Past events
Selected seminars, conferences, lectures, film screenings, exhibitions, and workshops in French and Francophone Studies (2015 -).
DELC Research Seminar Series > French and Francophone Studies
The DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and co-production between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.
Each series is designed on a transversal exploration of a common theme, for example Decolonising Minds and Methods (2021 to 2022).
Selected DRSS events involving French and Francophone studies (FFS)
Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed.
| Date(s) | Title | French and Francophone Studies speakers or hosts |
|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2022 |
|
Dr Katie Pleming |
| 3 February 2020 |
|
Edouard Notte; Dr Claire Boyle |
An occasional series of talks by colleagues, PhD students and visiting speakers.
Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed.
| Date | Title | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 12 March 2019 | Estranging the Mother Tongue | Dr Anne-Isabelle François (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris 3) |
| 24 January 2019 | Killing Time: Death, Feminism, and the Future in Leïla Slimani's Chanson douce | Dr Sarah Arens (University of Edinburgh) |
| 22 November 2017 |
Settlement, treatment and employment of French-speaking Belgian refugees in France, the Netherlands, England and Scotland. [also part of the ‘Uncovering civilian war trauma among female Belgian refugees in Scotland during the First World War’ workshop series] |
Dr Christophe Declercq (University College London) |
| 7 November 2017 | Civil Disobedience and Democracy | Professor Sandra Laugier (Paris Sorbonne) |
| 20 March 2017 | Bernard Stiegler’s Automatic Politics | Professor Martin Crowley (University of Cambridge) |
| 8 March 2017 |
'Tot ot escrit an la cortine': Reconstructing Female Voice and Identity from the Literary Clothwork of Old French Romance |
Morgan Boharski (University of Edinburgh) |
| 15 February 2017 | La campagne référendaire de 2014 vue de la France | Professor Didier Revest (Université Côte d'Azur) |
| 17 May 2016 |
Narrating Trauma in French Women’s Writing of the Extreme Contemporary |
Professor Barbara Havercroft (University of Toronto) |
| 24 February 2016 | Imagining Brussels: Diasporic Writing and the Transnational Urban Space | Sarah Arens (University of Edinburgh) |
| 20 January 2016 |
Elles ne savent pas ce qu'elles disent, c'est toute la différence entre elles et moi: Lacan et les féministes |
Professor Benedicte Coste (Université de Bourgogne) |
A series of seminars organised by Dr Sam Coombes (French and Francophone Studies) and partners in the Diaspolinks research network developing underexplored comparative perspectives on diaspora-related themes. Each seminar was held at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) and - with the exception of the postgraduate seminar in November 2016 - consisted of two papers.
Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed.
| Date | Title | Chair | Speakers | Papers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 November 2016 |
Postgraduate Diasporic Trajectories seminar |
Dr Michelle Keown | Sarah Arami (University of Strasburg) | Geographies of Identity: The Case of The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf |
| Alice Kelly (University of Edinburgh) | ‘The Problem of Longitude’: Unplottable Subjects and the Erosion of European Diaspora in Joseph Conrad’s Malay Fiction | |||
| Justine Seran (University of Edinburgh) |
Home Reimagined: the Indigenous Australian Diaspora |
|||
| Sarah Stewart (University of Edinburgh) | Shelter at the Border: Writing Back from the State of Exception | |||
| 28 October 2016 | Diasporic Trajectories 2016: Seminar four | Professor Françoise Král | Dr Corinne Bigot (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) | Culinary dislocation: ethnic food memoirs and tales |
| Professor Neil Lazarus (University of Warwick) | Stone upon Stone: Land, Labour and Consciousness in World-Literary Perspective | |||
| 21 October 2016 | Diasporic Trajectories 2016: Seminar three | Dr Nicola Frith | Professor Claire Joubert (Université de Vincennes à Saint-Denis) | Minor Global Poetics and the Geopolitics of Knowledge from Colonial to Global |
| Professor Michael Syrotinski (University of Glasgow) | Achille Mbembe and the Untranslatable, from Globalization to Mondialisation | |||
| 15 April 2016 |
Diasporic Trajectories 2016: Seminar two |
Dr David Farrier | Dr Sam Coombes (University of Edinburgh) | Approaching Diaspora and Alter-Globalisation via the later works of Edouard Glissant |
| Professor Bill Marshall (University of Stirling) | French Atlantic Cities in Translation | |||
| 19 February 2016 | Diasporic Trajectories 2016: Seminar five | Dr Sam Coombes | Professor Alison Donnell (University of Reading) | Caribbean literary archives: the challenges of missing voices and precarious pages |
| Professor Rada Iveković (Collège International de philosophie, Paris) | Epistemological fractures: the decline of western paradigms | |||
| 13 November 2015 | Diasporic Trajectories 2015: Seminar five | Dr Sam Coombes | Professor David Murphy | The Performance of Pan-Africanism: performing black identity at major pan-African festivals, 1966-2010 |
| Dr James Procter | Diaspora on Air: Radio and Lyrical Modernity | |||
| 30 October 2015 | Diasporic Trajectories 2015: Seminar four | Dr Corinne Bigot | Dr Michelle Keown | Of goldfields, markets and murder: diasporic Chinese and Sinophobia in The Luminaries and Chinese New Zealand literature |
| Professor Héliane Ventura | Matching the Unmatchable: Alice Munro's 'Pictures of the Ice' and James Galt's Bogle Corbet or The Emigrant | |||
| 16 October 2015 |
Diasporic Trajectories 2015: Seminar three |
Dr Michelle Keown | Professor Françoise Král | Diasporising neo-imperial languages: towards a pragmatics of global (mis)understanding |
| Professor John McLeod | Transcultural Adoption and Diasporic Writing | |||
| 25 April 2015 | Diasporic Trajectories 2015: Seminar two | Professor Françoise Král | Dr Nicki Hitchcott | Genocide Stories in Exile: Fiction from the Rwandan Diaspora |
| Professor Susheila Nasta | Remapping Modernisms: Asian Bloomsbury and the Evolution of Global Modernities in Colonial London | |||
| 13 February 2015 |
Diasporic Trajectories 2015: Seminar one |
Dr Sam Coombes | Professor Charles Forsdick | Beyond the francophone: postcolonialism, comparatism, transnationalism |
| Professor Janet Wilson | “Wavering between two worlds”: Liminality in anglophone diaspora writing |
Conferences and symposia
Date: 20 September 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
In brief: A one-day workshop organised by the Association of University Professors and Heads of French (AUPHF), co-sponsored by the Society for French Studies and the French Embassy. Focusing on changing mindsets and rethinking the value of languages in a time of crisis, the event brought together stakeholders from Universities, Schools and Cultural Institutes to celebrate and share positive examples of French and Francophone teaching of language and culture. The event culminated with a roundtable discussion on advocacy, lobbying and policy making.
Dates: 13 and 14 December 2018
Venues: 7 George Square, University of Edinburgh; L’Institut français d’Ecosse
Keynote speakers: Professor Nobuko Akiyama (Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo); Professor Nobuko Anan (Kansai University); Professor Fuhito Endo (Seikei University, Tokyo)
Organisers: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce (University of Edinburgh); Dr Akihiko Shimizu (Cardiff University)
In brief: A two-day international conference in comparative literature on representations of the face in Japanese and Western European art, literature and theatre from the Early Modern period to the present. Comprising 13 papers over five sessions, and three keynote lectures, the event was supported by the DAIWA Foundation (UK), L'Institut Français Écosse and LLC.
Dates: 28 and 29 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A two-day research meeting of the Dariah-EU Working Group on Women Writers in History. Bringing together an international group of 15 researchers, the event comprised panel sessions, a film screening, workshops and working group discussions.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 15 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Dr María Alonso Alonso, Dr Charlotte Bosseaux, Dr Véronique Desnain and Dr Fiona Mackintosh
In brief: A one-day symposium on the evolution of narrative techniques towards noir aesthetics in world literatures. Combining panel sessions involving nine selected researchers, and a facilitated conversation with author Christopher Brookmyre, the event looked at texts which favour the adoption of a new consciousness towards cultural politics, as they reinforce the connection between literature and public affairs.
Related research: Language and Violence
Date: 15 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh; Summerhall
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The third in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. This international one-day conference, in English, focused on Post-Fukushima Art and Literature in Japan and the West. Comprising five panel sessions and a roundtable discussion, it culminated with a screening of 'The World after Fukushima' and a Q&A with its director Kenichi Watanabe and scriptwriter Michaël Ferrier. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
Date: 14 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The second in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. This international one-day conference, in French, focused on the Tokyo-based writer Michaël Ferrier, author of the 2012 book 'Fukushima: Récit d'un désastre'. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, it comprised three panel sessions and a talk with Michaël Ferrier.
Date: 30 September 2016
Venue: Corpus Christi College, The University of Cambridge
Keynote speakers: Professor Ágnes Pethő (Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania); Professor Steven Jacobs (Ghent University)
Organisers: Film and the Other Arts network (Universities of Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Edinburgh and the Applied Arts, Vienna).
In brief: The second of four workshops examining the manifold ways in which cinema references, incorporates and reframes other artistic practices, initiating fusions and cross-overs between different media. Comprising keynote lectures, panel sessions and a roundtable discussion, the AHRC-funded event culminated in a public screening of the 2103 film Magic Mirror and a Q&A with its director, Sarah Pucill.
Related research: Film and the Other Arts
Dates: 8 to 10 September 2016
Venue: Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (Days 1 & 2); L’Institut français d’Ecosse (Day 3)
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A three-day conference bringing together 35 international experts to explore the power of women in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present in panel sessions, exhibitions, a documentary screening, public talks and discussions. The first in an ongoing series of ‘cultural encounters’ between past and present, the event unlocked disciplinary differences and opened a new field of cross-cultural and transmedial investigation between playwrights, artists, filmmakers and others.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 29 April 2016
Venue: Parry Williams Building, Aberystwyth University
Keynote speaker: Professor Stephen Barber (Kingston University)
Organisers: Film and the Other Arts network (Universities of Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Edinburgh and the Applied Arts, Vienna).
In brief: The first of four workshops examining the manifold ways in which cinema references, incorporates and reframes other artistic practices, initiating fusions and cross-overs between different media. Comprising a keynote lecture, panel sessions and a roundtable discussion, the AHRC-funded event culminated in a public screening of the 1995 film Hands and a talk by its director, Adam Roberts.
Related research: Film and the Other Arts
Lectures, talks, discussions and readings
Date: 26 January 2023
Venue: Institut français d'Écosse
Guest speakers: Fabien Arribert-Narce (University Edinburgh); Tamzin Elliott (University of Edinburgh); Catherine Guiat (Institut Français Écosse); Elise Hugueny-Léger (University of St Andrews); Caroline Verdier (University of Strathclyde); Ed Welch (University of Aberdeen)
In brief: A round-table discussion in French and Q&A in both English and French to celebrate acclaimed French writer Annie Ernaux. Participants read book excerpts to the audience, then took part in a round-table discussion in French where panelists examined some of the key themes in Ernaux’s work.
Date: 19 March 2021
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Organisers: Centre de recherches francophones belges; Institut français d’Ecosse; Institut français du Royaume-Uni
In brief: An online talk - in French - with celebrated Congolese author In Koli Jean Bofane. Hosted by Edouard Notte, the event was introduced by Laurence Païs, Director of the Institut français d’Écosse, and by the University of Edinburgh's Rector, Debora Kayembe.
Date: 21 May 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Speaker: Amanda Diserholt (Edinburgh Napier University)
In brief: A special guest seminar on psychoanalysis and contemporary culture, turning around Lacan’s notions of the drive and desire. Co-hosted with Lacan in Scotland, the event was chaired by Dr Katharine Swarbrick, Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies, who has written on Lacanian perspectives on the psychopathology of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Date: 23 March 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Professor Marion Schmid (University of Edinburgh); Dr Hugues Azérad (University of Cambridge)
In brief: The second in a pair of special events marking the visit of film director Pascale Breton to Edinburgh. Sponsored by the Institut Français d’Ecosse, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and AMOPA (Association des Membres de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques), the talk offered a fascinating, illustrated insight into Breton's practice as a filmmaker and scriptwriter - one of the most original voices in French contemporary cinema.
Date: 15 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The fourth in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. An hour-long, round-table discussion chaired by Dr Chris Perkins (LLC), with Professors Doug Slaymaker, Lisette Gebhardt and Michaël Ferrier.
Date: 10 September 2016
Venue: Institut français d’Écosse, Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
Speakers: Professor Gina Luria Walker (USA; Chair); Professor Suzan Broomhall (Australia); Professor Mary Spongberg (Australia); Dr Elena Woodacre (UK); Dr Armel Duboit-Nayt (France); Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk (UK)
In brief: Part of a major three-day conference on the power of women in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present, this public event discussed the representation in historiography and films of Catherine de Medici, Joan of Navarre, Marie Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots), Queen Margot, and Christina of Sweden.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Date: 10 September 2016
Venue: Institut français d’Écosse, Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
In brief: Part of a major three-day conference on the power of women in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present, this public event brought together four theatre practitioners to discuss their work. With the participation of Anna Birch (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland):
- Belgian playwrights and actresses Barbara Sylvain and Lula Bery talked about their play on Marie Suart and Elizabeth I, It’s so nice (2011)
-
Alexandria Patience talked about her co-authored play on seventeenth-century playwright Aphra Behn, APHRA (1997) and gender equity in theatre
-
Clarissa Palmer talked about her co-authored play Olympe de Gouges, porteuse d’espoir/ A Beacon of hope (L’Harmattan, 2012).
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Film screenings and festivals
Date: 11 October 2022
Venue: Screening Room G.04, 50 George Square
Organisers: Édouard Notte (University of Edinburgh) and Institut Français d'Écosse
In brief: An exclusive screening of the French documentary Ruptures (2021), followed by a Q&A and discussion with Economics and Geography student Gabriel Bonammy (University of St Andrews) who has translated the documentary from French into English. The event was co-organised with Institut Français Écosse in Edinburgh, and the film was shown in French with English subtitles.
Date: 4 November 2021
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Organisers: The Centre de recherches francophones belges, SCILT (Scotland’s National Centre for Languages), the Universities of Strathclyde and Leicester, and Wallonia-Brussels International.
In brief: A screening of the climate activism documentary Sangterra, and Q&A with its Belgian producer Christophe Smets.
Find out more about the Centre de recherches francophones belges
Date: 10 November 2019
Venue: Filmhouse
In brief: A screening of the 2018 film 'Keep Going' adapted from the novel 'Continuer' by Laurent Mauvignier. Screened as part of the French Film Festival UK, the film was followed by a conversation with its director (and screenplay writer) Joachim Lafosse.
Date: 22 March 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Professor Marion Schmid (University of Edinburgh); Dr Hugues Azérad (University of Cambridge)
In brief: The first in a pair of special events marking the visit of film director Pascale Breton to Edinburgh. Sponsored by the Institut Français d’Ecosse, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and AMOPA (Association des Membres de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques), the event involved the screening of Breton's 2015 film, Suite Armoricaine, and a discussion with herself and actress Manon Evenat.
Date: 27 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A public screening of Bertrand Tavernier's 2010 film La Princesse de Montpensier [The Princess of Montpensier] shown in collaboration with The French Institute as part of the two-day event, Cultural Encounters Between North, South, West And East. Inspired by a novel by an iconic seventeenth-century French woman writer, the film was introduced by Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk based on her research ‘Women of the past, Reception of women writers: Madame de La Fayette as a case study’.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 15 September 2017
Venue: Summerhall, Edinburgh
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The fifth in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. A screening of the 2013 documentary 'The World After Fukushima' (Kami Productions, Arte France), followed by a Q&A with director, Kenichi Watanabe, and scriptwriter, Michaël Ferrier. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
Date: 13 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The first in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. A screening of the 2015 documentary 'Nuclear Lands' (Kami Productions, Arte France), followed by a Q&A with director, Kenichi Watanabe, and scriptwriter, Michaël Ferrier. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
Date: 9 September 2016
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
In brief: MARCH (2015, 40 minutes) documents March of Women, a large-scale public art event in Bridgeton, Glasgow held on the eve of International Women’s Day 2015. Through a series of interviews with a wide variety of the participating women, the film considers the gap in documenting women’s history, and points to the resounding importance of having a female generation to both honour and draw inspiration from. A screening of the film was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016. It was introduced by Professor Anna Birch, Artistic Director of March of Women, and followed by a debate moderated by Professor Gina Luria Walker (New School, New York).
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Exhibitions, workshops and performances
The French Play
The French Play is an annual production by Les Escogriffes, the University of Edinburgh's French Theatre Society.
Established with the help and encouragement of lecturer Peter Allen in 1969, the Society is now entirely student led; you don't have to be studying French to be an 'Escogriffe' but many members are.
Read our interview with former Escogriffe, Marka Rifat (French MA Hons, 1978)
Browse an illustrated history of Les Escogriffes on issuu
| Date(s) | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 24 to 26 March 2022 | Le Barbier de Séville | Institut français d’Écosse |
| 21 May 2021 | L'Illustre Philosophe, ou l'histoire de Sainte Catherine d'Alexandrie | Online |
| 22 and 23 March 2019 | Les Femmes Savantes | Assembly Roxy (22); Augustine United Church (23) |
| 29 and 30 March 2018 | Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir! | Assembly Roxy |
More exhibitions, workshops and performances
Date: 15 January 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
In brief: An event based on the French delicacy, Galette de Rois - a cake traditionally shared at Epiphany. Part of the DELC Festive Showcase, bringing staff and students together to celebrate languages and cultures from around Europe.
Date: 31 May 2018
Venue: L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Early Modern Women’s Past Workshop Series
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: The second in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the novels of Madame de La Fayette, with a particular focus on La Princesse de Montpensier.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 17 May 2018
Venue: L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Early Modern Women’s Past Workshop Series
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: The first in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the work of seventeenth-century playwright and novelist, Mme de Villedieu, with a focus on her play, Le Favori (1665) (H. Goldwyn and A. Evain (eds.), Théâtre de femmes de l’Ancien Régime, XVIIes, 2008).
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Dates: 29 July to 8 October 2016
Venue: Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
In brief: Associating with Andy Warhol and the Beat Generation, Alice Neel (1900-1984) tended to exist on the peripheries of society. Telling the story of the turbulent events that shaped Neel’s life, The Subject and Me was the first solo exhibition of her work in Scotland. It was the latest in a series of exhibitions at Talbot Rice Gallery promoting the work of leading women artists, previously including Jane and Louise Wilson, Hanne Darboven, Jenny Holzer and Rosemarie Trockel. A guided tour of the exhibition with Principal Curator, Pat Fisher, was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Date: 8 September 2016
Venue: Centre for Research Collections, Main University Library
Events series: Recovering Women's Past
In brief: An exhibition of artefacts from the University of Edinburgh's Special Collections. A guided tour of the exhibition was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Dates: 3 February to 2 March 2015
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Centre de Recherches Francophones Belges
In brief: The Edinburgh showing of a multilingual exhibition first launched in Brussels in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty which established the legal foundations of the European Union. Produced by Wallonie-Bruxelles International and the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, the exhibition including 100 comic strips by artists from Belgium, Holland, France and Denmark depicting how Europeans perceive Europeans from other countries.