Congratulation to the four students sho received a Graduation prize in French and Francophone Studies this year.
Congratulation to our French and Francophone seniors! This year, 6 of you are heading to France to teach English!
Angela Hales, Rachel Eilbott, Kayla Grant, Jasmin Harper, Daniel Hodges and Alix Kashdan who received a French embassy Teaching Assistantship and will be teaching in France in 2013-2014. Rachel will be teaching in French Guyana, while Kayla will be near Versailles (where she will join Stephanie Kumah, W&M French & Francophone ’12), Angela in Franche Comte, Jasmin in Alsace, Daniel in Réunion (Indian Ocean) and Alix in Picardy.
Associate Professor of French & Francophone Studies Giulia Pacini talks about her book on trees and eighteenth-century cultures of nature:
You just co-edited a volume entitled Invaluable Trees: cultures of nature, 1660-1830, published by the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford (2012). Why are you so interested in trees? Why were they important in the long eighteenth century?
Trees mattered a lot in early modern times, materially and therefore also symbolically. They offered food, medicinal ingredients, shelter for humans and animals, materials for heating, for construction (both civil and military), and manufacturing. So in the eighteenth century the legitimacy of a sovereign was often linked to the strategic management of the country’s forests. Trees were also precious objects of commercial and diplomatic exchanges, and the focus of extensive scientific study. And at the same time, in this period an increasing number of people developed emotional relationships to trees. Trees helped them define themselves. You can see this in paintings of gentlemen who chose to be portrayed alongside their favorite plants, or in the words of writers such as François-René de Chateaubriand, who liked to say about his saplings: “I know them all by name, as my children: they are my family; I don’t have any other.”
When did you start working on this project?
To some extent this work started fifteen years ago, when I took a couple of courses in the history of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. More specifically, though, this project emerged out of conference discussions between colleagues who had long been studying gardens and landscapes as culturally constructed sites, and who now wanted to focus on trees specifically. I was fortunate to find two wonderful co-editors, Laura Auricchio and Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook, who not only shared my interests, but also contributed different cultural and disciplinary perspectives (the former is a professor of French art history; the latter a professor of British literature and cultural studies). Co-writing the introduction to this volume was particularly exciting, as we tried to map out together what an interdisciplinary field of tree studies might look like.
Your book is an edited volume. Who else participated in this conversation about trees?
Invaluable Trees is an international project, with contributions from scholars in Europe, North America, and Australia. It is amazing how well and how easily one can work with colleagues at a distance, now that we have the technology to share and write on the same documents. The volume includes essays in fields as diverse as environmental and forest history, social history, cultural geography, the history of medicine, eco-musicology, anthropology, art history, and literary studies.
The volume includes an essay of yours. What is it about?
I analyze some bizarre landscaping projects that represent tree-planting as an instrument for reform. I found a few texts by French authors Jacques Delille and Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre, which suggested that in the late eighteenth-century imaginary trees may have been perceived as transformative agents, rather than as exclusively passive objects of human handling. Both authors had similar ideas about the ways in which people might have “arboreal habits” which shaped their identity and attached them to a place. And both authors ultimately asked whether the transplantation of trees could serve a political purpose, strategically facilitating the naturalization of foreigners on French soil.
What did you and your co-editors ultimately discover through this research?
We were struck first of all by the diversity of (often competing) discourses and practices that characterized this period — some rather traditional, others quite innovative. We also realized how much these discourses and practices were caught up in shifting conceptions of nature, physical health, moral wellbeing, and social identity. We found a widespread awareness throughout the eighteenth century that human and arboreal lives were intimately connected. Above all, however, we found a growing concern about the consequences of deforestation, and therefore a strong interest in sustainable forestry across the European continent. So in the end our essays put current ecological thought in a broader historical context, while also allowing us to engage ongoing critical debates about the character of the Enlightenment and its relationship to nature. Although we certainly found evidence of a growing appreciation of the material value and utility of trees, we also discovered a plurality of voices that spoke to trees’ extra- or non-economic importance, as well as to their intrinsic vitality and deep-rooted and organic connections to other forms of life.
How do you interact with trees in your private life?
I have to confess that I really enjoy pruning, even though I know that this act was often constructed in the late eighteenth century as the repressive expression of an absolutist will (the French were particularly hit by this politically motivated criticism, as they were known for extreme forms of topiary at the royal palace and gardens of Versailles). Every time I pull out my pruning shears, the voices of Horace Walpole and of other eighteenth-century writers start nagging me, telling me that I should allow my hedges to grow and to express themselves as freely as they wish!
My name is Madeleine Aggeler and I’m a senior at William and Mary, majoring in French and History. My parents’ started sending me to french schools when I was in kindergarten, and I was not aware that an English education was an option until the first grade, when my cousin told me that they got to speak English at their school. Despite this initial shock, I continued to attend french schools until grade 10, and pursued french classes throughout high school and college.
When I first came to William and Mary, I only planned to pursue a French minor, but my French classes quickly proved to be some of my most interesting and challenging classes. My major has allowed me to study a wide array of topics, including poetry, history, and film, and my classes and professors have provided me with some of my most fulfilling educational experiences.
After graduating in May, I will be serving the Peace Corps for 27 months, and then hope to pursue graduate studies in France.
Since I was six years old, I’ve been in love with the French language. I tried to teach myself French by listening to cheesy “Family Circus Lyric Language French” tapes. At that time, however, I definitely could not imagine the day that I would be graduating from W&M as a French and European Studies double major! At the College, I have taken many courses that have provided me with interdisciplinary exposure to my various interests in French politics, European history, and international relations. I am so grateful to the wonderful professors in the French department who have really fostered my interests in French culture. I am also so thankful for the opportunity I had to study abroad at Sciences-Po Lille last spring. It was by far the best experience of my life, and I cannot wait to go back to France. After graduation, I hope to return to France as a Teaching Assistant.
My name is Catherine Lipper, and I am a graduating senior originally from New Providence, NJ. I am a double major in International Relations and French and Francophone Studies. I first became interested in both international relations and French when I lived abroad in London, England for four years during elementary school. While at W&M, I have enjoyed taking French courses on scandalous women in literature, French cinema, secrets and revelations in literature, French identity constructions of sub-Saharan Africa, and French cultural studies. I studied abroad last spring in Brussels, Belgium with Internships in Francophone Europe (IFE). While in Brussels, I also interned with ESISC, the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, as a member of their World Terror Watch team. I presented my research on the aftermath of the Arab uprisings at the Fête de la Recherche in November 2012. Upon graduation, I intend to work in international affairs, either in Washington D.C. or New York City.
An annual “Fête de la Recherche” (faites de la recherche!) features the student research that takes place at the core of the French & Francophone Studies program. Students often present projects from their studies abroad in Montpellier, France, as well as longer papers written in association with I.F.E internships in Paris, Bruxelles, and Strasbourg. Other talks frequently showcase independent Monroe projects and senior honors theses.
Here are short video clips from our 2012 Fête de la Recherche:
The full conference programs can be found here
Research is at the center of the French & Francophone Studies program. Students are able to conduct research projects in many different ways, as the annual Fête de la Recherche demonstrates: short projects done while studying in Montpellier; longer projects conducted while studying and doing an internship through the I.F.E program in Paris, Strasbourg, or Bruxelles; Monroe projects; and honors theses. Some of our most exciting projects have been made possible by the McCormack-Reboussin scholarship. Last May, I sat with Bridget Carr, one of our most recent McCormack-Reboussin scholars to discuss her research and the incredible opportunity this scholarship has been for her. So what is this scholarship, and what do our students do with it?
In 1995, Mark McCormack, a distinguished alumnus and generous benefactor of the College, created a merit-based scholarship to support financially an outstanding French major during his or her third and fourth years at the College. The scholarship was originally named in honor of Marcel Reboussin, a longtime member of the faculty in French at the College, and Mr. McCormack’s favorite professor from his days as a French major. The scholarship now also bears the name of Mr. McCormack in honor of his many professional accomplishments, his unflagging devotion to his alma mater, and his inspired support for student research in the field of French & Francophone Studies. With the generous support of Mr. McCormack’s daughter, Mrs. Leslie McCormack-Gathy, the terms of the scholarship were changed in 2008 in order to benefit more students.
The scholarship is now awarded on an annual basis to a rising senior French and Francophone Studies major, and is worth a total of $12,000: up to $4,000 to support research to be conducted in a French-speaking country or region during the summer between the junior and senior years, with the remainder ($8,000 or more) to be applied toward tuition and fees for the senior year. The McCormack-Reboussin scholars’ research treat an intellectually relevant topic related to the French language, French/Francophone literature, or the culture of a French-speaking country or region.
In the past few years, McCormack-Reboussin scholars have been conducting research in France, as well as in Belgium and Senegal. Not only is the geographical scope of these students’ investigations broad; the field of their inquiries is also very diverse. The scholars work very closely with their honors thesis advisors to develop their research projects.
In 2012-13, Daniel Hodges is working with professor Leruth on a project on French involvement in the political life of Congo/ Zaire/ RDC from the 1880s to the present. This summer, Daniel was able to travel to Bruxelles and Paris to conduct his research. He will present a first iteration of his ongoing work on Saturday 10th at the Fete de la Recherche.
In 2011-12, Bridget Carr spent a month doing archival work and conducting interviews in Dakar. She eventually completed an her honors thesis on “Franco-Senegalese Relations through the Lens of Development Aid (1895-2012)“ (Highest Honors/Professor Médevielle, advisor ).
In 2010-11, Philippe Halbert researched the image of the monster in French Enlightenment culture, and this project took him to Paris and Versailles. His honors thesis ultimately bore the title: ‘Heretofore Considered Legendary’: The Harpy of 1784 and the Making of Monsters in Eighteenth-Century France.“ (High Honors/ Professor Pacini, advisor)
Eve Grice (2009) also worked in Paris, and wrote a thesis entitled “What She Said: Gender, Race, and Discourses on Difference at the Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration” (Highest Honors/Professor Fauvel, advisor).
If you are interested in learning more about past recipients of this scholarship, their projects, or if you wish to know more about the application process, please visit our website.
Every year the French & Francophone Studies program organizes a lively conference to showcase student research. The Fête de la Recherche is both a moment of intellectual exchange, and a sociable event with music, fun stories, and good food. The students deliver presentations entirely in French, and answer questions about the process of doing research abroad and in a foreign language. They often present drafts of an ongoing honors thesis, as well as papers written in connection with recent internships in Paris or Bruxelles. Others share the independent research they did while studying abroad in Montpellier. For the first time, the 2012 Fête de la Recherche will also feature a conversation with recent alumnae who will talk about the value of the French & Francophone Studies major even after graduation. The third annual “Fête de la recherche” in French and Francophone Studies will take place on Saturday, November 10th. Come meet Students who will share information about their past or ongoing research projects in French and Francophone Studies, and learn about the challenges and rewards which come with such projects.
This year:
alumnae Eve Grice (McCormack-Reboussin 2009), and Laura Wagstaff (McCormack-Reboussin 2007-09) will come to discuss how the skills they acquired as French and Francophone majors/minors help them in their professional lives.
McCormack-Reboussin 2012-13’ scholar Daniel Hodges will talk about his ongoing honor’s thesis which examines French involvement in Congo from the 1880s to today.
Catherine Lipper, who studied with IFE in the Spring will talk about “Bruxelles: une ville au centre des relations internationales”
Kayla Grant, will present her research on French nineteenth century literature: “L’être dans la lettre: l’épistolaire et le roman psychologique à la fin du 19eme siècle”
Elisabeth Bloxam, will share her personal research about her French grandmother :”La Deuxième Guerre Mondiale: l’histoire de ma grand-mère”
Emma Dammon, who did the Summer Montpellier program will present her work on string instrument craftsmanship in the city: “Les Luthiers à Montpellier”
and Elizabeth Gohn will also present the research project she conducted in Montpellier this past summer: “Arènes de Nîmes: contemporanéité d’un monument antique.”
Come have breakfast with, listen to music and have some interesting discussions with our students.
When? : Saturday November 10th. 9am-12pm.
Where? : Room 101, Andrews Hall 605 Jamestown Rd Williamsburg, VA 23185
USE THIS TIME TO TALK TO THE FACULTY ABOUT YOUR IDEAS!
THE FINAL PROJECT CAN DISCUSS ANY TOPIC PERTINENT TO FRENCH & FRANCOPHONE STUDIES, AND CAN BE WRITTEN IN EITHER ENGLISH OR FRENCH.
The McCormack-Reboussin scholarship is awarded on an annual basis to a rising senior (= current junior) French and Francophone major at the College. It is worth a total of $12,000: up to $4,000 to support research to be conducted in a French-speaking country or region during the summer between the junior and senior years, with the remainder ($8,000 or more) to be applied toward tuition and fees for the senior year.
The research must treat an intellectually relevant topic related to the French language, to French/Francophone literature, or to the culture of a French-speaking country or region.
The scholarship recipient is subject to review by the French & Francophone Studies faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and must remain in very good academic standing during the junior year in order to remain eligible for the summer research grant and the tuition grant for the senior year. If awarded the scholarship, detailed plans for the use of the summer research grant (i.e., a detailed written proposal outlining the definitive topic, the type of research to be conducted, the projected itinerary, and the projected budget) must be prepared under the supervision of a faculty research adviser in French and submitted for the approval of the French faculty prior to the end of the spring semester of the recipient’s junior year. The on-site research funded by the Mc-Cormack Reboussin Scholarship shall be conducted during the summer between the junior and senior years only and shall serve as the foundation for further study of the topic during the recipient’s senior year. The tangible final result of the research has normally been an Honors Thesis, with accompanying defense.
For practical information about how to apply, please go to our webpage
This year the DEADLINE for the submission of all application materials is Monday, November 26, 2012 at 5:00 P.M.
Complete applications are to be submitted to Sharon Palma in the main office of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures, located in 210 Washington Hall.
Finalists will be invited to an oral interview during the first weeks of December.
Please do not hesitate to contact any faculty member in French & Francophone Studies for further information about this wonderful opportunity. You really should consider applying!
After graduating in May 2011 with a B.A. in French and Francophone Studies (Highest Honors/McCormack-
Reboussin scholar) and Women’s Studies, Eve is now a Flagship Fellow starting her first year in the Women’s Studies Ph.D. Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. There, she will continue integrating her interests in French and Francophone studies and feminist analysis through her dissertation research on postcolonial queer citizenship in the Francophone Caribbean and U.S. South. “As an interdisciplinary scholar, I am very much indebted to the William & Mary French and Francophone studies department, who gave me the tools of cultural critique, independent research, critical analysis, and rigorous interdisciplinary scholarship with which to build my academic career. The tremendous support from the French faculty, who pushed me to do my best work and still inspire me to do original research, has shaped me into the scholar I am today. I am forever grateful, and I hope to continue making them proud.”
After graduating from William and Mary in 2009 with a major in Biology and a minor in French, Abby attended Harvard Law School where she studied intellectual property law. She is now an Associate in the intellectual property department at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the law firm’s Washington, DC office. Studying French at William and Mary was an essential part of her undergraduate education and continues to have an impact on her life. Taking classes in the French Department and studying abroad in France gave her an appreciation for language, culture, and national identity different from what she has experienced in the United States. This appreciation fostered a sense of belonging to a global community that she carried with her to her graduate studies in law. As a result, Abby is especially interested in issues surrounding international intellectual property law, specifically cross-border enforcement of patents and copyrights. Her French minor serves as a constant reminder that the United States is merely one member of an international network of legal systems, each characterized by different but equally important values, purposes, and modes of operation.
Following graduation in 2009, Laura Wagstaff (McCormack-Reboussin Scholar 07-09) moved to Washington, DC to pursue a career in higher education and multicultural exchange. She has held positions in the Development & Special Events department of Washington National Opera and in Georgetown University’s Office of Advancement. Currently, Laura serves as the Assistant Director in the Georgetown Office of Fellowships, Awards, and Research, where she advises the students of the Carroll Fellows Initiative (a program similar to the Monroe Scholars Program) and assists with students’ independent research projects. The knowledge and skills that she built during her time at William & Mary have contributed significantly to her career – from discussing operatic history with a major donor to providing advice based on her own independent research, her W&M experience has played a vital role in her career path. Laura also continues to play the pipe organ (a love she developed thanks to W&M), and is earning her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Georgetown University.
Bridget, the 2011-12 Reboussin scholar write: “I currently hold a term appointment (renewable for up to four years) at the U.S. Dept. of Justice Antitrust Division in Washington, D.C. as a “paralegal specialist.” In the Antitrust Division I have the opportunity to work side-by-side with the attorneys preparing for depositions, serving subpoenas, interviewing witnesses, and disseminating information about our work. The Antitrust Division’s goal is to manage mergers and acquisitions and enforce statutes that promote competition in the marketplace to benefit and protect the consumer. In the Ligitation III section, I assist the attorneys in civil cases in which the DOJ is the plaintiff. I learned about this opportunity through an interview fair organized by the Cohen Career Center. I hope to use this experience as a stepping stone in my pursuit of a dual MA/JD degree.”
Throughout the eighteenth century, trees stood at the intersection of numerous and often competing discourses of value. Across Europe and North America, they were viewed both as precious commodities and as ‘the true monuments of nations’, as Bernardin de Saint-Pierre noted in 1784,underscoring the imposing and inescapable materiality of these plants, their cultural significance, and their political value in the project of modern nation-building.
Trees could also be appreciated as charismatic objects of personal desire and of intellectual fascination, just as they were at the heart of Enlightenment discussions on environmental management and sustainability.
Students of French & Francophone studies have done original research for years. In order to recognize students who embarked in such projects and inspire other students to do the same, the French & Francophone studies section decided to create an annual Student research conference in 2010. In this video interview, Stephanie Kumah, a senior (French & Francophone/Government) who presented her ongoing Honor’s Thesis at the Fete speaks to Prof. Magali Compan about her project.
Our second annual French & Francophone Studies research conference took place on Saturday, Nov. 12, and featured five twenty-minute formal presentations and five poster sessions, all in French, by students who are doing, or who have just completed, original research on French and Francophone topics.
Some of the projects were honors theses in progress; others were research papers related to student internships in Paris; and the poster sessions were the result of our 2011 study abroad program in Montpellier, France. Our students enrolled in advanced French & Francophone classes were all in attendance, and the seniors did a great job introducing the speakers before each presentation.
The event also featured lots of good food and Francophone music, so that the atmosphere was festive and social. Our objective, after all, was for students to get to know each other, to share their experiences, and to learn from each other. The Fête was meant to be inspirational, and we certainly were impressed by the students’ projects and archival research, as well as by their exceptional confidence in speaking in a foreign language before such a large audience.
The event was kindly sponsored by the Charles Center and the Reves Center for International Studies.
In the Fall of 2010 Casey Czajka started a PhD program in the Department of French and Italian at Tulane University. She intends to research the politics of death and mourning in France. In particular, she plans to study state funerals under the French Third Republic and the ways in which such public displays of grief were exploited by those in power.
We wish to extend a special tribute to the following students for their outstanding honors theses in French & Francophone Studies:
Eve Grice
Philippe Halbert
Macs Smith
And congratulations to the recipients of our graduation prizes in French & Francophone Studies:
This year’s St.Onge prize goes to Macs Smith
The Pierre Oustinoff prize goes to Ingrid Heiberg
The Modern Languages and Literatures / French & Francophone Studies book prize goes to Ashley Hoover
Congratulations to this year’s students elected to Phi Beta Kappa:
Eve Grice
Ingrid Heiberg
Ashley Hoover
Macs Smith
And of course congratulations to our recipients of a Teaching Assistantship in France (sponsored by the French Embassy) for 2011-2012:
Michael Connolly will be teaching English in Versailles
Amanda Guiliano will be teaching English in Clermont-Ferrand
Ingrid Heiberg will be teaching English in a secondary school in Montpellier
The 2011 Tournées French & Francophone Film Festival was attended by about 2000 people this year.
The 5th French & Francophone Film Festival took place from January 28th to February 25th at the Kimball Theater in Williamsburg. Organized by prof. Magali Compan (MLL. French & Francophone) , the French & Francophone Film Festival was made possible this year again thanks to the funding of the Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies program, Film Studies program, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Each film was free to the public.
This year films featured came from France, Belgium and Burkina Faso. Each Friday night, for 5 weeks, we presented a different film. Two movies were presented during the weekend of the Global film festival (February 17-20).
The festival opened with a wine-and-cheese reception on Friday, 28th. The first movie featured was “Séraphine” a 2008 French-Belgian movie about Séraphine Louis (1864-1942), a French painter in the naïve style. The movie reeceived the 2009 César for best film, while actress Yolande Moreau received the César for best actress that year. The movie was introduced by Prof. Catherine Levesque ( Dept. of Art and Art History).
On February 4th, we featured Le Silence de Lorna/Lorna’s silence by the critically acclaimed Dardenne’s brother. This 2008 social drama takes place in Charleroi, a declining industrial Belgian city and focuses on Lorna, a young woman who migrated to Belgium from Albania. The movie was presented by Prof. Gul Ozyegin (Dept. of Sociology).
On February 11th, Welcome (France, 2009), a movie featuring Vincent Lindon, was presented. Welcome takes place in Calais, Europe’s main gateway to Great Britain, were hundreds of illegal immigrants are trying to find an opportunity to cross. It documents the friendship between Simon Calmat (Lindon), a 40 years old swim coach, and a young Kurdish immigrant from Irak, Bilal. The movie was presented by Prof. Nicolas Medevielle (Dept. of MLL/ French & Francophone).
The next weekend, two movies were shown and included in the Global film festival’s program.
The landmark environmental film Home (France 2009) by world renowned areal photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand and narrated by Glenn Close ’74 was presented on February 18th. Prof. Maryse Fauvel (dept. of MLL/ French & Francophone Studies) . After her intervention, director Yann Arthus-Bertrand made a few comments about his movie via skype!
The next morning, “Panique au village/ A town called Panic” (Belgium 2009), an animation film by Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar, was presented.
This years’ edition came to a close on February 25th with Reves de poussiere (2006 France, Burkina Faso), a meditative movie that presents the dismal conditions of gold miners in Burkina Faso. The movie was presented by prof. Neil Norman (dept of anthropology).
We are already working on the 2012 French and Francophone Film Festival’s edition. Next year we will no longer have the support of the French embassy, as we did in the last 5 years, but we are confident the festival is here to stay!
“I’m currently living in Washington DC, after having completed an MA in international administration at the University of Denver and 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa. I now work for Population Services International (www.psi.org) an international NGO that works in malaria, reproductive health, child survival and HIV in over 60 countries worldwide. I specifically support our programs in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Haiti and use French regularly in my job and get the opportunity to travel 3-4 times a year! It’s been a great learning experience for me.”
Ariel received a Fullbright Scholarship to teach English in Andorra and is currently working at the Chronicle for Higher Education
“I came to William & Mary as a near-native French speaker and I was looking for a program that could offer insightful and current commentary on French language and culture. Throughout my four years in the department there were always several fascinating courses offered every semester, and I always had a hard time choosing between them. My professors encouraged me to explore a wide variety of topics and let me choose the ways I wanted to share what I was learning—not only through presentations and papers but also through creative works and applied projects. The ideas and topics from my French studies often came up in other courses and helped me discover new lines of research and tie my interests together.
My French degree from William & Mary has put me in touch with a rich and diverse francophone community and given me the opportunity to explore many different career paths. The skills I learned by participating in student-faculty conferences, working on the film festival, and serving as a TA have been invaluable since I’ve graduated, and the support and guidance of my professors encouraged me to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship. I know that I have the continued support and advice of the department as I’m starting a new job after returning to the U.S. and considering graduate schools.”
Kevin Lonabaugh (French/Francophone Studies and Biology, Monroe student and Phi Beta Kappa), has just been informed by the French Embassy that he received an Assistantship for next year and that he will teach English in 2010-11 in a French lycée in Corsica.
“During my four years at the College, I decided to double major in both French and Biology. The decision is definitely one of the best that I have made. It’s permitted me to pursue a wide variety of interests – I’ve gotten to take the science courses relevant to my future career as a pharmacist, but I’ve also taken many liberal arts courses to develop interests aside from those which directly relate to my career. I’ve had many exciting opportunities through the William and Mary French department. I enjoyed taking the chance to participate in a summer study abroad opportunity through William and Mary in the city of Montpellier. That experience solidified my interest in continuing French and made me want to return for a longer time period. I’m going to get the chance to go back next year teaching English in Corsica through the French embassy. I’ve also enjoyed the different classes and skills I’ve picked up in my French classes. I’ve taken several classes which had strong emphasis on cinema, and my appreciation for movies and film-making in general has been greatly expanded. I’ve learned how to make films, which is something I had never really considered when I started out here. It was a wonderful decision completing a double major, and it’s made my experience here at the College truly a unique one.”
When I got to college, I’d completed my language proficiency requirement and was fully prepared to stop taking French, and in fact I didn’t take any French my first semester at William and Mary. However, I can honestly say that restarting French was one of the best decisions I’ve made since arriving on campus. I’ve learned first-hand that speaking French has wide-ranging benefits in many areas of study outside just grammar and literature.
By taking French at William and Mary I was able to apply to spend my sophomore year abroad in Lille, France, where I mostly studied European government and EU-US relations. This has provided me with an amazing ability to both greatly improve my French and to take a multitude of fascinating political science courses towards my government major.
I am convinced that it was largely thanks to my proficiency in French and my time abroad that I was selected for an internship with the U.S. Mission to NATO this summer in Brussels. I will be living in Belgium from May through most of August working full time in the Armaments Department of the U.S Mission to NATO, as one of about five undergraduate interns at the Mission. I will also be conducting my own research project on France and NATO while living in Brussels this summer.
Our first annual French & Francophone Studies research conference took place on Saturday, Nov. 13, between 9am and 1pm, and it featured six twenty-minute formal presentations by students in our program. These talks featured: three ongoing honors theses projects; research done as part of a student internship in Paris; an original video produced in one of our classes; research conducted in a museum in Montpellier. More specifically:
* Philippe Halbert (’11) spoke of his research in the French national archives, and explained his thesis about the changing functions and popularity of monsters in the early modern imaginary
* Michael Smith (’11) presented his honors thesis on literary representations of Haussmanization and the anxieties it provoked
* Eve Grice (’11) described her honors thesis research on the tensions between colonialism and post-colonialism in the recently opened CNHI (Museum of Immigration) in Paris
* Bridget Carr (’12) critiqued development aid strategies in France’s former colonies
* Ashley Hoover (’11) and Sami Tabbara (’13) spoke of the intertextual references they built into their original video production
* Danny Yates (’13) discussed Said’s understanding of Orientalism in reference to paintings and writings by Delacroix
Six other students majoring in French & Francophone Studies introduced the speakers and prepared questions for our two general discussion periods.
This year’s program was sponsored by the Charles Center and by the Reves Center for International Studies.
Two French and Francophone Studies majors are currently studying in Paris, France (at the I.F.E). Besides her classes on European and French politics and culture
Kathryn Ticknor, who majored in French Studies and Linguistics in 2007,, has been accepted in the Master’s and Phd Program in Linguistics at Georgetown University
Professor Maryse Fauvel (MLL Francophone studies) has won a 2010 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence.
Created by alumnus and former Board of Visitor member Joseph J. Plumeri (’66), the Plumeri Awards are given annually and recognize faculty who demonstrate exceptional performance in research, teaching and service over a number of years.
Last year, Katherine Kulick, Associate Professor of French and Modern Languages, received the Thomas Jefferson Award.