Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 PM, Humanities 226VIBRANCY OF SILENCE
Frieda Ekotto
Filmmaker Frieda Ekotto will Screen VIBRANCY OF SILENCE followed by post-film discussion with the filmmaker. In this documentary, Marthe Djilo Kamga takes us along as she engages in fruitful conversations with four other Cameroonian female artists who, like her, know exile as well as how necessary it is to transmit to younger generations what they have learned as their multiple identities have evolved and fused. The conversations are connected by key themes of cultural heritage, historical memory and how images shape personal and collective memories.
Frieda Ekotto was born in Cameroon and was raised in Switzerland. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The University of Minnesota in 1994. She is Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Thursday, March 5, 4:45 PM, Humanities 401
“Namballa Keita: A soldier and his Village”
Chérif Keita
Chérif Keita, Professor of French at Carleton College will screen his film “Namballa Keita: A soldier and his Village” on Thursday, March 5 at 4:45 PM in Humanities 401. Chérif Keita pays tribute to his late father Namballa Keita (1915-1999), a farm laborer, who, after learning to read and write as a soldier in the French colonial army (the Tirailleurs sénégalais) during WW II, returned from the Italian Front to enter the colonial service in his country, known then as the French Soudan. Determined to bring modernity to his small remote village, he built, with his own small savings, a public school that opened its doors in October 1960, a few days after his country’s independence, to bring the light of education to generations thereafter in the Republic of Mali. Throughout his long career as a nurse and as the head of a village infirmary, Namballa Keita gained national prominence as an advocate for modern education and healthcare.
“Namballa Keita: A Soldier and his Village” (85 minutes, narrated in English, dialogues in French and Bambara), directed by Chérif Keita and edited by Dominic Fucci, is a Medialabafrica production. Following the film, we will have a Q and A session with the filmmaker.
Monday, December 2, 7:00 PM, Neill Hall 401
“How African American culture shaped Paris in the Jazz Age and beyond.”
Duchess Harris
Please join Duchess Harris, Professor in American Studies at Macalester, who has previously taught a course on Blacks in Paris. She will discuss why she thought it was important to write a book for Middle School students about this topic.
She will elaborate on how African American culture shaped Paris in the Jazz Age and beyond. In the years following World War I, many African American performers — including luminaries such as Josephine Baker, and Eugene Bullard — felt accepted in Paris, thousands of miles from the States. They were followed by novelists such as Richard Wright and James Baldwin.
Professor Harris will ask the audience to join her in a discussion about how African American culture can be learned in the context of European history.
Tuesday, November 12, 4:45 AM-6:00 PM, Music 219
“19th century France: longing for bell-bottom jeans, mullet haircuts, oldies music, and retro poetry”
Claude Cassagne
Claude Cassagne, Visiting Instructor in the French and Francophone Studies at Macalester College, will present “19th century France: longing for bell-bottom jeans, mullet haircuts, oldies music, and retro poetry” on Tuesday, November 12 at 4:45 PM in Music room 219. By combining the music of Gabriel Fauré, the poetry of Paul Verlaine and the art of Antoine Watteau, Professor Cassagne will briefly explain how 19th century France longed for the good old days of pre-Revolution of 1789. There will be in-depth analysis of the song “Mandoline” by Gabriel Fauré. Audience participation may be required. Mandoline will be sung by French 305 student Henry McKenna and accompanied by Macalester pianist Mindy Eschedor.
Tuesday, November 5, 11:45 AM-1:00 PM, Neill Hall 401
“Gabriel by George Sand, or the Lessons of Context.”
Martine Reid and Scott Carpenter
Professors Martine Reid (Université de Lille, France) and Scott Carpenter (Carleton College) will present “Gabriel by George Sand, or the Lessons of Context.” This intriguing 1839 play was written by George Sand, one of the most well-known women authors of the 19th-century. In Gabriel, the main character has been raised as a man, with a man’s education and ambitions, but at age seventeen learns that he is in fact a woman. He must then make the difficult decision: either continue living as a man in order to live independently and inherit his family’s vast fortune, or instead switch to being a woman and lose everything. The play examines the roles that society forces on Gabriel and the struggles of the main character to find a place in that society.
Reid and Carpenter will focus their remarks on questions of gender identity and social constraints on individual freedom, both historically and in our own society today. Following their presentations, they will engage in a roundtable discussion, centering around questions from Professor Juliette Rogers and from the audience.
A light lunch will be offered.
Tuesday, October 22, 11:45 AM in the Interdisciplinary Media Lab, Neill Hall 4th floor
Anne Alix
“Something is Happening”
French Film Director, Anne Alix will hold a Master Class and question and answer session on her film Something is Happening. Alix’s latest film takes place in Avignon. Irma, who doesn’t seem to find her place in the world crosses paths with Dolores, a free and uninhibited woman who is on a mission to write a gay-friendly travel guide on a forgotten area in Provence. The unlikely duo takes to the road and contrary to the sought-after pittoresque and sexy Provence, they discover a more complex and a warm-hearted humanity, struggling to exist. For both of them the trip becomes an initiatory journey.
The US tour of Director Anne Alix is organized by UniFrance and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States as part of Young French Cinema program. Event sponsored by French and Francophone Studies at Macalester College.
Monday October 14, 4:45 PM, Center for Religious and Spiritual Life
Anne Dargent
Anne Dargent is the owner and baker of D’argent Bakery, a home-based and community-supported micro-bakery specialized in naturally-leavened bread and French pastries. After training at the Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France, Dargent worked at Spoon & Stable in downtown Minneapolis as their Pasta & Bread chef, as well as at the Alliance Française of Minneapolis-St Paul as their culinary instructor.
In this demonstration, you will learn how to make bread at home using only 3 ingredients. We will go over the full process of making bread, from mixing to shaping to baking. We will also talk about the nutritional qualities and digestibility of sourdough and slow fermentation.