French Cultural Studies

Every year, two graduate students from the French department at the University of Pennsylvania invite scholars from Penn and around the country to present their work to the graduate students, faculty, and other members of the Philadelphia community who share an interest in French and Francophone culture. The purpose of the French Cultural Studies lecture series is to foster an interdisciplinary spirit facilitated by the highly interactive format of its seminars. Strong attendance from students and faculty from most of the humanities departments at Penn and from neighboring institutions such as Bryn Mawr, Haverford and the University of Delaware are a testament to the vibrant forum that FCS has cultivated since its creation in 1993 by Drs. Joan DeJean and Lynn Hunt.

Past speakers include David Barnes, David Bell, Philippe Bordes, Roger Chartier, Robert Darnton, Pricilla Ferguson, Michael Fried. Georges May, Elena Russo, Michael Sheringham, and Natalie Zemon Davis.

Our speakers for the 2006-2007 year were:

• October 27: Dr. Michel Jeanneret from the Johns Hopkins University presented on authors' biographies.
• December 1: Tilden Daniels from the University of Pennsylvania presented on Michaux's "existential cinema."
• January 26: Dr. Dominic Thomas from UCLA presented on conlonialism, immigration and transnationalism.
• February 16: Dr. François Rigolot from Princeton University presented on the interpretation of dreams in the Renaissance.
• March 16: Dr. Philippe Met from the University of Pennsylvania presented on semiotics of gender in singing moments of French crime films.
• April 13: Dr. Warren Breckman from the University of Pennsylvania presented on Hegelianism and Postmarxism in Žižek and Nancy.

On October 5, 2007, Dr. Gary Ferguson of the University of Delaware and Dr. Elizabeth Stephens of the University of Queensland gave a joint presentation on queer studies. Dr. Ferguson spoke about women and pleasure in 16 th-century France; Dr. Stephens spoke about homoeroticism in the fiction of Jean Genet.

Our other speakers for the 2007-2008 year will include:

• December 9: Emily Adams from the University of Pennsylvania will present on women and bohemia in 19 th-century France.
• February 8: Dr. Catherine Dana from Bryn Mawr College will about translation and writing in a foreign language.
• February 29: Angelina Stelmach from the University of Pennsylvania will present on a topic yet to be determined.
• Date TBA: Dr. Louisa Shea from Ohio State University will present on a topic yet to be determined.