Research Interests at a Glance:

Dr. Gladys M. Francis’ research involves French and Francophone Studies; Theory and cultural Studies, Africana Studies; Postcolonial Studies; Visual and Media Studies; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She explores issues of identify formation, (rural/urban) resilience, race and ethnicity, gender-based violence, individual and collective trauma and social cohesion – in France, the French Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Francis counts various invited lectures and interviews across the globe to present her scholarship. She also has a record of presentations at numerous prominent national and international conferences dating back to 2000.

Forthcoming Publications:

Her forthcoming books include:

• Fabienne Kanor. Trans-Caribbean Gender, Body, and Language, an edited book on the works of award-wining author and filmmaker Fabienne Kanor
• Islands and Identities, an edited book on comparative perspectives regarding issues of trauma and memory in the French Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Her forthcoming articles include:

• “Tyrannie en ‘France’” (Routledge, 2017/2018)
• “La Techni’ka de Lénablou: Les enjeux d’une syntaxe du gwo ka et du Bigidi” (Éditions Jasor, 2017)
• “Case départ: Slavery in Martinique through the Lens of Comedy” (University of Tennessee Press, 2017)

She also counts forthcoming book reviews with French Studies Oxford University Press (fall 2017) and Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature The University of Tulsa (fall 2017/spring 2018)

Published Books and Articles:

Dr. Francis recently published two books:

• Odious Caribbean Women (Lexington Books, 2017), a monograph that investigates representations of violence and the abhorrent in the works of Caribbean women writers and visual artists (ISBN: 978-1-4985-4350-7):

http://www2.gsu.edu/~mclgmf/Gladys_M_Francis_Book_Odious_Caribbean_Women_and_the_Palpable_Aesthetics_of_Transgression.html

• Love, Sex, Gender and Trauma in the French Caribbean (L’Harmattan Paris, 2016), an edited book with contributions from Simone Schwartz-Bart, Fabienne Kanor, and Jocelyne Béroard, among others (ISBN: 978-2-343-07395-8):

http://www2.gsu.edu/~mclgmf/Gladys_M_Francis_Book_Amour_Sexe_Genre_Trauma.html

She counts over 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on her research interests; most recently:

• “Fabienne Kanor « l’Ante-llaise par excellence »: sexualité, corporalité, diaspora et créolité.” The French Forum (The University of Pennsylvania Press 41.3 (2017): 273-288)

https://www.academia.edu/32280261/Fabienne_Kanor_l_Ante-llaise_par_excellence_sexualité_corporalité_diaspora_et_créolité

• “Résister au compromis, crever la douleur, dire le silence: entretien avec Jocelyne Béroard.” (L’Harmattan, 2016) http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mcl_facpub/48/
• “Introduction. Dis-positions Créoles: Corpographies du désir, du trauma et de la résistance aux Antilles.” (L’Harmattan, 2016) http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mcl_facpub/50/
• “Entretien avec Simone Schwarz-Bart: ‘Vivre à la Tout-Monde’” (L’Harmattan, 2016)

http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mcl_facpub/49/

• “Exotisme, dialogisme et chaos en milieu antillais”(Cambridge Scholars Press, 2016)
• “Creolization on the Move in Francophone Caribbean Literature” (The University of Oxford, 2015)

Chairs, Grants and fellowships:

Dr. Francis is the recipient of numerous research grants (summing to over $158,600.00). Some of her awards and fellowships include: The LBA Summer Residency in Guadeloupe (2018); $36,870 Trilogie Project Fund (2013/2014); The Digital Champions Fellowship (2013); two Endowed Weber Chairs in the Humanities (2011 and 2012); the Juliette S. Benhamou Francophone Studies Fellowship (2008), the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2007 and 2008 as well as the Excellence Teaching Award in 2005 from Purdue University; the Outstanding Work Award for her success in directing and coordinating the first collegiate exhibit of Caribbean performing arts at the University of the Antilles in 2001.

Other Projects:

As the Director of the South Atlantic Center of the Institute of the Americas, Dr. Francis facilitates academic and artistic collaborations throughout the southeastern region of the United States (i.e. the first SACIdA International Conference on the Caribbean: (http://sacida.gsu.edu/institutdesameriques/2016-conference/). She maintains broad, international teaching experience in the field. She has directed and coordinated several Research field trips and long term study abroad programs in Africa, Europe and Guadeloupe around topics of migratory artifacts, Francophone and African literary and cultural productions, education, literacy, environmental and community activism. She engages her students in international research projects and collaborations with institutes based in Sub-Saharan Africa, the French Caribbean, and France. She is also the proud mentor of undergraduate and graduate students she has helped getting published.