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Faculty
Jacqueline
Marque/Newport Mercury
Alain-Philippe Durand (Ph.D.,
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, 1999) is Honors Associate Professor of French, Film
Media,
and Comparative LIterature, Head of French and Francophone Studies, and
Interim Chair of English
at the University of Rhode Island. His
interests include the contemporary novel (Americas and Europe), French
Cinema,
Hip-Hop Culture, and Cultural and Literary Theory and Criticism. He is
the author of three
books: Black,
Blanc, Beur. Rap Music and
Hip-Hop Culture in the Francophone World (Scarecrow Press,
2002), Un
Monde Techno. Nouveaux
espaces
électroniques dans le roman français des années 1980 et 1990 (Weidler, 2004), and Novels of the Contemporary Extreme
(Continuum, 2006) co-edited with Naomi Mandel. In
addition to entries in the Dictionary
of Literary Biography
and the Encyclopedia of
Popular Music of the
World, he has published
articles on nineteenth, twentieth, and
twenty-first century French and
Luso-Brazilian literature and culture in journals such as The French
Review, L'Esprit créateur, L’Atelier
du Roman, Etudes Francophones, Contemporary French Civilization,
Romance
Notes, and Romance Quarterly. He evaluates articles for College
Literature.
Although he received his training and specializes in
contemporary French literature, Dr. Durand's research has always been
guided by an
interdisciplinary method. In addition to
literary and cultural theories, anthropologic, sociological, and
philosophical
approaches feed his own analysis of literature and culture. The core
that influences all his scholarly
projects consists of a fascination for spaces and places;
intertextuality;
semiotics; modern technological devices and electronics; and the kind
of
popular culture that characterizes the extreme contemporary. He is
currently working on several projects: a volume on Frédéric Beigbeder
(forthcoming in the Rodopi's CRIN series);
articles dealing with French novelists Pascal Bruckner and Michel
Houellebecq (forthcoming in Sabine van Wesemael's and Murielle Lucie
Clément's Michel Houellebecq sous la
loupe); and on a book project tentatively entitled The French Jorge Amado. Durand
spent his sabbatical leave (spring 2006) lecturing and conducting
research at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales in Paris, at the University of Illinois in Chicago,
and at the Casa Fundação Jorge Amado
in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.
Dr.
Durand’s teaching and research are closely linked
because they feed each other. Durand believes in presenting his
students with a
practical aspect of everything they learn. It is especially important
in literature
because it shows students how useful reading, writing, analytical
skills, and
the manipulation of fiction and reality are in any job. For example,
some of
his students designed and maintain the official web site of French
novelist
Marie Darrieussecq in collaboration with the author. Others animate a public
electronic forum on the web that allows them to dialogue
with
several of the
novelists read in class (such as Frédéric Beigbeder, François Bon,
Benoît
Duteurtre, Annie Ernaux, Anne Garréta, François Maspero, and
Jean-Philippe
Toussaint)
In
addition, Dr. Durand especially enjoys serving as advisor or committee
member
for theses and dissertations. He has directed and is currently
directing
several Senior Honors theses as well as an M.A. thesis in Spanish. He
has
served and continue to serve on numerous committees for M.A. candidates
in Spanish
and for Ph.D. candidates in English, French, and Marketing at URI and
at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. He also directs the URI in
Marseille exchange program and serves as advisor for French.
Durand's complete CV
Office: 114A Independence
Hall
Hours
(Spring 2008): T 3-3:50pm and by appointment
Phone:
401-874-9088
Email
Courses
typically taught by Dr. Alain-Philippe Durand:
See
Personal Web Page for descriptions, syllabi, and photos of all Dr.
Durand's courses
THE
BA IN FRENCH,
DON'T LEAVE URI WITHOUT IT!
To become a French major,
no paperwork, no
office visits, no hassle, just write to adurand@uri.edu and that's it!
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