French Early Modern Scholar
Civic, Liberal and Global Education Fellow
Spanning meditations on happiness from Antiquity to contemporary and grounded analysis on the significance of citizenship in our modern world, this program aims to offer students a vision of what a college experience can be. My goal as a lecturer is to equip students with critical skills to be able to “read” themselves, their surroundings and the world, to nurture their self-assurance and knowledge, finally to provide them with the invaluable tools necessary to make informed decisions about their life and career on their own.
Stanford Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Research
My research interests cover four areas: novel theory; gender studies; age and ageism; supernatural literature.
My first book project, “Framing Portraits in Early Modern Novels: A Transversal History of Appearances” explores the ways in which these fields overlap in original and unexpected ways and it paves the way for reconsidering a traditionally discarded literary practice, description in general and portraits in particular.
Teaching
My research informs my teaching by exploring novels and novel theory, gender and age studies, history and art and history, but I am also passionate about life-writing genres. Their biographical focus not only brings to the fore all the subjects dear to the students’ heart: (self-)representations of identity, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, socioeconomic status, political and religious views, etc; but also epitomizes stories of resilience, of overcoming difficulties, trauma and setbacks, providing positive examples.
I believe that humanities courses should teach students to think critically, engage with differences and consider unfamiliar viewpoints. My syllabi and methods are student-oriented in that they are inclusive to and welcome all forms of diversity. I do not expect or privilege prior knowledge and I favor hands-on activities and assignments, where students learn skills they can transfer outside of academia.
