Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, French and Italian

This dissertation considers and evaluates the notion of the “French cultural exception” (l'exception culturelle) in three distinct domains: cinema, language, and gastronomy. Through a detailed analysis of these three domains, I trace the historical importance of these cultural institutions and their associated cultural capital in French culture. A discussion of each of these areas begins by examining how each of these culture industries has been instrumental in the cultivation of French identity and France's global image. I argue that while cinema, language, and gastronomy have historically exemplified the French cultural exception, they have also become fertile ground for mounting tension and debate over the past several decades. The debate in each of these areas centers on an underlying notion of national protection, whether through government-backed subsidies in cinema, nationally driven bans in the food industry, or the espousal of Republican ideals in the French education system. The discussion of each culture industry has a significant intertextual component, as I draw on literature, film, and current events to provide examples of the significant histories of each cultural domain as well as those issues that color their contemporary statuses. My analyses of these three areas also reveal the enormous obstacles facing those organizations and institutions that champion the cultural exception and support continued attempts at meaningful differentiation from other cultures. Through an analysis of these three culture industries within the context of cultural particularity, I reveal the developing uncertainty that faces three of the principal pillars of French identity in the twenty-first century.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, History

By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Black Americans were restrained from enjoying democratic principles. Black American editorials combatted these discriminations by exaggerating France as an egalitarian nation that provided principles of equality, liberty and fraternity to its colonial subjects. Often, Black journalists contrasted the experiences of Africans in the French army with Black Americans' inequalities. While Great Britain and Germany willingly deployed African troops in Africa, they refused to use Africans on the European continent, but France was different. The incorporation of French Africans into the French army compensated for its declining birth rate at World War I's outbreak by providing essential manpower for the war effort. As a result, journalists displayed France as appearing to provide egalitarian principles to its African soldiers. However, it was not to show the appearance of social advancement but rather to create a haze of social equality that hid France's cultural and biological racism. This paper addresses how the Black press interpreted the incorporation of French African colonial subjects into the French army in 1914 - 1915 and how these perceptions redefined American racism, equality, white supremacy, and American democracy. Black journalists used the appearance of social advancement for French Africans serving in the French army to initially display the differences between French and American society. As a result, editors noted the shifting mentality of Black American communities from various parts of the United States and how it impacted their perception of American society. Journalists were biased in their approach, understanding that they influenced the reader's interpretation through written or visual imagery by shaping how Black Americans interpreted the world around them. As the war raged on, they saw the war as an opportunity to criticize American democracy, demonstrate the inequalities experienced within a "white" Ame (open full item for complete abstract)

M.M., University of Cincinnati, 0, College-Conservatory of Music: Music History

Chromatically meandering, even teasing, Carmen's Seguidilla proves fatally seductive for Don Jose, luring him to an obsession that overrides his expected decorum. Equally alluring, Dalila contrives to strip Samson of his powers and the Israelites of their prized warrior. However, while exotic femmes fatales plotting ruination of gentrified patriarchal society populated the nineteenth-century French opera stages, they contrast sharply with an eighteenth-century model populated by merciful exotic male rulers overseeing wandering Western females and their estranged lovers. Disparities between these eighteenth and nineteenth-century archetypes, most notably in treatment and expectation of the exotic and the female, appear particularly striking given the chronological proximity within French operatic tradition. Indeed, current literature depicts these models as mutually exclusive. Yet when conceptualized as a single tradition, it is a socio-political—rather than aesthetic—revolution that provides the basis for this drastic shift from femme ideale to femme fatale. To achieve this end, this thesis contains detailed analyses of operatic librettos and music of operas representative of the eighteenth-century French exotic archetype: Arlequin Sultan Favorite (1721), Le Turc genereux, an entree in Les Indes Galantes (1735), La Recontre imprevue/Die Pilgrime von Mekka (1764), and Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (1782). Taking cues from Edward Said's concept of Orientalism as a reflection of the collective fears of western society, it places them within a socio-political and cultural context via appropriate primary and secondary sources. It applies the same method to operas representative of the nineteenth-century French exotic archetype: L'Africaine (1865), Carmen (1875), Samson et Dalila (1877) and Lakme (1883). To account for the nineteenth century's break with eighteenth-century exotic plot archetypes, this study documents the socio-political backlash against female li (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, Music

The major linguistic differences between the various stop-burst consonants found within the vast multitude of languages of the world have an extensive impact on the articulation employed by the modern flutist. French and English alone have contradictory linguistic features that may largely impact articulation on the instrument. It has been shown that these syllables are produced by fast changes in the vocal tract muscles and movements of the tongue, lips and jaws and thus may have an impact on the way flutists of both the French and English languages have learned and applied their articulative practices. Additionally, the amassing of treatises and tutor literature in both languages over the past four centuries has documented the changes in teaching of mnemonics to aid the articulation of students. Since there is a difference in the way that a student pronounces the syllables that are found within the innumerable trove of pedagogical flute literature, it is speculated that the execution of those syllables may also be impacted. Therefore, the concept of teaching multiple styles of stop-burst consonants in various languages may have a profound impact on the ability and flexibility of the modern flute player's articulation. This document investigates the validity of this question by exploring the limited research that has been conducted in this specific field of flute playing, specifically Linda Lamkin's work. Additionally, specific mnemonic references used to aid a flutist's articulation within the oeuvre of pedagogical flute materials dating back to Hotteterre's treatise are annotated and catalogued. Finally, parallel vowel anticipation in tandem with common stop-burst consonants in the French and English languages that are commonly found in the flute literature (such as /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/) are compared and contrasted with spoken syllable production through basic spectral analysis with Audacity 1.3.12 (Unicode) software. This experiment was conducted in (open full item for complete abstract)

BA, Oberlin College, 2010, History

This thesis examines the ways in which four intellectual, weekly French journals of the 1930s mobilized the mobilized the well-worn political symbol of damaged masculinity in order to articulate their unique fears and anxieties. From the inception of the Third Republic, constructed symbols of ideal and deviant masculinity played a critical role in political and popular discourse. My central argument focuses on how they manifest themselves in the debates of polarized political journalism of the 1930s. Leftist and far right wing publications both emphasized the damaged masculinity of their enemies. However, the left primarily used crowd psychology to describe the right as irrational, effeminate and homosexual, while the right focused the notion of an infiltrating Other to highlight the weakness, impotency and unhealthy body of the left and the Third Republic as a whole. Key to both representations is a very physical definition of masculinity. Indeed, the threatening degradations of the male body portrayed in the journals reflect a larger discourse on infection and disease that has deep roots in the divisions that plagued the Third Republic from its inception. Though their focus and tone vary greatly, all four journals use damaged masculinity as a means of articulating the fear of contagion, infection, eroding boundaries and collapsing structure in mid 1930s France. This lexicon constitutes a means of conveying a tone of degeneration and disintegration in French politics.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2009, French, Italian, and Classical Studies

Ce travail explore la question de l'individu en prise avec un nouveau capitalisme qui estne dans la periode post soixante-huit: Luc Boltanski a mis en evidence l'apparition d'un nouvel esprit du capitalisme qui a modifie les structures sociales et economiques de la societe. Alors que l'individu doit faire preuve de plus en plus de flexibilite, la gestion capitaliste du temps et de l'humain ne laisse que peu de place aux choix personnels. Ce nouvel esprit du capitalisme tend parallelement a creer un manque de references qui aboutit a une perte du sens pour les individus. La subjectivite individuelle se perd alors dans les meandres de ce que Boltanski appelle le monde en reseau, car l'individu n'adhere plus a cette nature mouvante du sens. Il se transforme alors inevitablement en une figure de l'entre-deux qui peut etre concue comme le paradigme de l'Homme des reseaux.

BA, Kent State University, 2013, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies

Whereas the 'Parti socialiste' is today a permanent fixture in the French party system, and has regularly been elected to government having even produced an elected president (Francois Mitterrand from 1981-1995), the PCF has not experienced the same level of longevity or electoral success. Indeed, the party has been in steady decline since the late 1970s, but remarkably has not disappeared (this is the hook that snagged my interest). One key question which arises concerns is whether or not the contemporary PCF continues to exert any real influence at all in a political system which has worked to the favor of larger, more centrist parties, with broad-based appeal. Does the PCF now exist more as an outdated ideological tradition than as a political entity with any realistic chance to bring about substantive change in a society in which capitalism is (reluctantly) embraced and firmly entrenched? This project provides a historical overview of some key moments in the PCF's existence, and also examines its ideological underpinnings, taking into account of any identifiable shifts in position over time. The investigation analyzes the PCF's current positions on a series of contemporary political, economic and social questions, such as the European Economic Crisis and the French military intervention in Mali, in order to provide some answers to these questions.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1919, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Ohio University, 0, French

Many students in French programs are exposed to little to no Francophone culture. French-speakers across the globe represent a diverse range of cultures. Ignoring this diversity prevents student interactions with French speakers on a global level. French teachers have an obligation to introduce their students to an accurate representation of French speakers, which means moving toward a more diverse curriculum. However, lack of resources for novice and in-service teachers alike makes the move toward more inclusive and culturally informed language teaching inaccessible. This thesis aims to explore this problem in French Language education and propose ways to solve it.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Musicology

The soundscapes of late-eighteenth and early-to-mid nineteenth-century France were acutely informed by years of political, social, and imperial upheaval and violence. In the decades following the Revolution of 1789, musical instruments sonified political instability and the goals of military conquest. In France, the lines between concert hall, festival ground, and battlefield blurred as a process of organological expansion and ensemble integration began. The nineteenth-century Romantic orchestra which emerged by 1830 was not merely a continuation of eighteenth-century orchestrational practice, but a distinctly French creation that reflected a turbulent, increasingly-militarized national landscape. This dissertation seeks to understand what such an ensemble, and its several component instrumental groups, meant and could do. Musicologists have recently turned to examining the meaning behind instrumental ensembles of this period, paying particular attention to issues of instrumentation, affect, and timbre. My interest in the history and politics of organology and timbre is similarly granular: I suggest that individual instruments carry distinct historical, cultural, and political associations, and that we can begin to understand the social, political, and military history of France between 1789 and 1869 by examining the instruments that animated the nation's major musical genres. I am especially interested in the orchestra's power as a national political collective, its function as a type of sonic weaponry, and its carrying of the sonic markers of empire. By examining the intersections between sound, power, politics, orchestration, warfare, and trauma, my project takes us back in time to the moment when composers such as Hector Berlioz and his contemporaries first deployed sound as a weapon, ushering in cultures of auditory violence that resonated through the following centuries. As I will show, nineteenth-century instruments could be deployed as weapons, just a (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2022, Film Studies (Fine Arts)

The thesis considers the transnationalism of cinema's last thirty years and its disruption of the previous ways for conceiving of isolated national cinemas. The work of filmmakers Olivier Assayas and Tsai Ming-liang are examined for their dealings with national identity, both of whom resist the label of national filmmaker and instead embrace the international cultural exchanges that reflect the 21st century's globalization. I argue that by confronting cinema's past and its relationship to nation, these filmmakers posit a cinematic identity unbounded by borders. Specifically, I analyze Assayas's work as an instrument to capture the crisis of both national cinema and national identity, while for Tsai a cinematic lineage dating back to mid-century art cinema supplants identity for the transnational filmmaker.

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, History

My thesis examines the fluid boundaries between French historical and literary writing in the 19th century, and the shifts in “historical consciousness” that occurred in both fields as the century progressed. I examine three exemplary French writers—Jules Michelet, a historian, and Honore de Balzac and Emile Zola, both novelists—considering each primarily as a historical thinker, regardless of whether they considered themselves to be one. I argue that as the 19th century progressed, the broad shift in French institutions towards positivist epistemological and explanatory frameworks was reflected in literature, as well as in history. Both disciplines, one increasingly academic and one primarily cultural, were affected in strikingly similar ways by the influence of positivism and scientism, providing a distinct aesthetic and rhetorical lens through which the impact of post-1848 positivism can be understood. As positivism infiltrated the practice of history, pushing the discipline farther into the realm of science, so too did it affect the historical thinking of prominent novelists. Additionally, I argue that the shift in historical consciousness reflects broader social fragmentation as France vacillated between various forms of government and their attendant social ideologies across the century. As political regimes and ideologies came and went, novelists, like historians, turned to rationalist frameworks, rather than idealistic or metaphysical ones, to explain their rapidly evolving political, social, and cultural moments. In addition to analyzing the impact these shifts had on historical consciousness in France, my thesis attempts to understand how historical thinking changes in response to shifts in institutional authority and ideology.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, French, Italian, and Classical Studies

The unique efficacy of the lyric lies in its ability to describe moments that everyday language cannot, as seen in the popularity of love poems and elegies. Yet, such usage of poetic language overlooks the complex relationships between the self and other which make the signifying power of such language possible. In turn, how is one to understand the relationship to this other, and what are the ethical implications of such a connection? In response to this question, this project examines poetic signification, the relationship between the self and Other, and its ethics. To do so, the project offers an analysis of both the poem “La Mort de Cleopatre” by nineteenth century Polish French poet, Marie Krysinska, and a line of theoretical arguments to elucidate the ethical relationship between self and other seen in the lyric. The analysis also turns to the works of; Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Blanchot, Roland Barthes, Adrianna Cavarero and Emmanuel Levinas to address the signifying nature of the lyric and the relationship between language, being, and otherness. As a result of this discussion, the project proposes a defense of Krysinska's style and an ethic of the lyric based on the interconnectivities of being.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, French and Italian

At the crossroads of French Studies, Visual Studies, and Queer theory, my dissertation seeks to confront notions of risk and responsibility to argue that society's perceptions of risk have changed in relation to a pre-AIDS world and the onset of AIDS and that contemporary treatments such as PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) continue to refine our definition of risk. While much recent scholarship has been written about AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s, I would like to address contemporary AIDS narratives that respond to advances in medication and a shift in our understanding of AIDS from a death sentence, to a chronic disease, and now to a preventable illness. In order to explore how gay men's relationship with risk has been articulated in artistic production and has evolved with the availability of PrEP in France, my dissertation confronts cultural production throughout the epidemic. Film and literature analysis of Herve Guibert's work establishes a relationship between taking risks with one's health and the feelings of shame often felt in the early days of the epidemic, while a critical look at Cyril Collard's Les Nuits fauves in tandem with public health campaigns demonstrate how beauty is manipulated in times of epidemic. Engaging with Erik Remes's allows for further nuancing of the question of responsibility, and suggest that the epidemic resulted in a vilification of behavior that was not only deemed risky, but also irresponsible. Finally, I explore contemporary notions of risk through a study of prevention campaigns, film, newspaper articles, and interviews. The HIV/AIDS narrative in contemporary France is one that is marked by new modes of communication, the creation of a digital queer space, and a revisiting of the trauma of AIDS. The first three chapters are in the tradition of medical humanities and film studies approach, and the fourth chapter requires a shift methodology to one that emphasizes cultural studies and oral testimonies, necessitating onsite rese (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2019, French

For my thesis, I chose to investigate the history of the satirical press in France, with a special emphasis on caricature and political satire. I was inspired to do so after seeing the massive reaction in France to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting. I was fascinated by the passion that the French people had for such a violently political and often offensive sect of the press. Through my research, I discovered the answer. For almost a century, the French people fought to instate a republican government in their country. As new governments rose and fell, the freedoms of expression, assembly, and the press were most closely linked to the struggle for popular representation. Censorship came and went several times over the course of the 19th century and each time it returned, the satirical press was the first to feel its effects. As a result, this sarcastic and caustic area of journalism became almost a symbol of those freedoms they were fighting for; not because the French always agreed with what they said, but because their right to say what they wanted was at the heart of the issue. The pioneers of satire in the 19th century gave way to a new generation in the 20th, starting with Le Canard enchaine (which is still thriving today) and soon Hara-Kiri, the predecessor to Charlie Hebdo.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, French and Italian

Film comedy as a genre is exceptionally difficult to define. As comedy scholar Gerald Mast argued in his seminal work The Comic Mind, “we pretty much know what a comedy is even if we do not know what Comedy is” (9). Indeed, the viewing public is able to identify a film as a comedy, but it is difficult to put into words what makes a film comedy. While giving an overarching definition of such a diverse genre is certainly challenging, this dissertation aims to theorize a particular element of film comedy, what I am terming the comic object, to conceive of larger generic conventions and make a step towards answering the puzzling question of what film comedy is. Because any sort of discussion of a genre as varied as comedy needs to be restricted, I limit my study to films of France's classical era (1930s-1960s). I have chosen this timeframe not only because it is the “golden age of French comedy” (Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Comedy on Screen, 69), but also because this historical period represents a moment of change and reorganization of a French society mediated by objects as a result of the rise of consumer culture and advertisement, shifting relationships to capitalism, and nationalist policies and projects that are reflected in the philosophy, literature, art, and film of the era. Through four chapters focusing on a distinct typology of the comic object—the commercial object, the domestic object, the hygiene object, and the fashion object—I examine an increasing intrusion of the object in space and into/onto the body. Using phenomenology and contemporary philosophies of perception, I build a theory of the comic film object, arguing that the comic object has a specific ontology derived from its framing and movement, comic environment, dialectic with the comic figure, conceptual ties to the body, its representational force as a sign and as bodily replacement, and its unique relationship to realism. The comic object is one that is liberated and unruly, freeing eit (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, French, Italian, and Classical Studies

This thesis, written in English, aims to demonstrate that many of Joachim du Bellay's poems in Divers jeux rustiques and Vers Lyriques disclose a conscious way of perceiving the environment. A detailed analysis of `D'un vanneur de ble aux vents' reveals how the poem questions the privileging of humans in their relationship with the environment by dismantling the environment-human binary. I examine the symbolism of Roman mythology in `A Ceres, A Bacchus et A Pales' and `D'un berger a Pan' in order to explain how this symbolism represents the dependency of humans on their environment and creates the possibility of converting arduous rural chores into meaningful and pleasurable activities. Lastly, I explain how the poem `Au Fleuve de Loire' can be read as a cartographic poem that highlights the economic, literary, and environmental importance of the Loire river. I conclude that these poems exemplify a consciousness that rejoices, reinforces, and recognizes the role of the environment in the lives of its inhabitants.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, French and Italian

This dissertation is a study in physical and spiritual transformation in medieval French and Occitan literature from the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries. By considering the Ovidian and biblical tropes of metamorphosis and transfiguration that are present in medieval French and Occitan literature, particularly in works such as Robert le diable, Flamenca, La Vie de Sainte Marie l'Egyptienne, the various Tristan narratives, and the works of Chretien de Troyes, one can have a clearer understanding of the influence that both Ovidian and biblical narratives had on medieval French and Occitan literature. By examining Ovidian metamorphic trope of metamorphic degradation and exploring the instances in which this trope appears in medieval French and Occitan literature, one can arrive at a greater appreciation for the influence that Ovid and his works exercised on medieval authors and readers. It is also possible to foster a greater appreciation for transformation by examining instances of disguise, costuming, and clothing presented in medieval French and Occitan literature it is possible to further explore the tropes of transformation as one gains a clearer appreciation for the role that clothing and disguise play in transformation narratives.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1984, Graduate School