Therese Migraine-George

Therese Migraine-George

Professor

Professor of French and Francophone Studies

Professional Summary

Thérèse Migraine-George is the author of African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics (Africa World Press, 2008), From Francophonie to World Literature in French: Ethics, Poetics, and Politics (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), a book of essays: Mes Etats-Unis: Portraits d'une Amérique que vous ne connaissez pas (Edilivre, 2009), and two novels: Amour de travers (Edilivre, 2010) and Envol (Edilivre, 2014). She has also published various articles and book chapters on Francophone writers, African literatures, cultures, and films, and queer studies. 

Education

PhD in Comparative Literature: University of Colorado at Boulder, 2000

DEA de Langue, Littérature et Civilisation Française: Université Lyon 3, France, 1995

MA in English: University of Missouri at St Louis, 1994

Maîtrise de Lettres Modernes: Université Lyon 3, France, 1993

MA in French: University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, 1993

Research and Practice Interests

My areas of interest are African and Francophone literature, French and Francophone women writers, queer studies, and creative writing. 

Research Support

2017, Taft Research Fellowship: The Aesthetics and Politics of Difference in France

2010, Taft Faculty Release Fellowship: New Aesthetics of Francophone Women Writers

2010-2011, Taft Center Fellowship: (Post)Francophone Writers and the Creation of a New World Literature in French

2005, Taft Research Fellowship: African Women and Representation

2001, Taft Research Fellowship: African Aesthetics and Politics

Abbreviated Publications

Work in Progress

Transatlantic Foodways: From French Gastronationalism to New Convivialities. Research Monograph. 

Book

2008. African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press.

2009. Mes Etats-Unis: Portraits d’une Amérique que vous ne connaissez pas. (Essay). Paris: Editions Edilivre.

2010. Amour de travers. (Novel). Paris: Editions Edilivre.

2013. From Francophonie to World Literature in French: Ethics, Poetics, and Politics. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.

2014. Envol. (Novel)Paris: Editions Edilivre.

Book Chapter

2006. "From Exile to  Dislocation: Anowa's Wandering Agency in Ama Ata Aidoo's Anowa."  In African  Literatures at the Millennium, edited by  Arthur D. Drayton, Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka, and I. Peter Ukpokodu. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 95-103.

2018. Ashley Currier and Thérèse Migraine-George: "Queer/African Identities: Questions, Limits, Challenges." In Introduction to Women's Studies: a Reader, ed. L. Ayu Saraswati, Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan. Oxford University Press. 77-81.

2020. “Littérature-Monde, World Literature, and the Politics of Difference” in Francophone Literatures as World Literatures, ed. Christian Moraru, Nicole Simek, and Bertrand Westphal. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury. 167-179.

2021. “Performances of Power, Mimicry, and Subversion in Tess Onwueme’s Work.” Emerging Perspectives on Tess Onwueme: Women, Youth, and Eco-Literature, ed. Maureen Ngozi Eke. NJ, US: Africa World Press.

2021. “French in the World: Francophone Literary Translingualism.” The Routledge Handbook of Translingual Literature, ed. Steven G. Kellman and Natasha Lvovitch. 140-151.

Peer Reviewed Publications

1996. "Aux Antipodes de l'Exotisme, ou l'Envers de la Carte Postale  dans l'Œuvre de Madeleine  Ouellette-Michalska." Women  in  French Studies: 4-13.

1999. "Specular Desires: Orpheus and Pygmalion as Aesthetic Paradigms in Petrarch's Rime Sparse" (A. Owen Aldridge Prize). Comparative Literature Studies 36 (3): 226-246.

2003. "Ama Ata Aidoo's Orphan Ghosts: African Literature and Aesthetic Postmodernity." Research in African Literatures 34 (4): 83-9.

2003. "Beyond the'Internalist' vs. 'Externalist' Debate: African Homosexuals' Local-Global Identities in Two Films, Woubi Chéri and Dakan." Journal of African Cultural Studies 16 (1): 45-56.

2007. "Swiss Trash: L'Autre Suisse de Dunia Miralles." International Journal of Francophone Studies (10th Anniversary Volume) 10 (1-2): 173-191.

2007. "'L'Autre' dans Champs de bataille et d'amour de Véronique Tadjo." Women in French Studies 15: 67-83.

2009. "La Femme de Gilles de Madeleine Bourdouxhe ou la 'fugurante identité' d'un roman belge de langue française." Special issue of International Journal of Francophone Studies 12 (2-3): 321-339. 

2011. "De Traversée de la mangrove à Histoire de la femme cannibale: l'Art comme 'Arme Miraculeuse' chez Maryse Condé." Romanic Review 101 (3): 497-519. 

2014. "From Masisi to Activists: Same-Sex Relations and the Haitian Polity." Journal of Haitian Studies 20 (1): 8-33. 

2016. Thérèse Migraine-George and Ashley Currier, “Querying/Queering African Archives: Methods and Movements.” WSQ Special Issue: “Queer Methods” 44 (3-4): 190-207.

2016. Ashley Currier and Thérèse Migraine-George. "Queer Studies / African Studies: An (Im)possible Transaction?" GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 22 (2). Special Issue: "Area Impossible: The Geopolitics of Queer Studies": 281-305.  

2016. Ashley Currier and Thérèse Migraine-George. "Introduction: 'Lesbian'/Female Same-Sexualities in Africa." Journal of Lesbian Studies 21: 133-150. 

2018. Ashley Currier and Thérèse Migraine-George:  “The Incommensurability of the ‘Transnational’ in Queer African Studies.” College Literature 45 (4)ed. Taiwo Adetunji Osinubi. 613-622.

Editorial

2016. co-edited with Ashley Currier, special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies 21: "'Lesbian'/Female Same-Sex Sexualities in Africa." 

Encyclopedia Article

2019. “Woubi Chéri.” The Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History, edited by Howard Chiang. Charles Scribner's Son. 423.

Presentations

Paper Presentations

(2018. ) "Feminism and Identity Politics in the French Republic" .San Francisco.

(2017. ) “Queer Art, Archival Fever, and the Politics of Desire in Africa” .San Diego.

(2017. ) “In the Middle, or Relocating the Queer Midwest” .Bangkok, Thailand.

(2016. ) Roundtable “World Cinema & Television in French” .University of Cincinnati.

(2016. ) “(In)visible Desires: Queer Women in African Literature" .University of Cincinnati.

(2015. ) Roundtable "The Politics of Homophobia" with Ashley Currier, Amy Lind, Momin Rahman and Rahul Rao .Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati.

(2015. ) "(Im)possible Representations: Queer Agency through African Visual Arts" .San Diego, CA.

(2014. ) Roundtable "From World Literature to Cinema Without Borders: A Discussion about Boundaries in French and Francophone Studies" .University of Cincinnati.

(2014. ) "How Can Someone be French? The Other White Man in 19th-century Africa" .University of Cincinnati.

(2014. ) "That Obscure Object of Desire: Homosexuality and Islam" .Indianapolis.

(2013. ) "Nou se masisi, e nou fyè!": Homosexuals as Masisis and Activists in Haiti .Tallahassee, Florida.

(2013. ) Same-Sex Marriage and the Politics of Difference in France .Cincinnati.

(2013. ) Roundtable: Methods, Means, and Mores: "Doing" Global and Transnational Women and Gender Research .Cincinnati.

(2013. ) Roundtable: Postcolonial Studies Across Disciplines and Languages .Cincinnati.

(2012. ) Ecriture du désir et désir d'écriture dans l'oeuvre de Nina Bouraoui .Lexington, KY.

(2012. ) From Poetics to Politics: Writing as Civic Debt in Lyonel Trouillot's "L'Amour avant que j'oublie" .Cincinnati.

(2011. ) Ecriture de l'impertinence dans Le Roi de Kahel de Tierno Monénembo .Saint-Louis.

(2009. ) 'L'enfant est mort': mythe, mémoire et sacrifice dans Reine Pokou de Véronique Tadjo .New Orleans, Louisiana.

(2008. ) The Year of Anthologies: The Blackwell Anthology of African Literary Criticism and Theory .Macomb, Illinois.

(2007. ) Social Suicide or 'Romanesque' Passion? Madeleine Bourdouxhe's La Femme de Gilles .Cleveland, Ohio.

(2006. ) Art as 'Miraculous Weapon' in Maryse Condé's Works .Eugene, Oregon.

(2005. ) African Theaters and the Postcolonial State: The Example of Werewere Liking's Village et Fondation Ki-Yi .Boulder, Colorado.

Honors and Awards

2015 LGBTQ Center Rainbow Award for Outstanding Faculty

2016 WGSS Outstanding Faculty Award

2016 Fellow of the Graduate School

Service

Academic Program Review Committee Committee Member 2016

(Chair of the A&S Graduate Council Committee ) 2015 -2016

(Taft Student Award Committee ) Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2013 -2014

(Advisory Board in the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies ) Committee Member 2012 -2014

(Diversity Task Force, College of Arts and Sciences ) Committee Member 2012 -2013

(Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee, College of Arts and Sciences ) Committee Member 2012 -2013

(Taft Center Fellowship Committee ) Committee Member 2011 -2014

(RLL Research Committee ) Committee Chair 2011 -2013

(Director of Undergraduate Studies ) Type:Departmental Service 2008 -2009

(University Research Council, College of Arts and Sciences ) Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2007 -2008

(Dean's Advisory Committee, College of Arts and Sciences ) Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2007 -2008

Taft Board Executive Committee Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2007 -2008

(Taft Faculty Travel Grants Committee ) Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2007 -2009

Fulbright Interview Committee Committee Member Type:University/College Service 2006

(Policy and Curriculum Committee ) Committee Member Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2003 -2008

Graduate Director, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Type:Departmental Service

(Collaboration with the Cincinnati Museum Committee ) Committee Member

Storytelling Committee Committee Member

(UC Office of Research Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences and Integrated Research Internal Grants Review Council ) Committee Member

University Research Council, Humanities Committee Member

(Academic Program Review Committee ) Committee Member

Department Chair, Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures 2018 -2023

Professional Affiliation

2008: UC Early Summer Instructional Technology Institute

AP reader in French for ETS and external reviewer for AP French module curriculum (2012)

2015-16 UC Women Lead Program

2018: Editorial Board, Journal of Lesbian Studies

Courses Taught

FR 112: Elementary Conversational French

FR 115: Extended Basic French 5

FR 181: World Cultures: French

FR 252: Composition and Conversation

FR 253: Composition and Conversation

FR 300: Writing about French/Francophone Culture

FR 301: Understanding French/Francophone Culture in Conversation

FR 312: The Francophone World

FR 313: French Culture in Cinema

FR 314: France Today

FR 341: Introduction to French Literature

FR 383: Francophone Cultures: Africa and the Caribbean

FR 384: Francophone Cultures: Quebec

FR 425: Advanced French Conversation 1

FR 426: Advanced French Conversation 2

FR 491: Advanced Composition and Conversation

FR 493/523: Stylistics

FR 755: Introduction to Francophone Literature

FR 786: African Feminisms

FR 870: Francophone Feminisms

FR 872: Africa Today

FR 873: African Cultural Studies

RLL 711: European Studies Seminar

SWLC 801: Introduction to Literary Theory

FR 4029/7019: Queer Francophone Lit/Culture

WGSS 4019/7029: Gender, Sexuality, Culture

Black Lives Matter in a “Post-Racial Society”

FREN/WGSS 7026: Gender and Sexualities in Francophone Cultures

Other Information

Media Interview: November 30, 2014: interview for the national Canadian TV channel CTV News about the election of the new Secretary General of Francophonie Michaëlle Jean,

Contact Information

5261 Clifton Court Hall
Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures
Cincinnati  Ohio, 45221-0377
migrait@ucmail.uc.edu