Research Projects

Student Scholarship Recognition Day (SSRD) is held each spring to celebrate the exemplary scholarship and creativity of Willamette University students. Students work directly with faculty members or design and conduct their own research throughout the year.

Featured Projects

Here are a few projects that exemplify the wonderful research students from the French and Francophone Studies department have done over the years.

Abstract: The Polynesian people have had a long tradition of storytelling. Myths, legends, chants, and songs on anything from wars to exploration to love and even the mundane chores of life have been passed down from one generation to the next. The Littérama‘ohi is the continuation of this tradition. It is the "literature of the people" and serves to help make sense of the post-colonial world in which French Polynesia has found itself. It is the French Polynesians' attempt to secure a place for their culture while moving forward in an era of globalization.

Mele Ana Kastner (2015)

Abstract: Two of Aimé Césaire's plays, "The Tragedy of King Christophe" and "A Season in the Congo," depict the turbulent process of forming governments in countries that have recently gained political independence from their colonizers. Rife with military coups, dictatorships, and neocolonial international pressure, the governments in Césaire's plays face extremely realistic difficulties, allowing Césaire to provide insight about the dangers of postcolonial rule. This presentation explores how and why theatre served as the ideal means for Césaire to communicate his stories and warnings, drawing support from Césaire's position as an influential postcolonial intellectual and the performative aspects of postcolonial politics.

Jacqueline Remmel (2016)

Abstract: I discuss the intentional and successful structure of Flaubert classic work of realist literature, Madame Bovary. Through the intersection of semiology and phenomenology I evaluate the relationship between the artist and the individual experiencing the artwork.

Jamie Ervinq (2016)

Additional Research Projects

These are all the projects the French and Francophone Studies department has presented at SSRD in the last few years.

2016

  • Madame Bovary - Alexandra Elchinoff (Independent Research)
  • Reading Between the Lines: Phenomenology and Madame Bovary - Jamie Ervinq (Independent Research)
  • Mimicry and Masculinity in Flaubert's Madame Bovary - Athena Moag (Independent Research)
  • Madame Bovary - Stefan Ouellette (Independent Research)
  • Postcolonial Politics, Policy, Law and Ethics in the Plays of Aimé Césaire - Jacqueline Remmel (Independent Research)
  • Césaire and the Colonizer: The Evolution of Cahier d’un Retour au Pays Natal over 60 Years and Its Confrontation of Colonialism - Christa Rohrbach (Independent Research)

2015

  • Le Littérama‘ohi: French Polynesian Literature and French Colonialism in the South Pacific - Mele Ana Kastner (Independent Research)
  • Truth Under the Moon and Stars - Maggie Boucher (Independent Research)
Willamette University

French and Francophone Studies

Address
Smullin 312
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6298

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