Profile for Anna Keefe
Contact me
Anna Keefe
Pronouns: she/her/elle/la
Associate Professor
Global Cultures & Languages
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Specialty area(s)
Contemporary French and Francophone cultures, film studies, postcolonial studies, African studies, disability studies
Brief biography
I teach all levels of French, from language courses to upper-level courses focusing on film and literature, culture and civilization, and phonetics. I aim to draw students' attention to diverse communities and cultural productions from beyond the Hexagon, including Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and the French Caribbean. I am the faculty advisor for our French major/minor/certificate and study abroad programs. Come see me! I love meeting with students and am excited to talk with you about your study of French.
I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. Specializing in Film Studies and Francophone Studies, my dissertation, Self-Conscious Francophone Sub-Saharan African Cinema, argues that French-language West African filmmakers have been "thinking cinema," both aesthetically and historically, since its very beginnings. My current research projects focus on Franco-Senegalese directors Alain Gomis and Mati Diop.
When I'm not engaged in teaching or research, you can find me hiking and baking with my son, reading for fun, and eating pain au chocolat.
Current courses at UWL
FRE 101: French in a Global Society I
FRE 201: French Language and Cultures in Action I - taught through the UW Collaborative Language Program (CLP)
FRE 300: Visual Encounters
FRE 305: Exploring the Story
Education
Ph.D., French, University of Virginia
M.A., French Literature, Boston College
Pensionnaire Étrangère, École Normale Supérieure de Paris
B.A., French, University of Minnesota, Morris
Career
Teaching history
FRE 101: French in a Global Society I
FRE 201: French Language and Cultures in Action I
FRE 227: French for International Relations
FRE 300: Visual Encounters
FRE 301: Sound, Speech, and Proficiency
FRE 305: Exploring the Story
FRE 395: French Literary Voices in English, a GenEd (GE07) film and literature course in translation, taught as "Voices from the Margins"
FRE 322: French without Borders
FRE 351: French Cinema
FRE 403: Studies in French and Francophone Literature, "Voix de femmes"
FRE 430: French Connections (capstone course)
Research and publishing
Publications
"Alain Gomis (1970-)." The Art of Directing: A Concise Dictionary of France's Film Directors, edited by Michaël Abecassis, Marcelline Block, and Felicity Chapman, Peter Lang, 2023.
Conferences
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA) Annual Convention, Albuquerque, NM, 13-15 October 2022. "Decentering French Cinema: Viewing Mati Diop's Atlantique in Senegal and Beyond."
(42nd) Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures, virtual, 7-9 April 2022. Roundtable on New Directions in Cinéma-Monde.
CFC Intersections Inaugural Conference, virtual, 24-25 September 2021. "Screening Possibility: Disability in Djibril Diop Mambéty's La petite vendeuse de soleil."
Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Seattle, WA, 6-9 January 2020. "The auteur cinéma-monde of Alain Gomis: focus on Félicité (2017)."
African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL,16-19 November 2017. "Screening the Text: Creation and Resistance in Juju Factory."
World Cinema and Television in French, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 9-10 September 2016. "Questioning African Cinema: Jean-Marie Teno's Lieux Saints."
African Literature Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 6-9 April 2016. "Chaplin and Silent Comedy in Francophone Sub-Saharan African Film."
Conseil International d'Études Francophones, San Francisco, CA, 29June-5 July 2014. "Vers un nouveau mode de production filmique: l'allégorie cinématographique dans Les Saignantes de Jean-Pierre Bekolo."
Book Reviews
Kudos
published
presented
published