Francophonies: The Living and The Dead

March 18-19th 2011

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

The 2011 Graduate Student Conference, hosted by the Department of French 
Studies at Louisiana State University, will explore the concepts of life, death, and afterlife in French and Francophone literature as well as how these ideas apply to the French language, itself. How do the motifs of passing away or coming into being function in French and Francophone narratives? What can we say about the trajectory of French as a living or dying language? (What deaths has it suffered? How is it being reborn?) What evidence can we see of French afterlives (linguistic or cultural) in territories, departments, and former colonies?

Possible topics may include but are not limited to:
• Lives of the French Language
• Historical Hauntings
• Burying or Unearthing the Past
• Colonial Practices Reincarnated
• Waking the Dead
• Ghosts and Zombies
• Supernatural Shadows
• Echoes and Afterlives
• Rebirth and Renewal
• Resuscitations and Resurrections
• Living in Limbo
• Voodoo and Visions
• Loss and Renewal
• Eulogizing and Epitaphs
• Fading Civilizations
• Victories and Vitality
• Futures of Francophone or French Identity
• Palimpsests and Ghostly Languages
• New Incarnations of Self

We welcome your paper proposals in French or in English from any period or genre (linguistics, literature, comparative literature, media , etc.) that falls within the conference theme. Please send abstracts of 200-300 words to lsufrenchconference@gmail.com with "2011 Abstract" in the subject line.

Keynote Speakers: Dr. Deborah Jenson of Duke University and Dr. Thomas Klingler of Tulane University
(Extended) Deadline for Submission: January 15, 2011