We are excited to host the first Undergraduate Research Sessions of the annual 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies Conference. The Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh has a tradition of excellence in undergraduate research mentorship, and is looking forward to receiving the applications of student presenters. 

 

The undergraduate deadline for submitting an abstract is Nov. 15, 2021. A panel composed of French majors at the University of Pittsburgh will communicate the results of their select ion by Dec. 5, 2021. The students are invited to submit a 250-word abstract and a short biographical note (about 40 words). They should plan to prepare a 15-minute presentation for the Conference. The conference fee will be waived for undergraduate presenters. So, do you or your students have an existing paper on the theme of this year's conference, or are you currently engaged in a class verging on similar topics. Read the description below, and send us your proposal!

 

The current era is characterized by incessant flows of multimodal texts, images, and sounds, transmitted and consumed across an array of platforms.These new media create networks, bringing people together, but they also polarize communities by manipulating and distorting discourse. How do more traditional forms of cultural production, such as literature, art, and film, depict the rise of social media and digital technologies? How do different media (print, visual, digital, and sound) inform critical debates on race, gender, sexuality, migration, nationality, and environment?

 

As host of the colloquium, the Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh welcomes proposals on literatures of French expression, as well as film, graphic novels and comics, theater, music, dance, photography, and other visual arts. We also encourage submissions that consider the interdisciplinary frames of our research and teaching networks at Pitt: gender and sexuality; nation/transnation; environment; and film & media. The organizing committee will welcome particularly, but not exclusively, proposals that take up the following themes:
 

- news media; state media; media and francophonie

- race, racism, antiracism

- class and social relations; inequality and precarity

- crisis, conflict , and war; humanitarianism

- neoliberalism; markets; money

- migration; borders; security

- materiality; archives

- affect and emotion

- climate change; global warming; the Anthropocene

- urban and rural spaces

- velocity, speed, acceleration

 

We also welcome proposals for papers and panels on the works of our plenary speakers (Michaël Ferrier, Jessica Oublié, Yves Citton, and Kaiama Glover). This is a hybrid conference, including formats designed to accommodate in-person and remote participation. Undergraduate presenters will also benefit from other initiatives, such as teaching and research slam presentations; sessions on publishing, including a virtual roundtable with press editors, opportunities to get personalized feedback from acquisition editors, individual workshops, and virtual mixers for participants with shared interests.

All proposals should be sent to Dr. Giuseppina Mecchia at mecchia@pitt.edu.