About Annie de Saussure

I'm an Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Lafayette College in Easton, PA and hold a Ph.D. in French from Yale University. My research explores questions of French regional and national identity, minority regional languages and cultures in contemporary France, and the artistic, aesthetic, and political dimensions of radiophonic expression, radio broadcasting, and podcasting. My current project, "Sounding Breton: Regional Voices and the Remaking of French Literature," explores how expressions of Breton culture and identity during the late twentieth-century, as a case study of minority, regional cultures in France, sought to challenge relationships between French literature and the modern nation-state. I've published articles on the influence of Aimé Césaire and the poetics of Négritude on Breton poet Paol Keineg and the transatlantic literary correspondence between Breton author Youenn Gwernig and Jack Kerouac. My most recent forthcoming article explores feminist discourses of motherhood in French language podcasting. A radio and podcast enthusiast, I am in the process of launching a podcast of my own about the process of writing and publishing a first academic book, entitled "Mind over manuscript." In an effort to stay up-to-date with research in Sound Studies, I have recently started a virtual reading group entitled "Francophone Sound Studies" that I host on a monthly basis. I'm interested in all topics and books related to French and Francophone Studies, Sound Studies, and Postcolonial Francophone Studies. Hosting the Francophone Sound Studies reading group has motivated me to become a host on the New Books Network podcast of which I am an avid listener!

Annie deSaussure holds a Ph.D. in French from Yale University and is an Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Languages and Literary Studies at Lafayette College.

NBN Episodes hosted by Annie:

George MacLeod, "Mediating Violence from Africa: Francophone Literature, Film, and Testimony After the Cold War" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

December 24, 2023

Mediating Violence from Africa

George MacLeod

George MacLeod's book Mediating Violence from Africa: Francophone Literature, Film, and Testimony After the Cold War (U Nebraska Press, 2023) explores…

Lucy Swanson, "The Zombie in Contemporary French Caribbean Fiction" (Liverpool UP, 2023)

October 25, 2023

The Zombie in Contemporary French Caribbean Fiction

Lucy Swanson
Listen:

Believed to have emerged in the French Caribbean based on African spirit beliefs, the zombie represents not merely the walking dead, but also a walkin…

Brett Brehm, "Kaleidophonic Modernity: Transatlantic Sound, Technology, and Literature" (Fordham UP, 2023)

June 16, 2023

Kaleidophonic Modernity

Brett Brehm
Listen:

What stories remain hidden behind one of the most significant inventions of the nineteenth century? Kaleidophonic Modernity: Transatlantic Sound, Tech…

Brian Valente-Quinn, "Senegalese Stagecraft: Decolonizing Theater-Making in Francophone Africa" (Northwestern UP, 2021)

May 6, 2023

Senegalese Stagecraft

Brian Valente-Quinn

Brian Valente-Quinn is an Associate Professor of Francophone African studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. His book, Senegalese Stagecraft: D…

Celeste Day Moore, "Soundscapes of Liberation: African American Music in Postwar France" (Duke UP, 2021)

April 10, 2023

Soundscapes of Liberation

Celeste Day Moore

Celeste Day Moore is a historian of African American culture, media, and Black internationalism in the twentieth century. Her first book, Soundscapes …