Australian Society for French Studies Conference 2021

8-10 December 2021

Un.sited: “Sites” in French Studies

Online conference

Hosted by the French Discipline, School of Language and Cultures

University of Queensland

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which the university stands.

It is intended that scheduling will accommodate speakers from a range of time zones – from other states in Australia and around the world.

Confirmed plenary speakers:

Professor Charles Forsdick, University of Liverpool

Professor Celeste Kinginger, Penn State University

Professor Valérie Loichot, Emory University

The label “French Studies” is applied to research and teaching in a range of disciplines united by the common thread of interest in phenomena related to particular sites, those where French is spoken. The notion of site, one from which practitioners are most usually distanced, is thus a primary enabler of our work, but is taken up in a wide range of ways. Rather than being neutral places, spaces or localities, sites carry specific meaning or have particular functions that may vary between disciplines and individuals. The significance of “sites” has been underscored by the restrictions on mobility enforced in response to the pandemic: many of us have found ourselves “un-sited”, removed from a specific point of contact, our sites more than ever out of sight. Yet we have also sought out alternative (often virtual) spaces with which to engage. New locations have become available through Zoom and our own homes have taken on new functions. 

Therefore, at a time when mobility and access have been restricted and transformed in ways unimaginable a few years ago, in this conference we want to explore the notion of “site” and what it means in the various disciplines represented in French Studies through papers which illustrate its mobilisation (papers drawing on specific sites) or tackle the significance of “site” directly. How do specific physical spaces (their existence, accessibility or inaccessibility) become meaningful for your work, research, teaching and identity? How are notions of particular places given value? How do certain sites take on meaning through historical or sociocultural events? How do certain spaces exclude or include particular socio-cultural groups? Do they take on different meaning depending on identity categories? What alternative spaces have now become available?

Presentations might consider:

• sites of authenticity
• sites of imagination
• sites of learning
• sites of marginalisation/ marginalised sites
• sites of memory
• sites of pleasure
• sites of suffering and infection
• sites of tourism
• sites of work
• archives; archaeology
• fieldwork
• filming on location
• imagined or mythic sites
• literary and cinematic topographies
• para/sites: questions of contiguity, interdisciplinarity, intersectionality
• regional variations
• student im/mobility; virtual mobility
• télétravail and WFH
• terroir
• universities as transnational spaces

We invite proposals – in French or in English – for:

• Individual research papers: presentations of 15 minutes, followed by 10 / 15 minutes of discussion.
• Panels: three x 15-minute papers, followed by discussion.
• Roundtable discussions: these might relate to research practice, to teaching practice, to language policy (for example).

As is the usual ASFS practice, we will consider proposals on topics other than the conference theme, within the constraints of the programme.

The call for proposals for this conference is now closed. Questions about the conference programme and activities can be directed to the organizing committee at asfs2021@uq.edu.au.

Registration: please fill out this registration form and send it to the ASFS Memberships Officer, Lauren Twine, at asfsexecutive@gmail.com and the Conference Organizing Committee at asfs2021@uq.edu.au.

Then select your payment option below. The nominal conference fee will contribute to the costs of administrative and technical support. The Australian Society for French Studies will also sponsor the conference and you are therefore encouraged to renew your membership or become a member.

Organizing committee:

Barbara Hanna; Joe Hardwick; Amy Hubbell; Jenny Davis Barnett; Beth Kearney; Peter Cowley