PhD, University of Pennsylvania (2012). Dr. Lucy Swanson worked at Haverford College and Lafayette College before coming to the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of French and Caribbean Studies. Her research examines how historical narratives and political discourse are reflected in recent francophone literary and visual culture, particularly that of Haiti and the French Antilles. Dr. Swanson’s articles have appeared in Cincinnati Romance Review, International Journal of Francophone Studies, and SITES: Contemporary French and Francophone Studies. Her current book project, Zombie Islands: Avatars of the Living Dead in French-Language Fictions of the Caribbean, explores how contemporary writers and artists reinvent the iconic folkloric figure.
Recent Publications
Articles and Chapters
‘“La Sorcellerie du savoir-faire technologique’: Sorcery and Knowledge in Kourouma’s Monnè, outrages et défis (1990).” Contemporary French & Francophone Studies: SITES 20.4-5, 2016: pp. 632-639.
“De retour d’entre les morts (encore). [Back from the Dead (Again): Zombies and the Spatial Imaginary in Contemporary Haitian Fiction].” In Z pour Zombies, eds. Samuel Archibald, Antonio Dominguez Leiva and Bernard Perron. Montreal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2015: pp. 101-113.
“Blankness, Alienation, and the Zombie in Recent Francophone Fiction.” International Journal of Francophone Studies 17.2 (June 2014): pp. 177-197.
“Digging Up the (Living) Dead: The Roots of Antillanité and Créolité.” In Antillanité, créolité, littérature monde. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013: pp. 137-147.
“Zombie Nation?: The Horde, Social Uprisings and National Narratives.” Cincinnati Romance Review 34 (Fall 2012): n.p. http://www.cromrev.com/volumes/vol34/002-vol34-swanson.pdf
Translations
“André Martin, Inventor of Animation Cinema: Toward a History of Terms,” Hervé Joubert-Laurencin (translation). In Animating Film Theory, ed. Karen Beckman. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014: pp. 85-96.
“The Twelfth Floor” and “Blood and the Sea,” dramatic excerpts by Gary Victor (translation). Performed at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The City University of New York Graduate Center, November 12, 2012.
Book Reviews
Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex by John Cussans. Strange Attractor, 2017. Journal of Haitian Studies, forthcoming.