The French and Francophone Studies department hosts a variety of events for Kalamazoo College students. For the 2018 – 2019 academic year alone there were a total of 41 events ranging from our French Film Series to games of pétanque. Listed below are highlighted events from the 2018 – 2019 year. Visit our Events page for this academic year!
Fall 2018
French Day
In the fall of 2018
The French & Francophone Studies Department launched the First French Day with a French picnic followed by a visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts.
French Day allows students of French, French TAs and professors to meet outside of the classroom and of the regular activities of the Department, and to spend a good time together.
We seized the day to share a French meal, meet new people, and spend time in French (French, optional:)
Café & Conversation
Students gathered with French TAs and professors to practice speaking French while enjoying French treats and good coffee!
French Film Series:
Open to all, in French with English subtitles. French treats included!
Winter 2019
Swearing Night
Learn the Art of Swearing in French!
Pardon my French! Many French channels don’t censor obscene words and phrases. Swear words are an important part of the language: you are exposed to them in many contexts and through diverse media. Need a little help discerning and understanding them? Students joined the French T.A.s for a night of uncensored fun!
French Sweets and Special Prizes.
Café & Conversation
Students gathered with French TAs and professors to practice speaking French while enjoying French treats and good coffee!
French Table in the caf’
French Film Series
Open to all, in French with English subtitles. French treats included!
Spring 2019
Tabarnak! Swearing Night in Quebecois !
Description
Second Night of our New Series : Learn the Art of Swearing … in Québec!
Swear words are an important part of the language on this side of the Atlantic too. And Quebec is as creative as France when it comes to obscenities!
Students joined the French T.A.s for a new night of uncensored fun !
Café & Conversation
Students gathered with French TAs and professors to practice speaking French while enjoying French treats and good coffee!
French Day: Pétanque et détente
In the spring of 2019, we chilled chill à la française. Students learned the art of a traditional French game from the South of France that is played outside, la pétanque, relaxed and enjoyed the sun with a cool drink in their hand. It is a traditional game, also famously played by actors and singers in the extravagant French Riviera town of St. Tropez during the summer time.
Students got a taste of Mediterranean ambiance, a French lunch and enjoyed a friendly game outdoors.
French & Francophone Studies SIP Symposium
Presenting:
Jane Toll: Franco-American Identity in the State of Maine
Daniel Horwitz: Royalists and Wretches: Political Polarization during the Paris Commune
Tim Walsh: Auditory Discrimination of Non-Native French Vowels by American-English Speakers at Different Levels of French Study
Garrett Sander: Homophiles, Militants, and Relative Liberation: The Political Dynamics of Gay and Lesbian Rights Movements in France, 1954-1982
Daniel Bidwell: This Land is My Land: Local Property Rights Institutions and Liberal Democracy in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
Fall 2020
We received Madagascan slam artist Caylah. Caylah told us about her concept of “slamothérapie” as a strategy to heal victims of domestic violence and social injustice in Madagascar.
Winter 2021
Oumar is a griot, a caste of musician and story-teller in West Africa. Through his intervention, he offered us an insight into his creative process and how he manages to introduce innovation in the rigidly regimented traditional art form of story-telling.
Spring 2021
This film made by Haitian director Etant Dupain was screened at K. The movie focuses on the work, success, and struggles of a group of female economic actors called Madan Sara. In the post-screening Q&A with the director, Dupain praised the sheer resilience of these unsung heroes who create and control the food distribution network in Haiti.
