French Cultural Studies: Criticism at the Crossroads

Addresses the theoretical and pedagogical implications of redefining French Studies as an interdisciplinary field, while providing practical examples of the kind of criticism that such a shift would entail.

French Cultural Studies provides a theoretical framework for reconsidering the domain of knowledge and expertise traditionally associated with the discipline of French. The contributors accompany their analysis of a wide variety of topics in French and Francophone Studies with a spirit of critical self-awareness that continually challenges traditional disciplinary boundaries. Ranging from a reevaluation of Baudelaire’s poetic interlude in the Mascarene Islands to a discussion of Patrick Chamoiseau’s fictional blueprint for Caribbean resistance, these essays address the theoretical and pedagogical implications of redefining French Studies as an interdisciplinary field, while providing practical examples of the kind of criticism that such a shift would entail.

Contributors include Réda Bensmaia, Ross Chambers, Michele Druon, Jeanne Garane, Cilas Kemedjio, Larry Kritzman, Marie-Pierre Le Hir, Francoise Lionnet, Jean Elisabeth Pedersen, Leslie Rabine, Mireille Rosello, Timothy Scheie, Janice Spleth, Dana Strand, and Alawa Toumi.