My thinking, in responding the the session CFP, was somewhat inchoate, although it included a genuine sense that my pedagogical engagements and scholarly interests over the preceding decade had aligned quite naturally with the theorizing of borders, nations, cultures, and identities -- and reflecting on the problems that have arisen because of unresolved or unresolvable conflicts within that cluster of ideas.

The disparate courses that I developed have in common their intended purpose of encouraging students to investigate and to reflect on aspects of French cultural and colonial history that have contributed to dysfunctions and problems of borders and/or identity. Since that history, even in its postcolonial phases, evokes injustices and inequalities, ethics naturally emerges as one of the themes that we address in the courses, along with notions and constructs like colonial possession, nationhood, race and racial superiority, presumed significance of skin color and other physical features, ethnicity, territory, culture, identity, progress, slavery, rights and the "civilizing mission."

The presentation, to be made at the NeMLA conference in April 2017, will evoke the syllabi, overarching objectives, texts, films, frameworks -- including history, historiography, ethics, and postcolonial theories -- and other major elements that structure the course content or that support the critical reflection and learning achieved there.

As I develop the paper itself and make decisions about how to present my ideas and experiences at the conference, I will add links here to artifacts and sources beyond the syllabi and lists that currently appear on the site.