Project Description
The project ‘Francophone Artists Bandes Dessinées and Diasporic Graphics’ focuses on graphic culture in the francophone world, through a series of events that examine the cultural or countercultural impact of graphic design, illustrations, comic strips on francophone readers and social commentators. In the context of l’Année de la bande dessinée, the project revolves around text, image and speech, examines comics/BDs through social and cultural lenses, and delves into this common theme across multiple locations: Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In 2020-2021, the following events will be held: A guest speaker series, and a UF Library Comics Collection Exhibit.
With this project, the FFRI will contribute to expand and consolidate the interdisciplinary collaboration with units and centers within UF. In addition, this project will enhance the knowledge and profile of French cultural production, scholarship, and language at the University of Florida and for the general public.
Team
Coordinator of the project
Hélène Blondeau, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, and Linguistics
Collaborators
Sylvie Blum, Professor of French and Film, Department of Languages, Literatures and Culture
Brigitte Weltman-Aron, Professor of French, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Hélène Huet, UF Librarian, European Studies
Co-Sponsors
University of Florida International Center, Center for European Studies, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, UF Libraries
Events
Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées and Diasporic Graphics, Guest speaker Series (Fall 2023)
Dr. Agnès Schaffauser, University of North Florida, delivered a lecture in French entitled ‘Portrait d’une femme en exil ou l’art de dérouter les lieux communs, October 20th 2023, Scott Nygren Scholar Studio (Library West).
Agnès Schaffauser is an Assistant Professor of French at the University of North Florida. Her interdisciplinary work focuses on Francophone 20th and 21st century literary productions. Her article “‘The Toxic Father’ and ‘the Healing Daughter’ in Marie NDiaye’s Three Strong Women” appeared in The French Review. In addition, her research focuses on literature and film from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. She has published a collective volume on French-Algerian writer Salim Bachi in L’Harmattan in 2019. Her work also includes research on migration studies in contemporary novels, graphic novels, and films. Dr. Schaffauser’s most recent article, “The Wretched of the Sea: Clandestine Immigration and Graphic Artistry in Bessora and Barroux’s Alpha: Abidjan to Paris” appeared in Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society in 2021.
A UF Library Comics Collection Exhibit (Spring 2022)
Visit the website of the French and Francophone Comics Collection designed by Dr. Hélène Huet, European Studies Librarians and Michelle Valoz BA in Journalism and Télécommunitation and French and Francophone Studies Minor. This website was co-funded by FFRI and the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere.
Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées and Diasporic Graphics, Virtual guest speaker series II (2021-2022)
Dr. Giaufret is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Genoa. After her Ph.D. in Francophone Studies at the University of Bologna, she taught at the Universities of Ferrara and Verona in Italy . Her research interests encompass Québec French, Comics, Francophone Sociolinguistics, Terminology, Discourses Analysis and Memorial Studies. See the link above for the Zoom recording of this event.
Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées and Diasporic Graphics, Virtual guest speaker series I (2020-2021)
The FFRI as part of the Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées, and Diasporic Graphics series was delighted to welcome Dr. Terry Harpold to discuss the middle voice of EcoComix by reading Saison Brune by Philippe Squarzoni. Follow this link for a Zoom recording of the event.
The FFRI as part of the Virtual Guest Speaker Series ‘Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées and Diasporic Graphics’ was delighted to welcome Michelle Bloom to discuss Sino-French Bandes Dessinées. Follow this link for a Zoom recording of the event.
French Comic Books & Translations For Publication – January 29, 2021
The FFRI as part of the Francophone Artists, Bandes Dessinées, and Diasporic Graphics guest speaker series is delighted to Welcome UF alumnus Dr. E. Joe Johnson to discuss his work as a professional translator of French comics into English this Friday, January 29 at 11 am. A professor of French and Spanish at Clayton State University in metro Atlanta, Joe has translated dozens of classic French comic books from Asterix to the Smurfs and most recently the nineteenth-century novel, Amitié et devouement ou trois mois à la Louisiane. In his talk, he will discuss the challenges of translating, the specific issues in translating comic books, and his work with publishers to bring his translations to print.
Originally from the Acadian region of Baie Sainte-Marie in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Philip Comeau is an Associate Professor in the Département de Linguistique at the Université du Québec à Montréal. His research focuses primarily on varieties of Acadian French. See the above link for a Zoom recording of this event.
Michelle Bumatay is an Assistant Professor of Global French Studies at Florida State University specializing in African francophone and diasporic cultural production (literature, comics, film, art). She is finishing her first manuscript, Black Bandes Dessinées, in which she examines comics by cartoonists from sub-Saharan Africa and the diaspora. She is the 2015 recipient of the Annual Lawrence R. Schehr Memorial Award for her conference paper, “Madame Livingstone and Notre Histoire: Travels in Time,” and she has published in Contemporary French Civilization, European Comic Art, Research in African Literatures, Etudes francophones, and Alternative Francophone. See the above link for a Zoom recording of this event.
Henri Simon Blanc-Hoang (PhD, University of Florida) is an Associate Professor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, where he teaches Spanish, French, Afro-Francophone studies, Latin American studies, and Postcolonial and Globalization studies. His research interests focus on bande dessinée and cinema, as well as science fiction. Blanc-Hoang’s publications include articles on the école franco-belge de bande dessinée, as well as on cómics by Spanish and Latin American authors. His most recent projects include papers on Francophone bédéistes from the Vietnamese Diaspora (Marcelino Truong, Clément Baloup, Vink) as well as presentations on the description of Asian heroines in science fiction comics from France and Belgium. His practice is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, though his research often involves travel to Europe and Latin America. See the above link for a Zoom recording of this event.