This thesis explores the roles of French patriarchal ideologies of the Enlightenment and exoticism in Alfred Merciers novel, Lhabitation Saint-Ybars. His novel portrays the antebellum Creole plantation as a hierarchy of strict gender roles similar to those that Enlightenment philosophy espoused. I use the family in Bernardin de Saint-Pierres classic, Paul et Virginie, as one example of such a hierarchy. There are also, however, several instances where Mercier departs from the paternalistic norm. I interpret Merciers moving away from this model to be a declaration of a unique Louisianian identity.

To study language change within South Louisiana Catholic Church, I examined the sacramental registers of more than 250 churches, the country of origin of 1043 priests, the parish visitation reports of 37 individual churches and 160 original data cards from 1906 Census of Religious Bodies. Metalinguistic elements were collected from various files available at the archives. This study reveals the complex nature of the language switch from French to English, a network structure of top down management and elements of change in each community of practice which pressured the other levels. It is specific to the Louisiana Catholic population, the clergy, and the administration of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Results make clear that most of the language changes in the sacramental registers happened at the turn of the twentieth century. The linguistic tip occurred during the administration of Archbishop Blenk when, in 1907, the mean switch date of the sacramental registers occurred, followed by the 1910 loss of French control in the administration, and the 1913 switch of the archiepiscopal council minutes from French to English. Results also show that priests who made these switches were comfortable in both French and English. Analysis of the pastoral letters to the clergy and parishioners revealed that the status of the French language within the archdiocesan administration slowly changed over time. The body of priests who ministered in the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 1860 to 1920 changed from a heavily dominated French-born clergy to a more multi-ethnic clergy, but more importantly the archdiocese began to recruit men from Louisiana to enter the priesthood. The evidence suggests that the priests overriding motivation for language change is rooted in important societal changes taking place within and outside their locality. The source of language change was rooted in the massive migration of Irish Catholics. One important social change was the establishment of Protestant institutions in parishes once dominated by the Catholic faith. This dissertation presents how through mutual engagement it negotiated both explicitly and implicitly a language shift from French to English.

Languages are the verbal and non-verbal codes of a culture. A culture houses a language(s) and is comprised of the gaze and distance/use of personal sphere. Linguists and anthropologists have long since argued over which takes priority: culture or language. French and Louisiana are synonymous: it is unimaginable to picture Louisiana without French because French constitutes the culture in Louisiana. Since linguists have debated the priority of language or culture, looking at Louisiana within the confines of this debate proves informative. <p> The language shift forced upon the residents of South Louisiana by the 1921 State Legislature made English the sole language of the state. This study will examine the possibility of a culture shift brought about by the language shift. If the previous culture was assimilated into the new language, researchers could infer that culture precedes language. <p> The purpose of this pragmatic study was to analyze the gaze behavior patterns in turn-taking among speakers of Cajun English in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. By analyzing these behaviors, precedence of culture over language can be inferred. The study consisted of ten participants: seven were from Avoyelles, and the other three constituted a control group. <p> According to the data, the Cajun English participants exhibited the gaze behavior patterns demonstrated by French speakers as described by Nash. The Cajun English participants did not show the same patterns as speakers of Standard American English and/or Southern Alabama English, strengthening the argument that culture constitutes language and is more primitive. The results show that culture precedes language in the pragmatic realm of language.

Nineteenth-century France, obsessed with personal property, strained under multiple changes in government and the new 1804 Code Napoléon, becomes fascinated with criminal literature. Victor Hugo, Eugène Sue, and Emile Zola span the century with their criminal literature and fascinate their audience. Taking advantage of this nineteenth-century French interest in crime, these popular authors also spread political commentary through their novels. Theft, rape and murder are each treated differently in the nineteenth-century French Penal Code, and I suggest that Hugo, Sue and Zola mirror this inconsistency on the part of the law and its resulting effect on society so well that the out-of-touch law slowly draws nearer to the people it is created to protect. I demonstrate my argument by comparing nineteenth-century French Penal Code articles on theft, rape and murder to Hugos messages in Notre-Dame de Paris (1833) and Les Misérables (1862), Sues messages in Les Mystères de Paris (1840) and Zolas messages in Au Bonheur des Dames (1883) and La Bête Humaine (1889). This comparison shows that some nineteenth-century French Penal Code modifications occur after each of these authors publications, and moreover, these modifications are made in the very areas Hugo, Sue and Zola critique in their crime novels.

One of the most interesting thematic elements of the male-authored epistolary texts of the 18th century is what Katharine Ann Jensen refers to as the Epistolary Woman: Seduced, betrayed, and suffering, this woman writes letter after letter of anguished and masochistic lament to the man who has left her behind (Jensen 1). Jensen notes a pattern of this portrayal in texts such as Lettres portugaises and also in the letter-writing manuals written by men of the period. Epistolary Woman stems from masculine efforts to limit and define womens writing as highly emotional, and in turn, Epistolary Woman is a male creation designed to marginalize women (Jensen 2). This creation compensated for the shift in gender power roles that was occurring in salon culture, where women had cultivated power and influence. The Epistolary Woman trope appears in its most vividly obsessive portrait as Gulleraguess Portuguese Nun, Mariane. Marianes abandonment in the texts series of unanswered letters creates a portrait of amorous despair and suffering. These themes of betrayal found in the letters of Epistolary Woman also have marked the works of two modern Francophone authors: Mariama Bâ and Ying Chen. In Bâs Une si longue lettre and Chens Les lettres chinoises, the authors develop female characters that are initially defined by the absence of the man they love from their lives. As francophone women, Bâ and Chen possess a clear knowledge of French literary history and in turn, the manner in which to create works that promote change within the parameters that the male Epistolary Woman text has come to represent. I will therefore examine Une si longue lettre and Les lettres chinoises as modern representations of the classic epistolary narratives of suffering, amorous women and also as re-evaluations that eventually serve to advocate a more realistic and (at times) more feminist portrayal of a new Epistolary Woman.

This dissertation explores the exciting world of eighteenth-century French dramatic writing, performance and criticism from the point of view of the theatrical spectator. Instead of focusing on one single genre or writer, I assemble the textual creation, performance, and criticism of certain polemical plays into what I term a theatrical event. This optic provides a holistic vision of theater and an accurate view of how drama underwent noticeable change due to playwrights political associations, public reactions to performance, and the emerging power of the periodical press. In sum, this project differs from previous studies by focusing on the increasing rhetorical and tangible significance of the theatrical spectator, and more specifically, on how he or she altered normative, established processes in dramatic writing, performance, and criticism. In the first three chapters of this dissertation, I closely examine Charles Palissots Les Philosophes, Voltaires lEcossaise (1760), and atypical critical reactions to both polemical comedies. Here, I focus on the way partisan dramatists and their cohorts fashioned theatrical events through pre-performance strategies, narrative effects, and performative ruses. Then, I inquire as to why critics emphasized audience reactions to and participation in performance, rather than summarizing the plays narrative or weighing in on traditional literary subjects. Switching gears from a more synchronic study to a more diachronic analysis, in chapter four, I highlight a few theatrical events from the last years of the Ancien Régime in order to show how playwrights and critics borrowed both processes and themes from the original Palissot/Voltaire affair of 1760. With clear pictures of specific moments and more general shifts in theater history and criticism, this dissertation aims to reassess the way we think about dramatic production during the pre-Revolutionary period in France.

While many studies have been conducted on study abroad programs, few have sought to examine the inner workings of a short-term, non-traditional (non-classroom based) program, particularly from the participants point-of-view. This in-depth case study explores a short-term (4-week) cultural and linguistic internship program, LSU in the French Alps, as well as the perspectives of four program participants. This research was conducted during four phases of the study abroad experience: the pre-departure orientation (4 days on LSUs main campus), the in-country stay (4 weeks in the French Alps), re-entry into the United States (first 10 days upon return), and post study (6 months after re-entry). Extensive participant observation was essential to gaining an emic, or insider, view of the program, its surroundings and its participants. Data sources included individual interviews with participants, numerous questionnaires about their experiences, participants reflective papers and their final video project. The fieldwork conducted in this study uncovered details about the immigration history among the Ubaye Valley, parts of Mexico, and southern Louisiana. The development of this program abroad and its founding principles and goals were also unearthed. Findings revealed that the lack of structure and organization of the pre-departure orientation left the participants anxious and unprepared for the programs internships. The participants suggested ways to improve the pre-departure orientation and the program in general. They experienced minimal culture shock in France. However, some stress within the group was reported, as the participants grew frustrated with the constant interaction with one another. They perceived numerous benefits and positive effects from studying abroad, including in all areas of development which were investigated in the study (academic, personal, career, cultural and linguistic). Every participant believed the most substantial growth occurred in his or her cultural acquisition, followed by personal development. They also revealed what and how they learned from their experiences during the programs internships and their outside-the-classroom contacts with host nationals and the French culture. The results have opened up new possibilities for inquiry into non-traditional programs and their connections to experiential learning.

Representation of social groups in the comics is serious. In 2006, a series of twelve cartoons published in a Danish newspaper sparked a controversy that precipitated the deaths of hundreds of people. The images depicted Mohammed and other images that supposedly mocked Islam. All across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa protesters paraded through the streets, some calling for the death of the cartoonists. Trials in Europe over the publication of these cartoons resulted in several firings. Counter protests have also arisen. These protesters found grievance with the firings, claiming that the freedom of the press was being violated (especially in France, concerning the publication Charlie Hebdo). Aside from these inflammatory images, comics artists have been depicting peoples of the Near and Middle East since the foundations of the medium by Rodolphe T&oumlpffer. Over approximately 150 years, representation of these peoples have changed in some ways and remained the same in others. Specifically, the franco-belgian tradition of comics (also known as la bande dessin&eacutee) have been instrumental in the creation and proliferation of several stereotypes about Near and Middle Eastern peoples. This thesis examines the relationships between these stereotypes and the medium of the bande dessin&eacutee. Through a wide variety of criticisms and sources, the researcher found that there exists a focused trend to lessen the degree to which stereotyping of Arabs occurs. Via content and context analysis, the researcher discovered several key factors in the evolution of the Arab stereotype. These factors include political and religious affiliations of the authors and publishers, the type of narrative chosen, and artistic style of the author/ illustrator, amongst others. The additions these authors and illustrators make to the available bodies of literature provide a framework in which to ground psychological and sociological studies of a particular nature, that being the sensitivities of artists in regards to representation.

Cajun and Creole French are thought of by scholars and lay-people alike as the two varieties of French spoken in Louisiana. While this may have been true to some extent in the past, the linguistic landscape of Louisiana is constantly evolving. As in other parts of the world, globalization, higher education, and an ever expanding media presence are changing the linguistic reality for Louisianas French speaking community. The twentieth century has seen a complete shift in the status of the French language in relation to public schools in Louisiana. In the early twentieth century, many children learned French at home and were not allowed to speak it at school. By the end of the twentieth century, the sociopolitical landscape as well as the linguistic one had changed so much that children could not learn French in the home and were forced to learn it in the public school system. In this paper, I attempt to describe in technical terms how this shift in the linguistic reality of Louisiana has changed Louisiana French itself. Many hope that Louisianas expanding French immersion schools can help preserve the French language in Louisiana and ensure that a future generation of Louisianans will be able to take their rightful place in the Francophone world. Through my observation of French immersion students, I illustrate the ways in which the French language which will be spoken by future generations differs from that of their ancestors and I attempt to shed light on the causes of these changes. I also identify several different phenomena in Louisianas immersion schools which warrant future linguistic research.

After the independence of Morocco in 1956, the question of the language arose among Moroccan writers. Highly aware of its historical implications authors had to choose between a vernacular such as spoken Arabic or Berber and a traditionally written language such as classical Arabic or French, languages of the colonizers. From there arose the contested choice of French, perceived by some as a patriotic treason. Use of French was predicted to disappear, however some authors defended its use. One such author is Abdellatif Laâbi, father of the famous review Souffles created in 1966, that played a crucial role in defining maghrebian literature of French expression. I argue that far from betraying their freshly independent nations, such authors have served to subvert the language of the colonizer. Indeed, francophone post-colonial North African writers have managed to deconstruct the language and the novel in a way as to make it their own freeing their literature of the colonial influence. Breaking the rigidity of language allows them to express their multiple influences and serves to translate a traumatic experience such as colonization into a positive phenomenon, writing. I will demonstrate this by giving on overview of the linguistic situation in Morocco, and the historical context that led to Le Chemin des ordalies written by Laâbi; I will then propose my reading of the narrative scheme in Laâbis Le Chemin des ordalies as well as a brief analysis of the péritexte of the novel.