Dr. Denis M. Provencher is Professor of French and Francophone studies in the Department of French and Italian and affiliate faculty in Anthropology, Gender and Women's Studies, the Institute for LGBT Studies, Linguistics, and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching. He served as Head of Department, French & Italian (2016 - 2021) and as Interim Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies (2018). He earned his interdisciplinary Ph.D. in French Civilization from The Pennsylvania State University in 1998. Before joining the University of Arizona in 2016, Dr. Provencher worked at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse (1998-2005) and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (2005-2016) where he directed the MA program in Intercultural Communication. His main interests include French civilization and cultural studies, language, gender and sexuality, migration and diaspora studies, conversation and discourse analysis, intercultural pragmatics, and critical intercultural communication.
Dr. Provencher is the author of Queer French: Globalization, Language, and Sexual Citizenship in France (Ashgate/Routledge, 2007) and Queer Maghrebi French: Language, Temporalities, Transfiliations, (Liverpool UP, 2017). Queer Maghrebi French won the 2017 Ruth Benedict Book Prize, Honorable Mention, from the Association of Queer Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association. With Dr. Siham Bouamer, he has co-edited the volume Abdellah Taïa's Queer Migrations: Non-Places, Affect, and Temporalities (Lexington Books, 2021). He is currently preparing a new co-edited volume with Dr. Siham Bouamer and Dr. Ryan Schroth on Queer Realms of Memory (Liverpool UP, under contract), building on the work of Pierre Nora. Dr. Provencher is also conducting fieldwork in Ottawa and Montréal, Canada for a new monograph on Queer Québec Diaspora, which is funded in part by the Chaire Moblité Francophone Program at L’Université d’Ottawa. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the peer reviewed Contemporary French Civilization (CFC) and CFC Intersections, and is co-editor of the book series Studies of Modern & Contemporary France (Liverpool UP).
Dr. Provencher is a firm believer in leadership training and an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is a former fellow (2018-19) of the Academic Leadership Institute (ALI) at the University of Arizona. He has co-chaired (2021-22) the College of Humanities' committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and completed (2020-21) the Inclusive Leadership Cohort Certificate (ILCC) program, for which he currently serves on the steering committee. He is also the 2022 recipient of the Richard Ruiz Diversity Leadership Faculty Award, which is given in recognition to a faculty member working to make the University of Arizona a more diverse and inclusive campus.
Courses Taught
- Dimensions of Globalization: Language, Literature, and Culture
- Dimensions of Globalization: States, Societies, and Institutions
- The Field of Intercultural Communication
- Intercultural Pragmatics & Critical Discourse Analysis
- French Cultural History: Myth and Memory in French and Francophone Contexts
- Screening Integration and Immigration in France
- The French-Speaking World
- Franco-American Relations
- The French Novel
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Queer Maghrebi French: Language, Temporalities, Transfiliations. Series: Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2017. 306 pp.
Queer French: Globalization, Language, and Sexual Citizenship in France. Aldershot, UK
and Burlington, VT: Routledge/Ashgate, 2007. 216 pp.
Edited Volumes
Queer Realms of Memory: Archiving LGBTQ Sites and Symbols in the French National Narrative. Co-editors, Siham Bouamer and Ryan Schroth. Under contract with Liverpool University Press.
Abdellah Taïa’s Queer Migrations: Non-Places, Affect, and Temporalities. Co-editor, Siham Bouamer. Lexington Books, 2021. Series After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France. 302 pp.
Special Issues of Journals Edited
CFC Intersections. Special Inaugural Issue of CFC Intersections 1.1 (2022). 160 pp. Co-editor, Siham Bouamer.
Contemporary French Civilizations. Special Double Issue of Contemporary French Civilization 45.3 & 45.4 (2020). 139 pp. Co-editors, Nicoleta Bazgan and Alain-Philippe Durand.
Queer Québec 3. Special Double Issue of Contemporary French Civilization 43.3 & 43.4 (2018). 179 pp. Co-editor, Charles R. Batson.
Contemporary French Civilization at 40. Special Double Issue of Contemporary French Civilization 41.3 & 41.4 (2016). 158 pp. Co-editors, Sue Harris and Nicoleta Bazgan.
Queer Québec 2. Special Dossier of Québec Studies 61 Spring/Summer (2016). 75 pp.
Co-editor, Charles R. Batson.
Queer Québec. Special Dossier of Québec Studies 60 Fall/Winter (2015). 103 pp.
Co-editor, Charles R. Batson.
Maghrebi-French Sexualities. Special Issue of Modern & Contemporary France 21.2 (2013). 96 pp. Co-editor, Dora Carpenter-Latiri.
Language Matters. Special Double Issue of The Journal of Homosexuality 58 Vols 6-7 (2011). 282 pp. Co-editor, William L. Leap.
France, 1940-44: The Ambiguous Legacy. Special Issue of Contemporary French Civilization
31. 2 (Summer/Fall 2007). 328 pp. Co-editor, Andrew Sobanet.
Articles
“Introducing CFC Intersections.” CFC Intersections 1.1 (2022), pp 1-12. Co-author, Siham Bouamer.
“Introduction: Contemporary French Civilizations.” Contemporary French Civilization 45.3 & 45.4 (2020): 263-269. Co-authors, Nicoleta Bazgan and Alain-Philippe Durand.
“Introduction: Queer (Again and Again) in Québec.” Contemporary French Civilization 43.3 & 43.4 (2018): 321-324. Co-author, Charles R. Batson.
“2Fik’s Deal with the Devil: A Queer and Transfilial Remix of Henri Julien’s “La chasse-galérie” (1906) at Montréal’s Festival TransAmérique (2016).” Contemporary French Civilization 43.3 & 43.4 (2018): 487-495.
“Introduction: Contemporary French Civilization at 40.” Contemporary French Civilization 41.3 & 41.4 (2016): 359-363. Co-authors, Sue Harris and Nicoleta Bazgan.
“Introduction: Queer (Again) in Québec.” Québec Studies 61 Spring/Summer (2016): 111-113. Co-author, Charles R. Batson.
“Farid’s Impossible ‘Je’: Unequal Access to Flexible Language in the Queer Maghrebi French Diaspora.”Journal of Language and Sexuality 5.1 (2016): 113-139.
“Feeling, Doing, Acting, Seeing, Being Queer in Québec: Michel Marc Bouchard, Rodrigue Jean, and the Queer Québec Colloquium,” Québec Studies, 60 Fall/Winter (2015): 3-22. Co-author, Charles R. Batson.
“Stepping Back from Queer Theory: Ethnography, Language, and Sexuality in French Cultural Studies.”French Cultural Studies 25.3/4 (2014): 408-417.
“Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed’s Performance of Universal French Citizenship and Good Muslim Brotherhood.”French Cultural Studies 24.3 (2013): 279-292.
“Introduction: Maghrebi-French Sexualities.” Modern & Contemporary France 21.2 (2013): 139-146.
“Coming out à l’orientale: Maghrebi-French Performances of Gender, Sexuality, and Religion.” The Journal of Homosexuality 58: 6-7 (2011): 812-833.
“Language Matters: An Introduction.” The Journal of Homosexuality 58: 6-7 (2011): 709-718. Co-author, William L. Leap.
“‘I Dislike Politicians and Homosexuals’: Language and Homophobia in Contemporary France.” Gender and Language 4.2 (2010): 287-321.
“Tracing Sexual Citizenship and Queerness in Drôle de Félix (2000) and Tarik el hob (2003).”
Contemporary French & Francophone Studies 12.1 (2008): 51-61.
“France 1940-44: The Ambiguous Legacy: Introduction.” Contemporary French Civilization
31.2 (2007): 1-7. Co-author, Andrew Sobanet.
“Mapping Gay Paris: Language, Space and Sexuality in the Marais.” Contemporary French &
Francophone Studies 11.1 (2007): 37-46.
“The Nation According to Lavisse: Teaching Masculinity and Male Citizenship in Third-
Republic France.” French Cultural Studies 18.1 (2007): 31-57. Co-author, Luke L. Eilderts.
“The Next Gene(t)ration: ‘Authenticity’ and (Homo) Sexual Citizenship in Contemporary French Gay Culture.”Contemporary French Civilization 26.2 (2002): 335-346.
“Vague English Creole: (Gay English) Cooperative Discourse in the French Gay Press.”
Contemporary French Civilization 26.1 (2002): 86-110.
“The Linguistic Representation of Femininity and Masculinity in Jean Genet’s Notre-Dame des
Fleurs.” French Cultural Studies 12.1 (2001): 43-58. Co-author, Barbara E. Bullock.
Chapters in Books
“Abdellah Taïa’s Transfilial Memories of Genet’s Tomb in Larache.” Queer Realms of Memory: Archiving LGBTQ Sites and Symbols in the French National Narrative. Eds. Siham Bouamer, Denis M. Provencher, and Ryan Schroth. Under contract with Liverpool University Press.
“Introduction: Queering lieux de mémoire.” Queer Realms of Memory: Archiving LGBTQ Sites and Symbols in the French National Narrative. Co-authors, Siham Bouamer and Ryan Schroth. Under contract with Liverpool University Press.
“Transnational approaches to language and sexuality.” Transnational French Studies. Eds. Charles Forsdick and Claire Launchbury. Liverpool University Press, Forthcoming June 2023.
“Abdellah Taïa’s transfilial myth making and unfaithful realms of memory.” Abdellah Taïa’s Queer Migrations: Non-Places, Affect, and Temporalities. Eds. Denis M. Provencher and Siham Bouamer. Series After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France. Lexington Books, 2021, pp 219-255.
“Trans/filiations épistémologiques: Ecrire la famille, la révolution et un nouveau Maroc dans ‘Lettre à ma famille’ et ‘Le chaouche’” [Epistemological Trans/filiations: Writing the family, revolution and a new Morocco in ‘Letter to my family’ and ‘The civil servant’]. Abdellah Taïa. Poétique et politique du désir engagé/Abdellah Taïa. Poetics and Politics of Engaged Desire. Eds. Ralph Heyndels and Amine Zidouh. Editions Passage, 2020: 229-243.
“Diasporic Sexual Citizenship: Queer Language, (Im)Possible Subjects, and Transfiliation.” The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality. Eds. Kira Hall and Edward R. Barrett. Oxford University Press, Jul. 2020. Co-author, David Peterson.
““Je suis terroriste, pédé et le fils de Marilyn Monroe”: Cinematic Stars and Transfiliaton in Abdellah Taïa’s Infidèles (2012).” Paris and the Marginalized Author: Treachery, Alienation, Queerness, and Exile. Eds. Valerie K. Orlando and Pamela A. Pears. Lexington Books, 2018: 153-166.
“Sami Bouajila: les mille et un visages du Français beur,” Les écrans de l’intégration, Eds. Sylvie Dumerlat et Vinay Swamy. Paris: Presses universitaires de Vincennes, 2015: 245-263. Co-author, Murray Pratt. [translation: originally appeared in Screening Integration: Recasting Maghrebi Immigration in Contemporary France. University of Nebraska Press, 2011: 194-210].
“(Re)Casting Sami Bouajila: An Ambiguous Model of Integration, Belonging, and Citizenship.”
Screening Integration: Recasting Maghrebi Immigration in Contemporary France. Eds. Sylvie Durmelat and Vinay Swamy. University of Nebraska Press, 2011: 194-210. Co-author, Murray Pratt.
“One in Ten: Teaching Tolerance for (Class) Difference, Ambiguity, and Queerness in the Intercultural Classroom.” Resilience: Queer Professors from the Working Class. Eds.
Richard Johnson III and Kenneth Oldfield. State University of New York Press, 2008: 63-81.
“Sealed with a Kiss: Heteronormative Narrative Strategies in NBC’s Will & Grace.” The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed. Eds. Mary M. Dalton and Laura R. Linder. State University of New York Press, 2005. 177-189.
“Vague English Creole: (Gay English) Cooperative Discourse in the French Gay Press.” Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language. Eds. William L. Leap and Thomas Boellstorff. University of Illinois Press, 2004. 23-45. [reprint: originally appeared in Contemporary French Civilization 26.1 (2002)].
“Press.” French Popular Culture: An Introduction. Ed. Hugh Dauncey. Oxford University Press/Arnold Publishing, 2003. 34-47.
Review Article
“Queer Studies in France.” Contemporary French Civilization 27.2 (2003): 406-416.
Interviews
“Denis Provencher on his book, Queer Maghrebi French.” CaMP Anthropology, Aug. 24, 2020. https://campanthropology.org/2020/08/24/denis-provencher-queer-maghrebi-french/
“Queer Maghrebi French.” New Books in French Studies, Jan. 4, 2019. https://newbooksnetwork.com/denis-provencher-queer-maghrebi-french-language-temporalities-transfiliations-liverpool-up-2017/.
“Lavender Language, The Queer Way to Speak.” Out Magazine, Aug. (2016). http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/8/17/lavender-linguistics-queer-way-speak.
“Interview with Eric Fassin: Au-delà du mariage.” H-France Salon, 7.1, #2, (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEeypNumYaE.
“Denis Provencher: Sealed with a Kiss: Heternormative Narrative Strategies in NBC's Will & Grace." The Sitcom Reader: A Companion Website. https://build.zsr.wfu.edu/sitcom-reader/chapter-nineteen-sealed-with-a-kiss-heteronormative-narrative-strategies-in-nbcs-will-grace/
“Denis Provencher aux sources du queer à la française.” Têtu News Nov. (2009): 38.
“De bons citoyens: Entretien avec Denis M. Provencher.” Monstre Dec. (2009): 82-85.
“Entretien avec Henry Rousso: Un regard actuel sur l’importance de la Shoah en France” [Interview with Henry Rousso: A Current Look at the Importance of the Holocaust in France].
Contemporary French Civilization 31.2 (2007): 289-307.