Department of French and Italian

Ryan Joyce: How Former Colonies Recover

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Ryan Joyce, assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies, researches decolonization, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic World. His scholarship foregrounds the study of creolization, gender and sexuality, diaspora and migration, performance, and marronage (slaves escaping captivity). Joyce is especially interested in decolonization, the ways former colonies reclaim their economic, political and cultural autonomy. Joyce argues for the contemporary relevance of this process in Ohio due to its continued influence on large Haitian communities in Springfield and Columbus. Joyce discusses his decolonization seminar that was supported by OSU Special Collections, his Engaged Scholars Academy experience, and phis lans for an expanded free public Creole course and a marronage monograph.

Sarah-Grace Heller Answers “What Was Shopping Like in Medieval Paris?”

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Sarah-Grace Heller, Associate Professor of French, specializes in medieval French and Occitan literature, language, and material culture. Her most recent book is a cultural history of fashion in a medieval age. She describes her sources from sumptuary laws to conduct literature to poetry and beyond to host David Staley on this week’s Voices of Excellence.

Why Do People Write? Benjamin Hoffmann Thinks It’s About Posterity

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Benjamin Hoffman – Associate Professor in the Department of French and Italian, Director of the Center for Excellence, and novelist – researches 18th-century French literature and philosophy, transatlantic studies, contemporary French literature, and creative writing. His recent publication is The Paradoxes of Posterity, a philosophical inquiry on the concept of posterity. He discusses this, digital humanities, and more with David Staley on this week’s Voices of Excellence

“We Are Interested in Creating Understanding:” Jennifer Willging On Cultural Studies

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Jennifer Willging, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of French and Italian, specializes in 20th and 21st century French literature and culture. Her work explores literature that attempts to understand contemporary society and important influences, such as technology.

What’s French? Prof. Danielle Marx-Scouras Moves Us Beyond Paris

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When Americans think of France, they often think of Paris. But many other locations and cultures thrive in France, such as the Toulousain rock band Zebda, whose activities French & Italian Professor Danielle Marx-Scouras chronicles in her book La France de Zebda. She discusses French culture and politics with David Staley on the Voices of Excellence podcast.

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Why Do Viewers Find TV Mobsters So Attractive? Prof. Dana Renga Has a Theory

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A sympathetic treatment of people who do horrible things seems hard to justify. So why are such depictions so common with mafia movies and tv, especially in Italy? Professor Dana Renga’s new book Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television: Gomorrah and Beyond offers the first comprehensive study of recent, popular Italian television.

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Bord(hers) Around Bodies: Professor Lucille Toth Describes the Power of Dance

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Going through an airport security checkpoint calls for people to enact the same physical movements. The Bord(hers) improvisational dance project created by Lucille Toth, assistant professor of French at The Ohio State University Newark campus, aims to explore these motions and ask how borders impact immigrants.

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Not Your Grandparents’ English, Says Janice Aski

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Janice Aski

“I’m fascinating with how languages change,” says French and Italian Professor Janice Aski. Join her and David Staley for a discussion of the ways that languages change and why interest in learning another language is decreasing in the United States at exactly the time it needs to be increasing.

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