Columbia Department of French

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The Department warmly congratulates Molly Lindberg on the successful defense of her doctoral dissertation, “La Mort dans l’âme” : The Ethics of Writing Violence, Trauma, and Recovery in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, on March 20, 2023.

We congratulate Soraya Limare who has been awarded a Heyman Center Fellowship for 2023-2024.


Étienne Balibar Prize in Cultural and Political Thought
Application deadline: June 10, 2023.

The Étienne Balibar undergraduate prize will be awarded annually to the best essay in cultural and political thought by a Columbia University undergraduate majoring/concentrating in French & Francophone Studies, Comparative Literature & Society or Medical Humanities.

The Étienne Balibar graduate prize will be awarded annually for the best essay in cultural and political theory by a Columbia Masters or PhD student in the Department of French and/or the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.

Application deadline: June 10, 2023. Please refer to the information outlined here to apply: submission process.


Maison française Director Shanny Peer was awarded the Légion d'honneur, France's highest civilian award, at a moving ceremony at the French Consulate on January 9. The department  warmly congratulates Shanny on this well-deserved award, which recognizes her career achievements as an advocate for French culture in the United States.

Listen to Thomas Dodman talk about his book Nostalgie. Histoire d'une émotion mortelle (Seuil, 2022) on France Inter (Histoire de), France Culture (La Suite dans les idées and Concordance des temps) and RTBF (Un Jour dans l'histoire).

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Recent Publications

Nostalgie: Histoire d'une émotion mortelle
Nostalgie: Histoire d'une émotion mortelle

Au début du XIXe siècle, on « avait » la nostalgie comme on avait le typhus, et on en mourait souvent. Ce livre raconte l’histoire de cette émotion mortelle, depuis le premier diagnostic posé en 1688 jusqu’à sa disparition à la fin de la Belle Époque.

Book jacket: Le fagot de ma mémoire: De Saint-Louis à New York, itinéraire d'un philosophe musulman
Le fagot de ma mémoire: De Saint-Louis à New York, itinéraire d'un philosophe musulman

The philosopher and professor retraces his life between Saint-Louis-du-Senegal, Ziguinchor, Dakar, Paris, Chicago, New York, places that formed this man of three continents.

book jacket: STOLEN SONG
STOLEN SONG: How the Troubadours Became French
STOLEN SONG: How the Troubadours Became French

Eliza Zingesser's Stolen Song documents the cultural appropriation of troubadour song as French, elaborating a new approach to questions of political and cultural identity.