Eileen McEwan
Education
- B.A. French and Economics, University of Notre Dame
- M.A. French, University of Notre Dame
- Ph.D. French and Second Language Acquisition, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Teaching Interests
I teach all levels of French language, as well as courses on contemporary French culture and identity, Quebec and Franco-American New England, Francophone cultures of West Africa and the Caribbean, and professional applications of French.
I also co-teach a course on Senegal with a colleague in Film Studies, where students learn about the history and culture of Senegal, focusing in particular on the historical development of cinema and media. We then travel to Senegal for 2 weeks at the end of the semester to visit cultural and historical sites and to collaborate on a music video with a politically engaged hip-hop movement known as Y’en a marre (Fed Up).
I have served as faculty director for our study abroad program in Aix-en-Provence in 2016 and 2019, teaching a course on migration to students while they take their other courses at the American College of the Mediterranean.
Research, Scholarship or Creative/Artistic Interests
I specialize in Francophone cultures of North America and Second Language Acquisition. My other area of expertise is in African and Caribbean cultures, focusing primarily on writers from Senegal and Haiti who have migrated to France and Canada.
I have published articles on the connections between women’s writing in 17th-century France and contemporary Francophone cultures, cultural acquisition strategies for teaching Francophone literature, the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, and Francophone African literature. I am currently working on a book manuscript that critically examines the place of migrant literature in Quebec and Franco-American literature within Francophone Studies (forthcoming with McGill-Queen’s University Press). This book, titled Into and Out of Quebec: Reimagining Quebecois Migrant Literature, explores the migrations of French Canadians to New England in the early twentieth century and the role that the French language played in both the downfall and the recent revival of Franco-American culture.
- Elementary French I
- Elementary French II
- French Internship - The Syndicate
- French Internship: The Syndicate
- Spc: Inside-Out Prison Exchange: Prison Stories in Literature and Film
- Topics in French and Francophone Studies: Francophone North America
Recent Publications
"Traitors and Scoundrels: Franco-American Responses to the French-Canadian Elite." Canadian Review of American Studies 49.3 (2019): 325-348.
"Into and Out of Quebec: The Transformation of Migrant Cultural Identity in Canuck and La Dot de Sara." Quebec Studies 62 (2016): 137-155.
Recent Presentations
McEwan, E. (October 2022). “Pour une littérature-monde: Expanding Migrant Literature Into and Out of Quebec.” Presented at the American Council for Québec Studies in Baltimore, MD.
McEwan, E. & Chatzidimitriou, I. (March 2021). “Migrant Literature and Integrative Learning: A Pedagogical Perspective.” Presented at the Northeast Modern Language Association virtual conference.
McEwan, E. & McEwan, P. (November 2019). “Hip-Hop and Social Change in Senegal.” Invited guest lecture at the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France.
McEwan, E. (November 2018). “Crossing Borders: The French Languages of Immigrant Storytellers in the Americas.” Paper presented at the American Council for Québec Studies in New Orleans, LA.
McEwan, E. (January 2016). "Into and Out of Quebec: The Quest for Self in Migrant Quebecois and Franco-American Literature." Paper presented at the Modern Language Association in Austin, TX.
I mentored three student projects that were presented at the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges' “Africa is the Future” Symposium (April 2017):
- Michelle Blazewicz “Changing Marriage Practices in Senegal Examined Through the Works of Senegalese Women Writers.”
- Megan Ross “Revolutions in Movement: How Senegalese Women Redefine Negritude Through Dance.”
- Madeleine Weko “Negritude and Polygamy: Navigating Marriage in Postcolonial Senegal.”
- Class of ’32 Research Fellowship: 2023-2024
- Faculty Summer Research Grants: 2016, 2021, 2022
- Faculty Center for Teaching Pedagogical Development Grant: 2018
- Center for Ethics Course Development Grant: 2011
French and Francophone Studies
Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Contact: emcewan@muhlenberg.edu