October 18, 2001
Contact: Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: October 18, 2001
MIDDLEBURY, VT - The Middlebury College Center for International Affairs will host a colloquium titled “Déjà Views: How Americans Look at France” Nov. 9-10. A keynote lecture, “France Seen from Washington: A Diplomat’s Experience,” by former French ambassador Jacques Andréani will begin the event at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9, in Dana Auditorium in Sunderland Language Center on College Street (Route 125).
The colloquium will continue from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10, with a series of talks on such topics as American views of French business, press coverage of France in the United States, images of France in literature and film, cross-cultural stereotypes, and Francophobia as a system. Saturday’s schedule includes a break for lunch. Lectures will take place in the Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125). All talks will be in English and are free of charge.
“There is something special in the way Americans see France, and we believe we can show that Americans speak differently about France than they do about other countries,” said Edward C. Knox, Middlebury College professor of French and acting director of the College’s Center for International Affairs.
Colloquium participants are based at such French institutions as the Sorbonne, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). American colleges and universities will be represented by a group that includes M.I.T., New York University, University of Illinois, University of Maryland and Middlebury College.
The program will also include lectures on international opinion polls, writers Diane Johnson and Adam Gopnik, and an M.I.T. Internet project designed to reduce stereotyping between the two countries.
Saturday’s lectures are not assigned to specific times but the public is welcome to attend during any portion of the day. The lectures will proceed in roughly the following order: “On the Economy” by David Spector of M.I.T. and CNRS; “In Business” by Michel Garcin, president of the French-American Foundation in Paris; “Turn of the Century Honeymoon: The Washington Post’s coverage of France” by Pierre Verdaguer of the University of Maryland; “American Experts Look at France” by Martin Schain of New York University; “Adapting French Theory” by Avital Ronnell of New York University; “Gopnik and Company: Essays in Accommodation” by Edward Knox of Middlebury College; “The Franco-American Novel of Literary Globalism: The Case of Diane Johnson” by Carolyn Durham of the College of Wooster; “Screening France” by Brigitte Humbert of Middlebury College; “If France Didn’t Exist, Americans Would Have to Invent It” by Sophie Body-Gendrot of Paris IV-Sorbonne; “Constructing French American Understanding: the Cultural Project” by Gilberte Furstenberg of M.I.T.; and “The System of Francophobia” by Jean-Pierre Mathy of the University of Illinois.
Events Calendar Listing:
Nov. 9-10
Middlebury College Colloquium
“Déjà Views: How Americans Look at France”
Friday, Nov. 9
4:30 p.m.
Keynote lecture, “France Seen from Washington: A Diplomat’s Experience,” former French ambassador Jacques Andréani
Dana Auditorium in Sunderland Language Center, Middlebury College, College Street (Route 125)
Free
Saturday, Nov. 10
9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Series of lectures: Experts from France and the U.S. give a series of talks about many topics, including American views of French business, press coverage of France in the U.S., and Francophobia as a system. Schedule includes a break for lunch. Lectures are not assigned to specific times but the public is welcome to attend during any portion of the day. All lectures will be in English.
Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125), Middlebury College
Free
For further information, contact Charlotte Tate of the Center for International Affairs at 802-443-5795, or visit the website: http://go.middlebury.edu/rcfia.