Call for Proposals: ASMCF Conference 2019 'The Transnational City'

Alongside the University of London Institute in Paris, AUP will host the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France from 4-6 September, 2019. You are now invited to submit proposals for papers or panels which address this year’s theme: The Transnational City.

Gathering in Paris to mark its 40th anniversary, the ASMCF annual conference invites proposals that critically examine the transformation of the French-speaking world through the lens of the ever-greater influence, density and diversity of urban centres in the world. Since the creation of the ASMCF, the world’s overall urban population has grown exponentially and certain cities, including Paris, have confirmed or consolidated their pre-eminence, becoming geo-political actors beyond the sphere of the nation state, in parallel and potentially in competition with other international organisations. Changing and accelerating patterns of migration have also transformed the demographics of contemporary cities, complicating post-colonial dynamics with new forms of neo-colonial relations of dependency and exchange. Meanwhile, within the national sphere, the relative dynamism of urban centres has led some commentators to point to newly stark configurations of inequality that have had significant impact not just on domestic politics (the rise of far-right and nationalist movements, and also growing independence movements led by cities), but also on varied dimensions of cultural production.

The conference committee also welcomes papers that will address how the growth of the transnational city has impacted on the objects and structures of research in modern and contemporary French Studies, and to what extent this reflects changes in the landscape of higher education. Relatedly we ask panelists to engage with how the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity within cities has transformed the teaching and production of French language and culture.

Read the full Call for Papers here in English and French.

Proposals should be sent to: thetransnationalcitygmail.com by 15 March 2019

Keynote Speakers/Conférences plénières 

Danièle Wozny, Vice Présidente des Maisons de la sagesse-Traduire

Les Maisons de la sagesse-Traduire sont un réseau de lieux et d’actions articulé autour de la traduction comme savoir-faire avec les différences. Implantées pour l’heure à Saint-Denis /Aubervilliers et à Aix/ Marseille, elles s’attachent à améliorer l’accueil des étrangers et à faire émerger des espaces urbains de citoyenneté active et multilingue où trouver, avec les habitants, des occasions de contact, de partage  et de création entrepreneuriale.

Fabien Truong, sociologue au Centre de Recherches Sociologiques et Politiques de Paris au sein de l’équipe Cultures et Sociétés Urbaines (Cresppa-CSU) et professeur agrégé au département de Sociologie et d’Anthropologie de l’Université de Paris 8. Auteur de Loyautés radicales, L’islam et les « mauvais garçons » de la Nation (La Découverte, 2017), Jeunesses française Bac + 5 made in banlieue (La Découverte, 2015), Des capuches et des hommes. Trajectoires de jeunes de banlieue (Buchet-Chastel, 2013)

Dr Maria Secova is a Lecturer in French at the Open University in the UK. 

Her work focuses on synchronic and diachronic variation in informal spoken French and English. She has published on, and continues to research topics around language variation and change, language attitudes and linguistic discrimination, urban vernaculars and the use of spoken corpora in language teaching.