Department of French & Italian

The Department of French and Italian at Tulane University offers a comprehensive program of study that reflects our commitment to cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approaches. Our Department builds on the historical identity of New Orleans as a center of Francophone and Caribbean culture and as the hub of one of America's oldest Italian communities.

Directors and Advisors

Fayҫal Falaky, Department Chair    
Thomas Klingler, Director of Undergraduate Studies, French    
Chelsea Stieber, Director of Graduate Studies, French
Charles Mignot, Director of French Language Program    
Annette Sojic, Director of Professional French Program    
Michael Syrimis, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Italian    
Elena Daniele, Director of Italian Language Program    
Sanela Frasch, Administrative Operations Manager

Course Spotlight: Introductory Haitian Creole

Links

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Join us next Wednesday for a presentation by Charles Mignot and Mathias Schwab on “Tailoring the French Curriculum to our Students: Language, Communication, and/or Content?” in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, room B18!
Join us this Thursday at 4 pm on the zoom link below for a Q&A with acclaimed author Victor Dixen known for his bestselling fantasy and science fiction series Vampyria, Phobos, Cogito, Animole, among others. His books have been translated into 12 languages and he has twice been awarded the Grand Prix de l’imaginaire. Moved to online!!! https://tulane.zoom.us/j/97247029390?pwd=t6bxT8CZ8tQe7mo4nOTtGpsEo1qpdy.1
What are the limits of history and how do artists and writers create new approaches to narrating the past? Join us on Wednesday, November 13th at 5:30 pm as Kaiama Glover and Laurent Dubois explore these questions in their forthcoming translation of Jean-Claude Fignolé’s novel Aube tranquille (Quiet Dawn). Our conversation will center on the artistic movement known as Spiralism, which emerged in Haiti in the 1960s under François Duvalier’s dictatorship. Dubois and Glover will discuss the Americas’ “history problem,” the Haitian Revolution’s haunting of our collective human past, and the major thematic and theoretical interventions of Fignolé’s novel.
Lecture by Prof. Odile Hamot, UFR des Humanités caribéennes Université des Antilleson Please join us on MONDAY, November 4 at 5:30pm in 202 RECHLER ROOM IN LBC for a lecture (followed by a reception) by Prof. Odile Hamot, UFR des Humanités caribéennes Université des Antilleson on LA FABRIQUE D’UN MYTHE IDENTITAIRE La mulâtresse Solitude, une héroïne guadeloupéenne This lecture is in French. History of the West Indies in general, and Guadeloupe in particular, oscillates between historical facts and fictions. How does a simple myth become a definitive history that inspires heroes and political action? How is a myth created? What are the components of the myth of Mulâtresse Solitude, a character who inspired novels of authors such as André Schwarz-Bart and his wife Simone, as well as most accounts of the Resistance in Guadeloupe? How did the myth of Solitude come about, and how do we know she ever really lived? The key question to be addressed in this talk is the relationship between myth and history on the one hand, and on the other, how a myth takes on a body in literature, painting, and even political discourse, to the point where it presents itself with the mask of history. The main aim of this talk is to examine the relationship between Literature and Memory, History and Memory, and Fiction and History.
Come join us for a talk on Haiti and Black Internationalism co-sponsored by the Department of History, the Stone Center for Latin American studies, the Cuban and Caribbean studies Institute and the Kathryn B. Gore Chair in French this Wednesday, October 23 in Jones Hall 100 (Greenleaf room) at 5:30 pm!
Join us for a conversation on Haitian literature and history with author Evelyne Trouillot and translator Marjorie Salvodan (via Zoom), moderated by Nadève Ménard, 3:30–5pm. Howard Tilton Memorial Library B07. This conversation will be held in French.