Focusing on the learning and use of French as a foreign language, this one-day workshop invites scholars and postgraduate students to: first, examine the characteristics of the learning and use of foreign languages in the modern world, including but not limited to their geopolitical and ideological aspects, socio-cultural milieux, the methods and materials involved and created, institutions and networks formed, and memories and emotions generated; second, evaluate the role of foreign languages in cross-cultural communication and innovation, as well as in individuals’ (or societies’) cognitive and cultural engagement with the modern world.

We invite submissions relating to historical research in the following fields:

- The infrastructure and/or institutions supporting the learning of French as a foreign language
- The ideological and/or geopolitical aspects of learning French as a foreign language
- French language learning, translation, and cultural exchange
- Learning/use of French as a foreign language and modern intellectuals
- Learning/use of French as a foreign language and gender
- Learning/use of French as a foreign language and modernism
- Learning/use of French as a foreign language and colonialism
…

As part of a British Academy/Leverhulme funded project to explore the history of learning and use of the French language among Chinese intellectuals between the 1860s and the 1940s, this workshop particularly welcomes papers focusing on the experience of non-European individuals and societies (e.g. East Asia and Middle East), and on the agency, activism, and creativity of the learners.

Important deadlines:
Proposal submission deadline: December 1, 2023
Paper submission deadline: April 1, 2024

Please include the following in your email:
-Author full name
-Affiliation
-Proposal (200 to 300 words in an attached word document)
-A short biography (Not a full CV in an attached word document)
-Please make sure that all submissions are in English

Please send your proposal and all general enquiries to:
Dr. Vivienne Xiangwei Guo, King’s College London: vivienne_xiangwei.guo@kcl.ac.uk

If your proposal is accepted, you will be asked to submit a draft paper of around 2500 words (for a presentation of 20-25mins) about four weeks prior to the workshop. We will discuss the possibilities of follow-up events and publications at the workshop dinner. There is no fee for this workshop. The costs for travel and accommodation are unfortunately NOT covered, but lunch/refreshments and dinner will be provided to all presenters.

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Derek Offord, University of Bristol & Dr. Vladislav Rjéoutski, Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris
Prof. Regenia Gagnier, University of Exeter

Discussants:
Dr. Simon Coffey, King’s College London
Prof. Regenia Gagnier, University of Exeter
Prof. Derek Offord, University of Bristol