January Newsletter, 2003

   

Departmental News:

A. J. Arnold led the external review team that assessed the French section of the Department of Modern Languages of the University of the West Indies (Jamaica campus) between 4 and 8 November. In late March and early April he will repeat the assignment for the Barbados and Trinidad campuses of the U.W.I. His article "The Erotics of Colonialism in Contemporary French West Indian Literary Culture" has been reprinted in Sisyphus and Eldorado: Magical and Other Realisms in Caribbean Literature, ed. by T. J. Reiss (Africa World Press, 200), 169-85.

Mary McKinley was invited by the MLA Executive Committee for Sixteenth-Century French to present a paper at a special panel on "Teaching the French Renaissance to Modern American Students" at the MLA Convention in New York in December. The title of her paper: "Rare Books, Websites, Canonical Authors and Other Voices."

In November 2002, Kandioura Dramé was a member of the panel on "Regimes of Knowledge and the Academy in an Age of Globalization", a meeting organized by the Carter G. Woodson Institute. In December 2002, he attended the African Studies Association in Washington as Past-President of the African Literature Association and member of the Executive Council of the ALA. He attended all four meetings of the Council devoted, among other tasks, to the organization of the annual conference of the ALA in Alexandria, Egypt. He was also appointed by the President to chair the commission on the publication of the ALA's Annuals.

Elisabeth Ladenson gave a paper at the MLA in New York on December 30,
entitled "Florist of Evil," on the panel she organized and chaired, "Baudelaire on Trial: Politics of Poetry." On January 14 she gave a seminar at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris on "Homosexualité, indécence et censure littéraire".

Maggie McColley presented a paper entitled: "Seeking Truth at the Archives: A Travel Narrative" at the Pamla conference in Bellingham, Washington on November 9th.

   

Up-coming Events & Announcements:

Plans are now complete for the 2003 UVA Summer Session in Lyon! The program will begin on Saturday, June 14th and will offer students a choice between a 4-week (6 credits) or a 6-week session (6 - 9 credits). A new feature of the program this year, FREN 201-202 will be offered as an intensive 6-week course. Professor Cheryl Krueger will be overseeing this new course and teaching it during the first two weeks. We hope that the summer session will encourage students to major or double-major in French at UVA! Non-UVA students are also welcome to apply. Updated information concerning the summer session can be found on our web-site or from the Program Director, Professor Janet Horne (jhorne@virginia.edu).

Students interested in learning more about study abroad in Lyon are also welcome to attend the Study Abroad Fair, Thursday, Feb 13th from 5-6 pm in the Physics Building, Room 204.