empire’ in 1763
• Gaining & exploiting new empires, 1763-1914
• Empire, war & decolonisation, 1914-present

Amongst the other individual contributions, ones that crosscut ‘colonial’ and ‘metropolitan’ perspectives are strongly encouraged.

Please send a one-page outline of your proposal for a 5,000 word contribution, categorised as above either as ‘overview’, ‘uses’, or ‘detailed study’, along with a one-page summary CV, to david.andress@port.ac.uk by 31 January 2018.

Dave Andress

President, Society for the Study of French History
Professor of Modern History
SSHLS, Univ. of Portsmouth
Milldam, Portsmouth, PO1 3AS, UK
Tel. 02392 842204
david.andress@port.ac.uk

 

4. New Titles

 

4.1 Perspectives on French Colonial Madagascar (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)

By Eric T. Jennings

This book is a vivid history of Madagascar from the pre-colonial era to decolonization, examining a set of French colonial projects and perceptions that revolve around issues of power, vulnerability, health, conflict, control and identity. It focuses on three lines of inquiry: the relationship between domination and health fears, the island’s role during the two world wars, and the mystery of Malagasy origins. The Madagascar that emerges is plural and fractured. It is the site of colonial dystopias, grand schemes gone awry, and diverse indigenous reactions. Bringing together deep archival research and recent scholarship, Jennings sheds light on the colonial project in Madagascar, and more broadly, on the ideas which underpin colonialism.

For more information, see http://www.palgrave.com/in/book/9781137596901#aboutBook.

 

4.2 French Ecocriticism From the Early Modern Period to the Twenty-First Century (Peter Lang, 2017)

By Daniel A. Finch-Race and Stephanie Posthumus

This book expounds fruitful ways of analysing matters of ecology, environments, nature, and the non-human world in a broad spectrum of material in French. Scholars from Canada, France, Great Britain, Spain, and the United States examine the work of writers and thinkers including Michel de Montaigne, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Arthur Rimbaud, Marguerite Yourcenar, Gilbert Simondon, Michel Serres, Michel Houellebecq, and Éric Chevillard. The diverse approaches in the volume signal a common desire to bring together form and content, politics and aesthetics, theory and practice, under the aegis of the environmental humanities.

For more information, see https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/25339.

 

4.3 Translating Frantz Fanon Across Continents and Languages (Routledge, 2017)

Edited by Kathryn Batchelor, Sue-Ann Harding

This book provides an innovative look at the reception of Frantz Fanon’s texts, investigating how, when, where and why these—especially his seminal Les Damnés de la Terre (1961) —were first translated and read. Building on renewed interest in the author’s works in both postcolonial studies and revolutionary movements in recent years, as well as travelling theory, micro-history and histoire croisée interests in Translation Studies, the volume tells the stories of translations of Fanon’s texts into twelve different languages – Arabic, Danish, English, German, Italian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Swahili and Swedish – bringing both a historical and multilingual perspective to the ways in which Fanon is cited today. With contributions from an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars, the stories told combine themes of movement and place, personal networks and agency, politics and activism, archival research and textual analysis, creating a book that is a fresh and comprehensive volume on the translated works of Frantz Fanon and essential reading for scholars in translation studies, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, critical race studies, and African and African diaspora literature.

For more information, see https://www.routledge.com/Translating-Frantz-Fanon-Across-Continents-and-Languages/Batchelor-Harding/p/book/9781138658738.

 

4.4 Engagement in 21st Century French and Francophone Culture Countering Crises (University of Wales Press, 2017)

Edited by Helena Chadderton Angela Kimyongür

In the face of the contested legacy of engagement in the Francophone context, this interdisciplinary collection demonstrates that French and Francophone writers, artists, intellectuals and film-makers are using their work to confront unforeseen and unprecedented challenges, campaigns and causes in a politically uncertain post-9/11 world. Composed of eleven essays and a contextualising introduction, this volume is interdisciplinary in its treatment of engagement in a variety of forms, as it reassesses the relationship between different types of cultural production and society as it is played out in the twenty-first century. With a focus on both the development of different cultural forms (Part 1) and on the particular crises that have attracted the attention of cultural practitioners (Part 2), this volume maps and analyses some of the ways in which cultural texts of all kinds are being used to respond to, engage with and challenge crises in the contemporary Francophone world.

For more information, see http://www.uwp.co.uk/book/engagement-in-21st-century-french-and-francophone-culture-hardback/.