The project Confrontation and Aftermath initiates a series of conversations revisiting war, cultural production and memory in and of France. Spearheaded by the French and Francophone Studies section of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and crossing international and disciplinary borders, the endeavor brings together a substantial year-long program readdressing World Wars I and II from a multitude of perspectives. Focusing on resistance, emancipatory movements and ideological renewals, as well as transatlantic and Mediterranean relations with France, activities are designed to provide depth as well as breadth, and all events underscore the significance of images and memory of France, French cultural production and Franco-American relations. Events proposed range from the study of film, literature and popular culture, to historical discussions revisiting themes including: Post World War I Paris; Africans and African Americans Soldiers during WW I in France; War, Race and Religions; the Avant-Gardes and Franco-American cultural exchange; Intellectual Resistance and Emancipatory impulses, Censorship, War and Diaspora; Heritage Discourses and Visual Culture; Occupation Literature; and Representations of War.
Participating faculty will work with French counterparts to organize their activities that stimulate new perspectives and create multiple meeting points to dialogue and debate artistic, academic and popular representations of WWI and WWII, historical events of global impact on society, politics, and history, as well on literature and the arts.
The UF units participating in the project include the FFRI, which coordinates, Film and Media Studies, the Center for African Studies, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for European Studies, the Harn Museum of Art, the School of Art and Art History, Museum Studies, The University of Florida International Center and The Department of Languages Literatures and Cultures.
Leaders of the Project
Alioune Sow, Associate Professor of French and African Studies
Gayle Zachmann, Associate Professor of French, Jewish and European Studies
On her work of the documentary Cojot: The remarkable story of Michel Cojot Goldberg