About the Department

Departmental Offices   Lectures and Conferences   Journals

Introduction

The Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA is a major center for the study of the French language and of literatures, cultures, and civilizations of French expression throughout the world. French has for centuries been a major language of international culture, and the French literary and artistic tradition is great historical significance. In recent decades, French critical thought has occupied a highly influential position in the theoretical discourse of the humanities and social sciences. The instructional programs of the Department offer students the opportunity to achieve a well-rounded education and to pursue advanced research in a challenging intellectual environment with superior research facilities.

Each year thousands of students enroll in undergraduate courses in French in order to pursue the study of language and literature as well as other related areas of French studies, including history, culture, politics, institutions, business, the arts, and film. The graduate program trains students in French and Francophone literature, culture, and thought as well as in literary analysis and critical theory.

The Department of French & Francophone Studies offers undergraduate programs leading to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in French and graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in French. In addition, it is possible to earn an undergraduate degree in French and Linguistics, and graduate-level degrees with the major field in French in the  Department of Comparative Literature, in Romance Linguistics and Literature, and in the Linguistics Department. Students may also graduate as double majors or with a French Minor
  

Departmental Offices

The Department's Main Office is located in 212 Royce Hall, tel. (310) 825-1145.  Professor Dominic Thomas is Chair of the Department. He can be reached by phone, at (310) 794-8923, and by e-mail: dominict@humnet.ucla.edu. Administratively, the Department of French is part of a unit called the Royce Administrative Group headed by Gina White, 212G Royce Hall, (310) 825-1855 and e-mail: gina@humnet.ucla.edu. Kerry Allen, 212J Royce Hall, (310) 825-1147 and e-mail: allen@humnet.ucla.edu, is the Student Affairs Officer; all student inquiries should be directed to her.

As a general rule, undergraduates should first consult the Student Affairs Officer for information or questions related to their studies. See also the descriptions of the programs below. For other matters, please call the department at (310) 825-1145. The Main Office and individual faculty members' telephones are equipped with voice mail service. Please do not hesitate to leave messages when invited to do so; we will make our best efforts to return your calls as soon as possible.

Lectures and Conferences

Current departmental events

Visiting Speakers and Scholars

The Department of French & Francophone Studies frequently sponsors public lectures by invited speakers from all areas of French cultural life. For faculty and students they are important opportunities for intellectual exchange. Among the recent distinguished speakers have been poets, novelists, essayists, critics, and philosophers. The long list includes: Jean Baudrillard, Marcel Benabou, Marie-Claire Blais, Yves Bonnefoy, Nicole Brossard, Michel Butor, Roch Carrier, Bernard Cerquiligni, Michel de Certeau, Ross Chambers, Lucien Dällenbach, Michel Deguy, Manthia Diawara, Assia Djebar, Annie Ernaux, René Girard, Philippe Hamon, Edmond Jabès, Hans-Robert Jauss, Michel Jeanneret, Sylvère Lotringer, Jean-François Lyotard, Louis Marin, François Rigolot, Mireille Rosello, Roger Shattuck, Monique Wittig, and Paul Zumthor.

Among the distinguished visiting scholars the Department has invited in recent years are: Jean Baudrillard, Terence Cave, Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Hans-Robert Jauss, Claude Reichler, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.

The Department of French & Francophone Studies has been named by the French government a Center of Excellence in the study of French culture. It keeps close ties with the consular cultural services of France, Canada, Switzerland, and others, who provide us with generous support for our lecture and film series and some of our main public events, including the graduate student annual colloquium.

The Department also co-sponsors guest speakers with other departments or programs. Speakers on campus have included Etienne Balibar, Pierre Bourdieu, Jacques Derrida, A. J. Greimas, Fredric Jameson, Henri Lefebvre, Claude Lelouch, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean-Luc Nancy, Jean Starobinski, Agnès Varda, and Michel Vovelle.

Annual Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Conference

Since 1996, Graduate Students in the Department have organized an annual Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Conference with the participation of professors and graduate students from universities across the country. French Graduate Students have the opportunity to participate in the organization of the annual event. Past events:

  • Risk and Resolution: Literary Criticism at the End of the Millennium (1996: Ross Chambers, keynote speaker)
  • States of Identity: Tracing France's Cultural Self-Consciousness (1997: Denis Hollier, keynote speaker)
  • Sites of Memory: Limits and Possibilities of Writing "French" (1998: Eugen Weber and Jean-François Fourny, keynote speakers)
  • Le Corps et L'Esprit in French Cultural Production (1999: Toril Moi, keynote speaker)
  • Murder, Massacre, Mayhem (2000: Sylvère Lotringer, keynote speaker)
  • Spectrality and Haunting (2001: Peggy Kamuf, keynote speaker)
  • Crime and Punishment (2002: Hélène Cixous, keynote speaker)
  • Caméra ou stylo? (2003: Alain Robbe-Grillet, keynote speaker)
  • Pays rêvé, pays réel : Legacies of the 1804 Haitian Revolution (2004: Dany Laferrière and Joan Dayan, keynote speakers)
  • Exil: mode(s) d’emploi—Experiencing Exile in Literature and the Arts (2005: Emmanuel Dongala & Christopher L. Miller, keynote speakers)

Symposia

Among the official events organized by the Department of French & Francophone Studies is its successful series of symposia, inaugurated in 1983. Usually lasting over a two to three-day period and attracting a large and lively audience, the symposia gather on the UCLA campus distinguished scholars and writers of national and international reputation. The panelists participate in discussions of French studies of current interest or of an interdepartmental/ interdisciplinary nature. Topics and major participants have included:
  • Text as Culture/Culture as Text (1983): Michel de Certeau, Eric Gans, Joseph Riddel, Gayatri Spivak
  • Phoné/Graphé (1984): Denis Hollier, Fredric Jameson, Barbara Johnson, Paul Zumthor
  • Beyond Literature? (1985): Michel Deguy, René Girard, Hans-Robert Jauss
  • Literature as Institution (1986): Peter Haidu, Mark Poster, Timothy Reiss
  • French Writers/Foreign Texts (1988): Jonathan Culler, Renée Hubert, Marjorie Perloff, Joseph Riddel, François Rigolot
  • Generative Anthropology (1990): Douglas Collins, Eric Gans, Marvin Harris, Andrew McKenna, Tobin Siebers
  • François Rabelais (a symposium) (1991): Michael J. B. Allen, Marc Bensimon, Michel Butor, Terence Cave, Gérard Defaux, Edwin Duval, Carla Freccero, Claude Gaignebet, Thomas Greene, Michel Jeanneret, Raymond La Charité, Jean-Claude Margolin, Richard Regosin, François Rigolot
  • Cities and Cultural Diversity in France and the Francophone World (2000): Liette Gilbert, Remi Baudoui, Ernspeter Ruhe, Philippe Barbé, Doris Ruhe, Ronnie Scharfman, Winnie Woodhull, Jeanne Garane, Sheila Petty, Panivong Norindr, Réda Bensmaïa, Jean Jonassaint, Cilas Kemedjio, Claudine Raynaud, Mireille Rosello, Loïc Wacquant, Tyler Stovall, Shawkat Toorawa, David Carroll
  • Toward an Anthropological Humanism? (March 2002): Tobin Siebers, Gaurav Desai, Herbert Plutschow, Halleh Gorashi, Wolfgang Iser, Jean-Loup Amselle, with Françoise Lionnet and Eric Gans

Faculty-Graduate Student Colloquia

In this ongoing quarterly series begun in 2000, a faculty member and an advanced graduate student present their work in progress for discussion by their colleagues.

Journals

Anthropoetics - The Journal of Generative Anthropology, Eric Gans, Editor

Paroles Gelées - Departmental graduate student journal

 

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