From Old to Modern French: Translating the Significant « La Mort le roi Artu »
Dr. Patrick Moran, Associate Professor of French, describes the process of translating Jean Frappier’s version of La Mort le roi Artu from Old to Modern French, and the overall significance of this medieval text. I was approached to translate Jean Frappier’s version of La Mort le roi Artu from Old French to Modern French because of […]
“Racism is the Virus”: Student-Produced Documentary Combats Asian Hate During COVID-19
Student documentary filmmaker Danilo Angulo Molina (University of British Columbia), Dr. Valentina Pedone (University of Florence), and professional filmmaker Ningyuan Zheng share about a student-produced documentary that explores racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The documentary titled “Racism is the Virus”—which received the 2021 Canada-Italy Innovation Award and was part of a larger project titled “Vulnerability […]
Sima Godfrey: Reflecting on 32 Years at UBC
Upon her retirement, Dr. Sima Godfrey reflects on the most memorable moments of her 32 years as a faculty member in UBC’s French program—including powerful stories about students who have impacted her as much as she has impacted them. The most rewarding memories I have involve students, some of whom I have had the pleasure […]
Joel Akinwumi: Collective Forgetting and Identity in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures
Joel Akinwumi, PhD Student of French, shares about his research on collective forgetting and identity, along with why he chose to pursue graduate studies at UBC. Research My research topic is entitled “Collective Forgetting and Identity in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures”. It is driven by two major questions: (i) to understand the nature and […]
4 Reasons to Fall in Love with French Studies—as told by undergraduates
Eight students share what made them fall in love with French Studies in the first place—and why they ultimately chose to major or minor in the subject.
Staff Spotlight: Muirne de Búrca, Student Programs Assistant
Muirne de Búrca became the first Student Programs Assistant of the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies in July 2021. Here she describes the core aspects of her role, along with how she fell in love with a plethora of languages and cultures at an early age. As a child, languages were a portal, […]
Staff Spotlight: Raquel Costa, Administrative Assistant
Raquel Costa joined the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies as Administrative Assistant in September 2021. Here she describes the core aspects of her role, along with what drew her to this department in the first place. I recently completed my Bachelor of Arts here at UBC, so my affinity for our beautiful campus […]
Promoting Diversity in Francophone Studies
Dr. Caroline Lebrec, Assistant Professor of Teaching (French), describes various efforts to promote diversity in Francophone Studies—from developing a new textbook series, designing an experiential learning course, to analyzing the representation of gender in French language. Textbook Series I am working on developing a textbook series that will offer content that is embedded in our […]
Alumni Spotlight: Chiara Falangola, Lecturer of Italian
Dr. Chiara Falangola, Lecturer of Italian at UBC, shares how she landed tenure-track positions in both French and Italian Studies throughout her career, after completing a PhD in French Studies at UBC’s Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies. Graduate Student Experience I chose to pursue my PhD in French Studies at UBC because I’d […]
Mindfulness and Contemplative Pedagogy in Second Language Acquisition
Dr. Chiara Falangola, Lecturer of Italian, describes her ongoing project on mindfulness and contemplative pedagogy in second language acquisition. I am interested in ways of incorporating mindfulness into second language acquisition, as well as new ways of improving the language curriculum in the sense of inclusion, diversity, and the merging of language, culture and literature. […]