How would you finish the following sentence: being a professor at Trinity means… 

being a (small) part of an amazing community of learners who can be found everywhere around campus! It makes every day exciting, because interactions with students, faculty and staff always brings something new to consider. No two days are the same.

You have a Ph. D in French Languages and Culture. What has it been like researching, studying, and teaching French languages and culture within an American context? Have you picked up any pedagogical practices from your study of French culture?

It has been a riveting challenge, to be honest. When I first moved to the U.S, I did what many students at Trinity set out to do: a study abroad program. I had the privilege of spending a semester at a small liberal arts college, not unlike our own, but in the Bay Area. The university was looking for language TAs, and the opportunity was too good to pass. I taught my first language course during that time, and it changed me forever. This experience was so formative and really helped me discover what I wanted to do: compare, contrast and understand my own culture through the prism of a different one. Only then can you truly reassess (and often debunk) the myths that shape your vision of what is considered ‘normal’ or ‘standard’ from a cultural, but also linguistic, standpoint. The pedagogical approach is vastly different here than in France, which mostly relies on seminars. In the U.S, communication is an integral part of the classroom experience, which allows for different opinions to come in contact. I really enjoy seeing my students 'get into it' and rethink cultural norms after reading a newspaper article, a poem or a novel... A big part of learning, especially at the university level, is to 'unlearn' what we assume to be true or natural.  

My research journey has been equally compelling and only came to fruition thanks to my time in the U.S. In graduate school at UT Austin, I visited the Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports and decided to examine a cultural phenomenon that is often overlooked overseas: the rise of sports, and more specifically boxing, during modernity. Studying the discourse of boxing in literature, cinema and the press during the first half of the 20th century in France was eye-opening insofar as the impact it produced on changing the role of social class, race and gender at the time. Little known fact: one of Paris’ most notorious boxers during the 1910s, Jack Johnson, hailed from Galveston, Texas! 

You, along with colleagues from other institutions, published a paper on the 2021 French language, Japanese manga illustrated film, The Summit of the Gods that centered on sport animation and storytelling across various media. What did that writing process consist of, what did you learn from it, and what was it like studying media that blends multiple cultures?

One of the most rewarding aspects of working as a scholar in the humanities is to get the chance to collaborate with other colleagues across the world to analyze specific cultural productions as comprehensively as possible. In the case of the article discussing The Summit of the Gods, my colleagues and I took interest in the cinematic interpretation of the original Japanese manga, penned by Jiro Taniguchi, recently turned into an animation film by an independent French production studio. Our initial aim was to understand how the film could pay homage to the original version of Taniguchi while bringing something of its own into being by adapting its storyline; in other words, we attempted to decompose the trans-mediatic nature of the film by going back to the point of origin. The blend of multiple cultures across different media gave birth to surprising findings: for instance, the French director, Patrick Imbert, decided to reverse the westernization of the main Japanese characters in the manga, instead choosing to give them an appearance more faithful to their real identities and place of origin, as initially suggested by Baku Yumemakura’s novel, which inspired Taniguchi’s manga. Even more interesting, we discovered that Yumemakura’s novel contained clear echoes to an unfinished 1952 French novel, Le Mont Analogue, penned by René Daumal. Whoever watches the film is now able to understand that, both in its form and its content, The Summit of the Gods is a multicultural product that borrows from a multitude of literary and cinematic traditions. Collaborating on a project of this nature was of course essential to tie different fields of expertise together.

Last semester, in April 2023, you, along with other colleagues in the French department, hosted a French film festival here at Trinity in partnership with Alliance Française de San Antonio. What was that planning process like and do you all have future plans for more French department programming? What did it mean to you to have this kind of event at Trinity? 

The idea of hosting a French film festival at Trinity dates back to 2019. At the time, my colleagues in the French program got in contact with the Alliance Française de San Antonio, a non-profit organization offering language courses and hosting events in the city. Sadly, the project did not materialize then, and the pandemic put a stop to this initiative. Following Trinity’s mission to open its doors to different communities around Central Texas, we decided to start over and created a partnership with AF in 2022. Thanks to the generous support provided by the university through a DAC grant, we acquired film rights, catered French food to campus, and assembled students and visitors in the brand-new auditorium located in Dicke Hall. Trinity’s very own Dr. Keating and Dr. Ekstein introduced our first two films last spring, and answered questions at the end of each screening. We almost had a full house twice, and we are hoping to do even better for our next films this fall; everyone is invited, and admission is free, so don’t forget to RSVP for our next showing! In many ways, this inaugural French film festival represents an exciting opportunity for all of us: it connects Trinity’s students to other Francophiles living in San Antonio, gives us a chance to celebrate and expand our vision of French and Francophone cinema, and ushers in a new era for our redesigned French Studies program here on campus. We will have more culture and conversation events happening soon at Trinity, so stay tuned!