Smith College - French Studies

10/27/2022

Interested in the summer program in French and Theater studies at the Institut d'Avignon? There is an upcoming Zoom info session on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 5pm – the info and Zoom link can be found on the institute's "program at a glance" page, linked below.

Eligible Smith students who are interested in applying and attending the program (June 8–July 23 2023) should submit a one-page letter of interest (in French) and their transcript to Cora Lee Drew by 5 p.m. Friday, February 10, 2023. A departmental nominee for a scholarship covering partial program costs will be selected in February. The Institute's final application deadline is March 1st.

Students who are U.S. citizens may wish to apply for the bourse Jeanne Marandon, a competitive fellowship offered by the Société des Professeurs Français et Francophones d’Amérique for summer study in France. More information may be found here: https://www.spffa.org/bourses/

https://www.institutdavignon.fr/the-program-at-a-glance/

Join us for a Zoom info session at 5:00 pm (EST) on...

10/27/2022

Join us tonight – first, at 5pm, for the Presentation of the Major in French Studies, and then at 7pm for a movie night: Dilili à Paris!

10/07/2022

On Thursday October 13, French philosopher Catherine Malabou will be giving a lecture in Stoddard Hall – join us!
Catherine Malabou is renowned for her transdisciplinary approach that integrates the arts and neuroscience into the continental philosophy tradition, notably through her signature concept of plasticity. Her books, written in French and translated into many languages, include Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy (2011) and Pleasure Erased: The Cl****is Unthought (2022). Her most recent publication in French is Au voleur ! Anarchisme et philosophie (2022). Join us to hear from her about recent work exploring the erasure of both the cl****is and anarchism from philosophy in a lecture entitled “The Cl****is is an Anarchist”.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Catherine Malabou is Professor at the Centre for Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, and at the University of California at Irvine.
This lecture is sponsored by the Smith College Endowed Lecture Fund, the Smith College Department of French Studies, the Mount Holyoke College Department of French, the University of Massachusetts Department of French and Francophone Studies, and the University ofMassachusetts Program in Comparative Literature.

04/11/2022

Meet senior French Studies Major Melany Garcia Abreu '22!

Melany was recently featured on the Smith College website, discussing her double major in French Studies and Chemistry and her experiences at Smith.

Lisez l'interview ici: https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/meet-majors-Melany-Garcia-Abreu

Asked to give advice to another student considering a double major in Chemistry and French, Melany says: "I would tell them to go for it, it'll be so much fun! Both the chemistry and French departments are great. The classes do get more difficult the higher up you go, so make sure to use all of your resources. The faculty members in the chemistry department are amazing!! The classes in the French major are really interesting and you have the opportunity to study abroad in Paris for a year!"

03/18/2022

Our very own Sophia Pan in an amazing dance performance on the Ponts des Arts in Paris!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJbZzt1CBbo

Sophia: "This K-Pop in Public dance cover features a contemporary style duet to the song 'Who Are You'. I had the pleasure to do this choreography under SHEE'Z, a group of 26 dancers based in Paris. The cover was filmed at Pont des Arts (which crosses the Seine!). I hope this video gives you a small taste of what Paris has to offer. Please enjoy!"

03/15/2022

TOMORROW: on Tuesday March 29, join us for a conversation with ROKHAYA DIALLO on the elections in France and beyond.

Rokhaya Diallo is a famous French public figure, intersectional feminist, journalist, and TV personality in France of Senegalese Muslim background. Her podcast “Kiffe ta Race,” hosted with Grace Ly, has popularized many theories and concepts that were previously only known in activist and academic circles. Join us as she unpacks the looming French elections, where far-right candidates have made great gains, and shares insights from her illustrious career as a TV and radio journalist.

4:15pm, Stoddard Hall. Sponsored by The Smith College Lecture Committee, the Program in the Study of Women and Gender, French Studies, the Five College Faculty Seminar in French.

02/16/2022

THIS THURSDAY at 7PM: an in-person screening of the documentary on women graffiti artists, STREET HEROINES, followed by a Q & A with the director, Alexandra Henry. Location: Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall.

This 2021 award-winning feature documentary celebrates the courage and creativity of female graffiti and street artists from around the world (running time, 72 minutes). Co-sponsored by Art, East Asian Languages & Cultures, Film & Media Studies, French, Latin American & Latino/a Studies, Spanish & Portuguese, the Study of Women & Gender, and Smith's Endowed Lecture Funds.

02/02/2022

LA TABLE FRANÇAISE est de retour !
As the campus enters yellow mode, the French Table can once again meet in person. Please join us next Tuesday in Duckett for informal French conversation. All levels welcome!

11/16/2021

Applications for the 2022-2023 Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) are now open!

Reach out to your French professor if you'd like to know more.

10/19/2021

Vous vous intéressez au français? Venez nous parler jeudi après-midi!

Come to the Presentation of the Major in French Studies this Thursday afternoon at 4:30pm!

04/26/2021

Here is a recent interview in Télérama with Doris Silbert Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and renowned poet James Sacré. The interview also mentions Professor Sacré's long-standing collaboration with translator David Ball, Professor Emeritus of French.

Lauréat du prestigieux prix Kowalski en 2019, le poète publie deux nouveaux recueils chez Tarabuste et Voix d’encre. En vers ou en prose, il y sonde l’espace-temps entre la vie et l’écrit, à la recherche du mot vrai, pour garder en mémoire proches disparus et paysages traversés.

03/04/2021

Our own Christiane Métral, featured by the Lewis Global Studies center!

Language learning is a great opportunity to connect with other cultures and learn more about your own🌍✨

We'd like you to know more about our Smith Language Professors! Get to know professor Christiane Métral 😊

Metral is a dual citizen of France and Switzerland. She joined the faculty at Smith in 1996 and co-directed the Smith Program Abroad in Geneva in 2004–05. Intercultural thinking is at the heart of her pedagogy whether she teaches language or culture courses. She has been teaching language classes at all levels, an intensive three-week interterm course: Speaking like the French, and a culture course: Skyping with the French: Cross-Cultural Connections. More recently her research interest on cultural values steered her to publish a book chapter on French youth which offers a sociological perspective on the diversity of youth in France, looking at youth cultural values, and socio-economic circumstances in different environments.

About learning a language, she says: “Of course it will come in handy when you travel to Paris and order a baguette but more importantly it is a life changing experience. Learning a language is a gateway to another culture, an opening towards the “Other”, a discovery of other ways of thinking, other customs, behaviors, cultural practices and values. On the road to language and culture learning, during this process, you will also discover yourself and understand many aspects of your own culture. Come and join us! 👀🌎