ASMCF vacancies & news
September 2007 ASMCF Newsletter
Download our newsletter to keep up with the latest ASMCF activities!
May-June 2007 ASMCF Newsletter
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10th Anniversary Issue
For details of the special tenth-anniversary volume of the International Journal of Francophone Studies please download the press release.ASMCF North West Launch
The ASMCF North West regional group had a launch meeting at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk on Wednesday 20th September 2006. See our report for more information.
May-June 2006 ASMCF Newsletter
Download our newsletter to keep up with the latest ASMCF activities!
British Academy Review Follow-up Response
Thank you to ASMCF members for your responses, from which I have constructed a response to the British Academy regarding endangered and emerging subject areas:
ASMCF follow-up response to the British Academy Review
If you find that you disagree or have further comments to add, please write to me at the address below or use the ASMCF Club for further discussion/debate.
ASMCF reply to the Invitation to Contribute, issued under the auspices of the Joint Funding Bodies' Review of Research Assessment.
The ASMCF is at the start of an ongoing debate between the The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the various professional associations and earnestly welcomes the views of members on how to reconfigure future RAEs. If you would like to contribute to this important debate, please do not hesitate to contact the Executive with your opinions and ideas so that they can be incorporated into future documents.
Members please note that the above document represents no more than the initial reactions of the ASMCF Executive Committee on the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2001. Please click on the hyperlink below below for the full response.
Review of research assessment: response by ASMCF
1014382 ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY FRANCE
To the trustees of the charity,
The latest edition of Charity Commission News, our twice-yearly newsletter that aims to keep trustees up-to-date with the important issues affecting charities, has now been published on our website. You can find it at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/tcc/newslist.asp . We would like as many trustees as possible to see this so please feel free to print it off and photocopy it or circulate it to your colleagues.
This is the first time that, in keeping with Government e-business initiatives, we have used the e-mail address you have given us to inform you of CC News being published, rather than sending out a hard copy to you. We hope to continue and expand this initiative for future issues. Your comments and suggestions for improving Charity Commission News, or on our e-mail notification programme, are always welcome. Please e-mail me at: sush.amar@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk. Please also use this e-mail address if you would like to obtain a hard copy, or would like a copy in Welsh or on audiotape.
Sush Amar Editor, Charity Commission News
Post-Graduate News
Report on the ASMCF Postgraduate Study Day in London
The third ASMCF postgraduate study day took place on Saturday February 16th 2008 at the Institut Français in London. The day was attended by 32 participants, of which 9 speakers. Maggie Allison as Membership Secretary began proceedings by briefly introducing the association and enumerating the aims and benefits of becoming a member. The morning session was the devoted to practical issues charting the different stages of the PhD journey from start to finish. Ruth Kitchen of Leeds University gave a lively and informative session on 'Starting a PhD' with an excellent summary of the literature surrounding the topic twinned with personal insights and philosophical musings. Mark Sawchuk of the University of Berkeley followed, with a highly personal and amusing account of how to negotiate the French public archives, packed with vital information. Jackie Clarke, the executive editor of MCF then advised on the issue of publishing, covering general points involved in approaching peer-reviewed journals and encouraging copy for MCF! Recently appointed as a lecturer at the University of Lancaster, Charlotte Baker rounded the morning session off with a useful account of the transition period from PhD to first academic job. The afternoon session was dedicated to more traditional academic papers with keynote speakers Nadia Kiwan of the University of Aberdeen and Ruth Cruickshank of Royal Holloway addressing the pertinent and contemporary topic of Paris and cultural representation. Excellently chaired by Owen Heathcote, Nadia concentrated on the city's relationship with transnational artists' networks and Ruth on representation of the city through recent film. After coffee, the final session saw Matthew Moran of UCL speak on the police de proximité and Delphine Grass, also of UCL, give an examination of Charles Fourier and Michel Houellebecq's representations of sexuality. The day concluded just after 4pm and conversations continued and contacts were made over drinks and crêpes in the Kensington Crêperie. This event proved useful and enjoyable for all, with participants expressing their gratitude for a day which combines 'mini-conference' sessions with practical advice. Many thanks to speakers and participants for engaging so enthusiastically and to all those who made the day possible.
Helena Chadderton, 19th February 2008
Forthcoming Events
Beyond the France/Algeria binarism? Colonialism in transnational contexts
Wednesday 2 April 2008, University of Portsmouth
The Politics of History and Memory in Contemporary Europe and Beyond
Saturday 8 March 2008 11.00-16.45 University of Bath
Further InformationProspect/Franco-British Council Short Story Prize
Do you have a passion for France? Are you a Francophile with a story to share? The Franco-British Council is inviting those aged between 16 and 25 to submit a short story of no more than 1,000 words, inspired by France, or the French. It could be based on a real or imagined visit to France, a French person you know in the UK (a friend or celebrity), a French lesson at school, a French film you have seen or it could be a work of pure imagination.
The winning pieces will be published by Prospect and the best contributions will be included in a new collection of work to be published by the FBC.
Prizes The winner of the sixth form category will receive £100 and have their story published in Prospect . The winner of the undergraduate category will win two return trips to France and £100 and have their story published in Prospect . Second prizes of £75 and third prizes of £50 will be awarded in each category.
Deadline for entries : 1 April 2008
For more information, and to download the application form, please visit www.francobritishcouncil.org.uk
or contact:
tel: 0207 976 8380
fax: 020 7976 8131
email: henry@francobritishcouncil.org.uk
Classic French films released on DVD by the British Film Institute:
- Orphée (Jean Cocteau / France / 1950 / 95 mins / b&w)
- Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson / France / 1945 / 82 mins / b&w)
- Les Enfants terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville / France / 1950 / 102 mins / b&w)
These distinctive and evocative films by three revered and highly influential directors are available to buy from the British Film Institute
For information on all the French films (Camus, Cocteau, Godard, Ophuls, Renoir, Rohmer, Tati etc.) available to buy on DVD and video from the bfi, please visit the online bfi catalogue.
Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Work in Post-Fordist France
A conference organised by the Department of French Studies, Nottingham University
15th-16th september 2008
Keynote speakers include:
Eve Chiapello
Yann Moulier Boutang
ASMCF Annual Conference 2008
Constructing French Identity / Identities
University of Manchester 5-6 September 2008
Call for Papers:
Quarterly Review of Film and Video
The editors of Quarterly Review of Film and Video (now published by Routledge) seek submissions of manuscripts in film, video, and moving image studies. QRFV is devoted to providing innovative perspectives from a broad range of methodologies, including writings on newly developing technologies, as well as essays and interviews in any area of film history, production, reception and criticism. We are particularly interested in essays on video games and video installations, and postmodern examinations of images in popular culture and the video arts that intersect with film/video. We also seek essays that cast a fresh perspective on well-known material, whether mediated by historical discoveries, or new perspectives on race, class, sexuality or other factors. We also regularly publish book reviews.
Manuscripts should be 17-20 pages in length, double-spaced, in MLA format, with no footnotes or endnotes, and a list of works cited at the end of each article. Please be sure to include complete pagination in all citations. Book reviews should be 5-10 pages long. Manuscripts are subject to a pre-screening and then a formal review process. There is no formal deadline; manuscripts are reviewed throughout the year. Manuscripts cannot be returned to contributors.
Complete guidelines for QRFV articles
The Transfer of Copyright Agreement must be downloaded, signed by the author, and submitted with each article or review.
A complete submission thus includes:
- hard copy
- text on disc in IBM or Mac format
- signed Transfer of Copyright Agreement
- brief "about the author" bio
- complete mail, fax, phone and e-mail address
Please put the text, author bio, and address information on the disc as ONE document; do not split your submission up into separate files.
Send all manuscripts to:
Quarterly Review of Film and Video
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
Wheeler Winston Dixon
Department of English
202 Andrews Hall
University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, NE 68588-0333
Conference Reports
ASMCF Conference 2006
The 2006 ASMCF conference was held at Sheffield University on 7-9 September, with the title `Liberté, égalité, fraternité: the concept of rights in modern and contemporary France'
A conference report is now available.
France and Britain: cross influences, mutual representations,comparisons
France et Grande-Bretagne: interactions, représentations mutuelles, comparaisons
The 2003 ASMCF conference was a joint venture with French CRECIB and took place at Université Paris 13, 4-6 September 2003. It was organised locally by the Centre de recherches interculturelles sur les domaines anglophones et francophones (CRIDAF), a research centre of this university, under the responsibility of its director, Prof. François Poirier. The centre, as well as the research council of the university, subsidised the event and also provided help by seconding technicians and making the rooms available free of charge.
From the point of view of academic responsibility, a committee was formed, composed of 3 representatives of ASMCF, 3 of CRECIB and 2 of CRIDAF. The committee communicated by e-mail.
Statistics
MAIN ITEMS NUMBERS Total registered 146 Country or home institution AU=Australia 2 CH=Switzerland 2 EDU=United States 3 FR=France 71 GH=Ghana 3 IE=Ireland 2 IT=Italy 1 PT=Portugal 1 UK=United Kingdom 61 Categories of participation Workshop convenors or co-convenors 37 Speakers 95 Officials 2 Ordinary participants 24 excused, from all above categories 23 Publication
Plans for publication are going ahead, although they have been delayed by technical difficulties: to avoid the repetition of the sort of problems encountered last summer, Paris 13 university has installed a new server, whose specifications are different from the previous one. It took some time before we could ascertain that everything on-line was indeed accessible. This has been the case for the past fortnight and some speakers at the conference have availed themselves of the possibility and, without anyone's prompting, sent their papers according to the norms set. A circular can now be sent to everyone and hopefully rein in the rest of the papers. Please check that this is OK
The deadline initially indicated (December 1st) should probably be moved to January 15th.
The British Council in Paris was approached by mail about a month ago, asking them to match the effort of the Institut français du Royaume-Uni and help find a British publisher, but no reply has been received so far.
Colleagues representing about three British journals wrote suggesting they would publish some of the papers within their own field, but perhaps we should wait for a sizeable number of papers to be collected first, so that we see what sense it makes.
At the ASMCF AGM, it was asked whether any British publisher could be approached from the British side, so as to make it a joint venture with our French publisher. Any news on this front is welcome.
Intercultural problems
One of the difficulties encountered in the run-up to the conference was the difference in the way such organising tasks are approached on both sides of the Channel. In France, large conferences like this one are based on the appointment beforehand of workshop convenors. In the UK, apparently, one tends to rely on such convenors volunteering. Neither of these approaches was entirely possible because of the dual nature of the conference. A number of people were directly solicited on the French side, and this sort of mapped out the type of possible workshops, but it seems the same procedure was not so easy on the British side as the same themes could not so easily find a match in ASMCF. Probably, if we had worked the other way round, the same difficulties would have been found with CRECIB members. In addition, getting the two sides for each workshop to actually talk has not proved possible in every case. Eventually, some convenors, whether French or British, desisted during the process, while others, though remaining on the lists, were far from active. But for some workshops, teamwork was really effective, e.g. for those dealing with intellectuals and those dealing with immigration. Another difference arose from the fact that in Britain, speakers other than guests are generally funded by their home institution, whereas in France, they generally benefit from a zero fee, and are often fully funded by the organisers, and none of this was possible in our case. This created some resentment on the French side. The same difficulties may be encountered regarding publication: British publishers are less shy of publishing the proceedings of conferences than French ones — hence the request both for a joint venturer, and an ASMCF subsidy matching that of CRECIB (375 euros).
Practical hiccups
It has been a disappointment to be let down at the last minute by the bookseller who, in France, probably has the greatest experience in setting up conference book stalls. One day, there was a shortage of coffee, and the following day, there was too much. The hotel we had to resort to, due to the bankruptcy of the hotel initially selected, proved slightly mismanaged.
Costs
It is hoped that nobody found the fees and various expenses too expensive. The registration fee was kept to a minimum and Université Paris 13 contributed some 3,000 euros from various internal sources, in addition to the services mentioned above. It is hoped that those who must be refunded because of errors of their own administration, or because of their early cancellation, receive their sums sooner than we hope to receive anything from those whose cheques or credit cards bounced. It is yet to early though to present a balance-sheet, as some of the money due to us is not in yet, and some of the costs have not been invoiced yet.
A personal note
The event seems to have been thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking for most participants, if one is to believe the messages (music to my ears!) received by the organisers after the event. As the main organiser, I would like, though, to emphasise a few ideas originating from this exciting experience.
First of all, I do believe that there is more future in the comparative effort that participants were asked to engage in for the occasion than there is in the traditional monocultural studies most of us have been used to and trained for. We spend our lives explaining how specific our pet subject is, but without the help of a rational comparison, we can never actually prove it. In addition, whatever our own place of birth, most of us work in a cultural environment for which the object of study if literally foreign, if not alien. Students in our audience, colleagues of other disciplines who may read us, constantly and spontaneously refer to their own culture and therefore engage in an uncontrolled, uninformed comparative exercise. Such an attitude is the main root of those stereotypes we, as specialists, tend to distrust. I believe the only way out of this conundrum is to propagate, beginning with our own teaching and research, the sort of rational, well constructed and fully informed comparative approach promoted in the 1930s by Marc Bloch. In a world which is increasingly globalised, or alterglobalised, we can non longer expect our public to stop at the consideration of one culture only, in isolation from others, nor can we seriously believe that the study of any culture is at all possible without giving due attention to the foreign influences it has received. In this respect, the duet of societies formed by France and Britain is probably the most interesting object of comparison - an assertion which requires confrontation with other possible comparisons. The two geographic areas now covered by the states of the United Kingdom and France have been closely linked since some time before the Norman conquest of England. It is not my intention to go deep into the details of such links in medieval times, whether they be between those of the so-called "Celtic fringe", or Normandy and England, or Flanders and Kent, but simply to draw a few consequences, which I shall here simply state without expanding the argument into a full-fledged demonstration: (i) the British and French societies are both extremely dissimilar and nearly identical, as they have developed together, but one against the other, one influencing the other; (ii) because of the eminent position they achieved in particular in the early modern period, they set a succession of inspiring political models, so that most systems of government today are derived from one or the other or both[1]; (iii) French and English are, together with Spanish, the languages of imperialism, though, because of the early demise of Iberian attempts at world domination, French and English have acquired a special status as international and official languages, first French, then English, and today, American English - this means that it is just impossible to study French or English without studying the whole world and the Franco-British rivalry, sometimes verging on enmity, and at other times on concurring complicity. Because French and English are not just like any other language, because French and British cultures mean so much for each other and for so many others, we risk missing a whole world of fundamental facts and ideas if we do not confront one with the other in a meaningful comparative approach.
Second, the interest for foreign modern languages is increasing everywhere in the world, but the enrolments of specialist students, future practitioners, masters, teachers of these languages is declining everywhere in the old West - I mean France, Germany, Benelux countries and Scandinavian countries - Britain and Ireland being a case apart. More and more, in every curriculum, communicative skills in a foreign language, generally but not exclusively English, are taught side by side with the main subjects. This means that the bright freshers with a keen taste for languages can meet their needs in any other pursuit. Coupled with the demographic trough Europe is muddling through at the moment, this means a dramatic fall in enrolments for modern languages departments. With the dominance of English on a global scale, the situation is made even worse in Britain and Ireland, as the potential public does not feel the need for the study of any foreign language whatsoever. There are two possible attitudes then. Either one sticks to the old canon of some grammar thrown in with a dash of literature and just a mere trace of history or sociology so as to be able to decipher texts, or one ventures boldly into an association of one particular set of academic disciplines visibly leading up to some possible career, together with modern languages preferably in the plural and thereby inviting comparative approaches. Of course, this is not fully an either-or situation, there are infinite nuances and degrees in-between the two extremes, but certainly one cannot but look up to more pluridisciplinary, while more career oriented, comparative programmes.
Third, the papers given at the ASMCF-CRECIB conference were in many ways the pleasant and challenging proof of the pudding. Getting into the comparative mood, one has to shed some of the least commendable items in the received wisdom that sometimes discredits us when we deal with colleagues in other fields. I do hope that this has started the ball running and that other similar occasions will be provided at some point in the very near future.
They also point to an active and equal relationship with such other fields as may be brought together to build more professional, less general, higher education leading to a degree. They show the possibiliy of a satisfactory balance being struck between the immediate requirements of future employment and those of fundamental research - though for this last, further training should be required.
[1]. Some may claim that the American shave superseded all this. But the American constitution can also be viewed as an interesting intercultural experience: a few French ideas fostered on lineaments of a typically English experience within an un-French and un-English environment. Others may claim some role for a German, or rather a Prussian model. But this was short-lived and has now been discredited, especially in Germany itself.
Marie Cardinal: A Retrospective
Conference Report
The conference provided a stimulating forum for scholars from France, Spain, the United States of America and Canada to present new perspectives on the life and work of Marie Cardinal. Scholars engaged in debate around a range of themes including: 'Writing Algeria', 'Narrative Strategies', 'Writing Trauma', 'Mothers and Daughters', 'Comparative Voices', and 'Writing Lives'. Professor Máire Cross opened the event and Philippe Mogentale, the Attaché
Linguistique noted the manner in which the conference supported franco-britannique exchange. A stimulating key note address exploring the filmic aspect of Cardinal's texts was given by Professor Phil Powrie. Professor Colette Hall closed the conference by considering Cardinal's legacy and the critical reception of her work.
The event was interdisciplinary in nature, exciting interest from specialists on French women's writing, film, gender studies, postcolonial studies and critical theory. In all it provided a timely exploration of Cardinal's oeuvre in the light of her recent death. Dr Emma Webb will be editing the conference proceedings into a book, to be published by Peter Lang (Jan, 2004).
In sum, this conference stimulated dialogue about an important French writer and thinker while bringing together a range of international scholars and postgraduates from diverse areas of study. Delegates commented on the excellent hospitality provided, the well structured nature of the programme and on the high level of the papers. In this light, the organisers feel they succeeded in promoting academic exchange in the North of England.
The organisers would like to take this opportunity to thank the ASMCF for its support.
Report on Leeds Postgraduate Conference, 'Love and Sexuality', for the ASMCF
Conference Report
This conference was held on Tuesday 10th September 2002, and was the first postgraduate conference to be held by the University of Leeds French department. The conference was attended by approximately 40 people, including many of the staff from Leeds French department, past, present, and future postgraduate students, and several students from the local sixth-form college. The 11 papers presented were split into four sessions, entitled: 'The Erotics of Power'; 'Gender Trouble'; 'Discours amoureux' and 'La femme: Redefining the myth'. Please see the attached programme for more details. The speakers came from a wide range of UK universities, including Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Kent at Canterbury, Durham, Cambridge, Warwick and Birmingham. All of the papers delivered provoked a great deal of interest, and resulted in several interesting discussions taking place around the issues of both love and sexuality in modern French studies. This was aided by the fact that the papers covered a wide range of topics and specialisms, demonstrating that issues of sexuality are germane to many areas of cultural studies.
As the organisers of the conference, we feel that the event was a great success. In particular, we believe it provided a forum for the discussion of issues of love and sexuality across various disciplines, allowing the cross-fertilisation of ideas, as well as achieving our aim of establishing links between postgraduates at various universities in the UK, which will lead to further communication and co-operation. We have received a great deal of positive feedback from those who attended the conference, and are thus considering attempting to publish the proceedings at some point in the future.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the ASMCF for their support of the event, without which it would not have been possible.
WIFIS Report 2002
The second annual conference of Women in French in Scotland was held in the National Library of Scotland on 2nd November 2002. The event was able to take place thanks to funding from the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, The National Library of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and the cultural services of the French Embassy. The setting was an ideal place for the strong intellectual discussions and exchange that were to follow. It also provided the opening for future links with the library and academic events thus allowing for a closer relationship between universities in Scotland and the public at large.
Each of the three sessions were chaired by the organisers of last year's inaugural conference - Dr Amy Wygnat (University of Glasgow), Dr Lorna Milne (University of St Andrews) and Dr Susan Bainbrigge (University of Edinburgh) - creating a thread of continuity which we hope will strengthen the event's future existence. The conference began with three papers on 'Women in Society', which explored the different ways in which women's voices have been silenced and disempowered over the centuries through literature, film and theatre: Dr Emily Butterworth (University of Sheffield) 'Marie de Gournay, reputation and reception', Florian Grandena (University of Nottingham Trent) and Cristina Johnson (University of Glasgow) 'Working Class Heroines: Female Characters in the Work of Robert Guédiguian' and Dr Janette McLeman-Carnie 'Le droit égal à l'infidelité: a feminist approach by Alfred de Vigny'.
The second session examined the effects of women writing on women. Dr Kathryn Robson (University of Newcastle) raised the issue of absence and loss in 'Writing beyond the grave: Responses to the Death of the Father in Hélène Cixous's Or: les Lettres de mon père and Linda Lê's Lettre morte'. Louise Lyle (University of Birmingham) presented us with literary representations of 'The Female and the species: Radical feminism and Social Darwinism in late nineteenth-century France. Finally, Abdallah Mdarhri (Université de Rabat, Maroc) provided us with an overview the difficulties facing Moroccan female writers in 'Evolutions des problématiques et thématiques des littératures féminines au Maroc'.
After a lively and insightful WIFIS plenary, the afternoon session on 'Images of Women' began with Dr Pam Moores (Aston University) who explored the ways in which the media (mis)represented female political candidates in 'Women in the French presidential election campaign 2002'. Stefanie Cadenhead (University of Liverpool) in a paper entitled 'The inter-generational transmission of history in Lydie Salvayre's La Compagnie des spectres' looked at the theme of memory and challenging history as it is transmitted from one female generation to another. In 'Causons chiffons: la femme, l'apparence et le dictionnaire bilingue', Elisabeth Campbell (University of Paisley) raised the often surprising manner in which women are used by lexicographers. This panel as a whole generated stimulating discussions on the way in which society creates and promulgates a certain vision of the role of women in contemporary society. Our guest speaker, Professor Jean Duffy (University of Edinburgh) presented a paper on 'Cultural Legacy and American National Identity in Michel Butor's Mobile' thus ending our conference on a tone that grouped together the different cultural and national identities that had been explored throughout the day. This highlighted the wide-reaching possibilities of our debates, in geographical and interdisciplinary terms, as dialogue is established between the minority and majority voices without positioning ideas on the margins.
Véronique Desnain (University of Edinburgh)
Catriona Cunningham (University of Glasgow)