Tag: class of 2004

Julia Osman (’04) will be returning to campus in November to meet with the students currently enrolled in Prof. Pacini’s senior seminar. In addition to speaking on Laclos’ novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (on this year’s syllabus for French 450), Osman will talk about her research and writing methods, and in particular about how she transformed an undergraduate term paper into a publishable article. Her essay, entitled “Laclos’s Novel Approach to Military Crisis and Reform,” is forthcoming in the Spring 2010 edition of the international journal Eighteenth-Century Fiction.

Julia Osman is currently a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is completing her dissertation, “The Citizen Army of Old Regime France,” under the direction of Professor Jay M. Smith. This work examines the transformation of France’s aristocratic army into a citizen army as an Old Regime, rather than a Revolutionary, phenomenon.

On June 5 I was ordained to the Catholic priesthood for the Diocese of Richmond. I currently serve at a cluster of four parishes in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, Virginia. I don’t use my French as much, but I put my developing Spanish to use regularly to serve our Latin American parishioners.

Clara Odell ’04 writes about her experiences in France: “Returning to France as a teaching assistant was, for me, the perfect choice of what to do after graduation. My time in Albi was fulfilling in terms of gaining teaching experience and living in a beautiful Southwestern French town, but it also, in combination with my junior year abroad in Montpellier, clinched my realisation that speaking French and being immersed in French and Francophone culture is a necessity for whatever I do in life. My goal for next year is to study Francophone Literature in Paris, and later down the road get a Masters in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, hopefully looking into the role of culture and cross-cultural communication in conflict situations. So basically, to sum it all up, I really like baguettes and couscous, and that’s why I keep going back.”

In a letter from Niger, Katie Leach-Kemon ’04 reflects upon her current work in the Peace Corps. In particular, she discusses the relevance of last year’s honors thesis research on French women in the eighteenth-century public sphere. Katie writes: “In my senior honors thesis, I explored popular discussion about prostitutes as a social problem in 18th-century France. Much of this discussion was rooted in a general fear concerning women’s participation and subsequent influence in the public sphere. Today, one year later, I am working as a health volunteer in a highly religious Muslim community in Niger. The other day, a woman in my town was arrested on charges of prostitution. The punishment? The town officials shaved her head. The pages of the honors thesis that I wrote at William and Mary were flashing before my eyes: shaving the heads of prostitutes was a common punishment in early 18th-century France. Not only was the punishment similar, but also the Nigerian officials’ attitude towards the prostitute mirrored the attitudes of 18th-century French society. “What happened to the man who was found with her?” I asked. “Nothing. It is the prostitute who must be punished since she wanders around and seduces the men, causing them to sin,” I was told. Working in Niger has provided me with an incredible experience to work and research at the forefront of the the fight for women’s rights. After my two-year service is complete, I plan to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Development with a concentration in Gender Studies.”