Aurélie Chatton
Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
On leave Winter & Spring 2025
Aurélie Chatton received her Ph.D. from the Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture at New York University.
Before coming to “K”, Dr. Chatton taught at Columbia University as a Research Lecturer in the French Department. At NYU and Columbia, she had the opportunity to teach a variety of classes, from developing elementary language courses to creating upper-level literature and culture courses. She received a teaching certificate from the Graduate School of Arts and Science’s Teaching program (NYU, 2010) and a Blended Learning Award (Columbia, 2015).
Her research explores contemporary French and francophone artists (literature, cinema and theatre). She has published articles on Bernard-Marie Koltès and Wajdi Mouawad. She is currently working on a book project in which she shows the shared thinking among a number of interdisciplinary and contemporary artists and the philosophy of Edouard Glissant.
Teaching & Research Interests : Poetics of Globalization; Theatre (Text and Performance); 20th and 21st C. French and Francophone Literatures and Cultures; History and Aesthetic of French Cinema; French Language Pedagogy and Experiential Education
Courses Recently Developed
FREN 435 – Space and Identity in French and Francophone Cinema
FREN 435/490 – Francophone Cult(ure) Movies
The above courses provide students with the opportunity to deepen their reflection on visual studies by making their own short film throughout the quarter.
FREN 435/490 – Cinema, a Modern Agora
The above course provides students with the opportunity to design installations on the “in common” (vivre-ensemble), based on their reflections on the theoretical and cinematographic corpus we discussed
FREN 435/490 – Repenser le monde
FREN 435 – Theatre, or when words said on a stage provoke a revolution at the other end of the world
FREN 301 – What’s Next? Future Technologies and French Perspectives
Other Academic Activities
Participating in a special committee on Re-imagining Experiential Education
Creating and Organizing the 1st Languages Film Festival for the Languages Division
Creating and organizing new programs and activities for the Department of French & Francophone Studies. For example, the French Days at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the competition of pétanque on campus.
Selected Conference Presentations
Migration et Relation dans le théâtre de Wajdi Mouawad. Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, Washington D.C., March 21-24, 2019
Transnational Spaces in Modern and Contemporary French-Language Drama. Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, Washington D.C., March 21-24, 2019
Les oeuvres archipéliques, entre cinéma et littérature, Thinking Space in Cinema and Literature International Colloquium, New York University & Université Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, New York, March 7-9, 2019
Wajdi Mouawad and Globalization : Between Terrorism and Utopia. Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, Pittsburgh, April 12-15, 2018
La question du genre dans le théâtre contemporain. Abo Akademi, Turku (Finland), January 20, 2017
Interpréter le cinéma : Jeu et Critique. Les Mots et les choses : Passer de l’image au texte, American Association of Teachers of French, Columbia University, New York, January 30, 2016
Publications
“Penser le vivre-ensemble : Le Havre d’Aki Kaurismäki et Littoral de Wajdi Mouawad”, Nouvelles Etudes Francophones, 37.2 (2022) : 70-85
“Cartographies du théâtre comme lieu commun : Wajdi Mouawad et Edouard Glissant”, Thinking Space in Cinema and Literature, Ludovic Cortade and Guillaume Soulez (eds.), Peter Lang, New York (2021)
“Littoral : Un Oedipe qui refuse la filiation”, Langues d’Anima. Ecriture et Histoire contemporaine dans l’œuvre de Wajdi Mouawad, Claire Badiou-Monferran and Laurence Denooz (eds.), Editions Classiques Garnier, Coll. Stylistique, Rhétorique, Sémiotique, Paris (2016) : 131 – 146
“Les ‘Littoral’ de Wajdi Mouawad ou l’influence réciproque du théâtre et du cinéma”, Théâtre, destin du cinéma, Théâtre, levain du cinéma, Agathe Torti-Alcayaga and Christine Kiehl (eds.), Editions Le Manuscrit, Paris (2013) : 117 – 132
“La poétique des langues de Bernard-Marie Koltès”, Bernard-Marie Koltès : Textes et Contextes, André Petitjean (ed.), CELTED – Université Paul Verlaine Metz, Coll. Recherches textuelles n°10, Metz (2010) : 351 – 362
Larissa Dugas
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Chair of French and Francophone Studies
Larissa Dugas received her B.A. in Anthropology and French from the University of Notre Dame and her M.A. and Ph.D. in French Linguistics from Indiana University. Her dissertation was entitled Attrition of Pronunciation Accuracy Among Advanced American Learners of French. She also holds an M.A.from Indiana University in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Applied Linguistics.
Teaching & Research Interests: Second language acquisition and attrition; Bilingualism; Phonetics; Second language pedagogy; Language textbook materials development
Courses Recently Taught
- FREN 200 – French Pronunciation
- FREN 200 – Advanced French Grammar
- FREN 200 – Creative Writing in French
- FREN 200 – Advanced French Conversation
- FREN 200 – Advanced French Conversation II : A table !
- FREN 425 – Bilingualism in the French-Speaking World
- FREN 490 – French Film in Context
- SEMN 172 – Life with Two Languages
- LANG 210 – Foreign Language Teaching Methods and Practicum
- LANG 211 – Foreign Language Teaching Methods and Practicum II
Other Academic Activities
Instructor, continuing education courses in French language and cinema hosted at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
English as a Second Language course instructor and tutor
Academic Standards Committee member
Selected Presentations and Publications
Controverses. 4th edition. With Janet Solberg and Didier Bertrand. Cengage Learning (2022).
“Foreign Language Attrition of Pronunciation Accuracy”. Presentation given at Western Michigan University at the invitation of the Department of Spanish (2015)
“Expanding Communities by Expanding Contexts”. Presentation given at the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, March 27th-30th, 2014 Boston, MA.
Workbook to accompany the seventh edition French intermediate textbook Bravo! with Janet Solberg, Judith Muyskens, and Linda Harlow. Heinle and Heinle Publishers.(2011)
Testing program and sample syllabi to accompany the seventh edition French intermediate textbook Bravo! Heinle and Heinle Publishers. (2011)
Internet-based activities and quizzes to accompany the fifth edition French Intermediate textbook Sur le vif (by Tufts and Jarausch). Heinle and Heinle Publishers (2010)
Manfa Sanogo
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Manfa Sanogo holds a PhD from Florida State University. In his work, he specializes in Malagasy literature with a particular focus on its interactions with the francophone literary canon. His current project consists in highlighting the importance of indigenous literature of Madagascar in the creation of aesthetic innovation in French-language literature and aims at fostering greater scholarly interest on the Indian Ocean as a dynamic and powerful literary center. He was awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship by the French Embassy in the US for this project in 2018. His next project looks at soccer rituals and the expression of national identity through the lenses of social media groups and posts in West Africa.
Manfa recently completed a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at University College of Dublin. He has taught at various higher education institutions. He taught French first as the visiting international student at Kalamazoo College, then as a TA and lecturer at UW-Milwaukee and FSU. He also taught at the English departments of Sorbonne Universités and ENS in Paris.
Teaching & Research Interests: Malagasy Literature; Eighteen Century Travel Narratives; Evariste Parny; Sub-Saharan Francophone literature; Soccer and National Identity.
Courses Recently Taught
- FREN 435 – Indian Ocean Literature and Culture
- FREN 445 – Afro-Perspectives
Selected Conference Presentations
Translating Precolonial Malagasy Language and Culture into French: Case Study of Evariste de Parny’s Chansons Madécasses (1787). South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Atlanta, Georgia, 2019.
From Hainteny to Negritude: Influences of a Malagasy Minor Literature on Francophone World Literatures. American Comparative Literature Association. Los Angeles, California 2018.
Le sacre du football : sport et identité religieuse en Afrique au sud du Sahara. Mande Studies Association. Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 2017.
Righting the Wrong: Violence and Ethics in La bataille d’Alger. American Comparative Literature Association, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2017.
Publications
The African Maid’s Tale: Voice and Aspiration of African Immigrant Women in the Works of Ousmane Sembène and Fatou Diome.” Romance Notes, vol. 61 no. 2, 2021, p. 299-308.
“Humor and Sexual Orientation: The Anti-Homosexual Politics of La Cage aux Folles and Gazon Maudit”in Sexuality, Human Rights, and Public Policy Edited by Chima J. Korieh and Elizabeth B. Onogwu, Fairleigh Dickinson UP, Vancouver, 2019.
Jan Solberg
Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Hi, I’m Jan Solberg. I got my B.A. in Music and French, with a minor in German, from Macalester College in St. Paul MN. My M.A. and PhD (in French and Foreign Language Pedagogy) are both from the University of Minnesota, but before moving to Michigan I also lived significant parts of my life in Indiana and Oregon. I studied abroad in Rennes, France, but I’ve traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America – and in the South Pacific! I specialized in the short narrative of 16th century France, but being a professor at “K” has allowed me to spend my entire career learning and developing expertise in many different areas.
I’m no longer teaching full-time, but I very much enjoy collaborating with my French colleagues at “K” and supporting their vision of French studies in the 21st century.
Courses Developed
- FREN 435 – Disability in France
- FREN 435 – Sub-Saharan African Literature
- FREN 435 – Franco-Vietnamese Literature
- FREN 435/490 – 21st Century Francophone Literature
- FREN 435 – The Literature of French Polynesia
- FREN 435 – World War I
Coming Soon:
- Francophone Business Culture
- Translation – Theory and Practice