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Department of French Studies

Only 15 French programs in the United States have the honor of being recognized as a centre d’excellence by the Cultural Services office of the French Ambassador to the United States, and LSU’s Department of French Studies is one.

LSU’s French program works to increase public awareness and appreciation of the state’s French and Francophone heritage in four ways:

  1. By the Center for French and Francophone Studies, which supports work by international scholars in the vast holdings of the Hill Memorial Library and sponsors international and bilingual colloquia on Franco-Louisiana history;
  2. By the National Science Foundation-funded research of Sylvie Dubois and her team of graduate students, who have developed a massive computerized database of Cajun French;
  3. By the online journal, Mondes Francophones, edited by Alexandre Leupin; and
  4. By offering an undergraduate Cajun Studies program leading to a minor in Cajun French.

The proof of the program’s success and attractiveness can be found in things like the student and faculty exchange programs between LSU and the Universite de Poitiers, the Universite de Limoges, the Ecole Normale Superieure at Fontenay/Saint-Cloud, and the Universite d’Aix-en-Provence. In addition, the program attracts a nationally and internationally diverse student body with students from France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Tunisia, Algeria, Gabon, Canada, the United States, and the Ivory Coast.

In addition to a range of courses that cover the entire history of metropolitan French literature and culture – from medieval epic to contemporary prose, poetry, philosophy, theatre, and film – the department offers courses that cover the global phenomenon of Francophone literatures and cultures.

Working alongside the Department of French Studies is the Center for French and Francophone Studies. Founded in 1983, the center has the distinction of being designated a centre pluridisciplinaire (multidisciplinary center) by the French Embassy. Its mission is to promote interdisciplinary research on the cultural practices, languages, and literatures of Louisiana and the Francophone world.