In collaboration with The Department of French and Italian and the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona, Contemporary French Civilization published by Liverpool University Press is pleased to organize an interdisciplinary conference on contemporary French and Francophone civilization and cultural studies.
The conference, Aug. 29 to 31, at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, brings together 90 scholars from an equal number of institutions around the world. The interdisciplinary conference also includes a variety of session chairs and participants from across UA, which highlights the high level of collaboration and sponsorship across campus.
Contemporary French Civilization is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to French-speaking cultures throughout the world. The editorial team has been housed at the University of Arizona since 2016 and this is the first time the conference is hosted in Tucson.
“It’s an exciting time for the journal, which is now in its 44th year, and which is the longest running publication of its scope,” said Denis M. Provencher, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief and Head of the UA Department of French and Italian. “The conference and the journal both explore subjects and issues that reflect the modern diversity of French-speaking people around the world.”
For the 2019 conference, scholars working on a variety of cultural issues and approaches in French and Francophone studies will assemble to present their work. This also provides a time for the editorial team in conversation with the delegates to explore topics for future special issues for the journal.
Plenary speakers are Charles Forsdick, James Barrow Professor of French at the University of Liverpool, and Nacira Guénif-Souilamas, Professor at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis. The organizing committee is comprised of Durand, Provencher and Nicoleta Bazgan, of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The conference follows the successful 2015 conference in Baltimore.
“For several years now, the UA College of Humanities’s world class faculty have created, directed, or brought premier conferences, journals, and professional organizations that are at the forefront of research activities conducted in our disciplines, and we’re pleased to share this vital work with colleagues from around the world,” said Alain-Philippe Durand, Dean of the College of Humanities and Associate Editor of Contemporary French Civilization.
Other major academic journals, conferences and organizations directly associated with faculty in the College of Humanities include, American Association of American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI), the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Critical Multilingualism Studies, Hispania, Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, Mediaevistik: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Medieval Research and Humanities.