lectures2007

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Pascal Fioretto
(Journalist & Author)

"You Think it's Funny? Humor on Both Sides of the Atlantic"

A graduate of the National School of Chemistry, Pascal Fioretto joins the team of the famous Marcel Gotelieb's publication, Fluide Glacial. After working as a ghostwriter, Fioretto published his first book in 2006 and he reaches fame with his 2007 book, Et si c'était niais, a pastiche of eleven contemporary writers.

Humor can be the melting pot of an identity or perhaps of a cultural community. From Molière to Desproges, from Rabelais to Feydeau, is there a typical French sense of humor? And from Lawrence Sterne to Ricky Gervais, or from Mark Twain to W.C. Fields, is there a specifically Anglo-Saxon humor? Pascal Fioretto will try to sketch, with examples from theater and literature, but also from film and television, the main fundamentals of these two ways of laughing, and thus, of seeing the world.

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: TBA @ Lecture
For more information call 934 8902

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Jean-Louis Bruguière

(Click here to read a New York Times article by M. Bruguière)

Jean-Louis Bruguière was a successful juge d'instruction (a mixture of special prosecutor and district attorney in the French legal system) particularly in charge of fighting terrorism. He was responsible for the prosecution of infamous terrorist Carlos. After warning the United States of a possible attack on the United States prior to September 11, he became an advisor to the American government. He is today the High Representative of the European Union to the United States for terrorist affairs (Terrorism Finance Tracking Program/ SWIFT). Mr. Bruguière is the author of: Ce que je n'ai pas pu dire (2009) [What I Could not Say], with the subtitle, "30 years of fighting terrorism."

"Translatlantic Cooperation in the Fight Against Terrorism"

This lecture discusses Franco-American cooperation in the fight against terrorism before and after the attacks of 11 September 2001. Jean-Louis Bruguière explains that the trans-Atlantic partnership to combat terrorism has been a success story despite differences or political tensions. The lecture will also evaluate the potential for further development and improvement of cooperation between the United States and France, and the European Union, after the abandonment of the concept of "war on Terror," and provide suggestions and recommendations for future enhancements.

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: Home of Hubert & Ann Lyn de Germiny
(Address at Lecture)
For more information call 934 8902 or http://www.afbirmingham.org

Saturday, Januarly 16, 2010

The Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Jean Macary
(Agrégé de Lettres Classiques, Emeritus Professor Fordham University)

"Le combat de Voltaire contre les fanatismes"

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: TBA
For more information call 934 8902 or http://www.afbirmingham.org

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Altamont School and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invites you to attend the annual concert at the Altamont School's Fine Arts Center by

Eric Vincent

(http://www.eric-vincent.com/)

Eric with one of his best friends and neighbor, Georges Moustaki

Eric with Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls

Eric meeting with James Taylor,
whose songs he interprets

There is no admission charge, as the Altamont French club funds the event as a public service to our students and community.
Eric's unique music reflects the influence of his travels and performances in over 140 countries worldwide. Some of his songs are a blend of folk, jazz, rock and ethnic rhythms, while others are closer to traditional French ballads and love songs. He has also adapted several of James Taylor's songs, which will be included in his repertoire for this concert.

Time: 10:00 AM
Place: The Altamont School's Fine Arts Center
4801 Altamont Road South, Birmgham, AL 35222
Phone: (205) 879-2006
Admission: FREE

The Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Laurent Cohen-Tanugi
(International lawyer and member of the Paris and New York bars)

Ten years after the launch of the euro, five years after the great expansion to Central and Eastern Europe and four years after the rejection of the constitutional treaty, where is the European Union on economics, politics and diplomacy? Is Europe finally ready to become a world player? Can Europe become a credible and effective partner of the United States in an increasingly uncertain world? How can Europe deal with the economic crisis? Is it the laboratory for future global governance or an outdated vision?

International lawyer and member of the Paris and New York bars, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi specialized in trans-national mergers and acquisitions and international arbitration. He was an associate with the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, then with the firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton from 1991 to 2003. He was also Senior Vice-President and member of the executive committee of Sanofi-Synthélabo, the European pharmaceutical group, in 2004.
In October 2007, the French government asked him to conduct a study on the future of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Employment in the European Union. This mission led to the publication of a report entitled Beyond Lisbon: A European Strategy for Globalization.
He holds a degree from the Ecole normale supérieure and the Institut d'études politiques de Paris [Institute of Political Studies of Paris]. He also has a degree in French language and literature and is a graduate of both Paris and Harvard Law Schools. He is the author of numerous works, including Le Droit sans l'Etat [Law without the State] (PUF, 1985), a comparative essay on French and American political and legal traditions, and l'Europe en danger [Europe in Danger] (Fayard, 1992), a work which predicted the current political crisis in Europe.
His recent publications in English include An Alliance At Risk, The United States and Europe since September 11 by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003 (French title: Les Sentinelles de la liberté, L'Europe et l'Amérique au seuil du XXIème siècle) which explores the current state and the perspectives on the evolution of transatlantic relations; The End of Europe? (Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005, volume 84, # 6, French title: La Fin de l'Europe?), an analysis of the situation in the European Union after the French and Dutch rejection of the European constitutional treaty; and more recently, The Shape of the World to Come, Charting the Geopolitics of a New Century, (Columbia University Press, 2008) (French title: Guerre ou paix, Essai sur le monde de demain), on the geopolitics of globalization.
Laurent Cohen-Tanugi is also a regular contributor to the French dailies Les Echos and Le Monde, and is a board member of several think tanks, including Notre Europe [Our Europe] and the Fondation pour l'innovation politique [Foundation for Political Innovation]. He is also a member of the French Academy of Technologies. A regular consultant to the French government, he is a member of the Commission de réflexion sur la justice [Commission on Reflections on Justice], established by President Chirac in 1997 and the Commission sur l'économie de l'immatériel [Commission on the Economy of the Intangible], established by the French government in 2006.

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: Home of Lydia Caffee
(Address at Lecture)
For more information call 934 8902 or http://www.afbirmingham.org

UAB Department of Foreign Languages and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free concert of French songs and commentary.

Featuring soprano
Kristie Nix
assisted by
Vera Britton
with special guest appearance by soprano Karlie Head

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: Home of John & Katherine Sechrist
(Address at Lecture)
For more information call 934 8902 or http://www.afbirmingham.org

Saturday, May 2, 2009

UAB Department of Foreign Languages and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Aurélien Mokoko Cécile Mokoko
(Visiting Professors at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

"The Black Question and the French Republic"

"The collapse of slavery in the French Antilles and of the French colonial empire a century later gave rise to the emergence of a variety of Francophone Black nationalities and communities both worldwide and in metropolitan France. With the passing of time and generations, Black people have gradually yet deeply taken root in the French Republic. Still, the meaning of Black identity in France remains equivocal to many of their fellow citizens, for the French national self-identification typically entails a number of identity markers that render ambiguous the place of Black citizens and residents in the French social order.
The riots that took place in the “banlieues” in 2005, as well as the political and scholarly debates over the memory of slavery and the “positive role of colonization” triggered renewed interest in current issues encountered by Black French-men and -women. Among these, I have chosen to focus more specifically on the following questions: What does it mean to be a Black French person? Is there a Black French community, or are there many Black communities in France? To what extent is the current demand for greater visibility also a rising claim for a special treatment for Black people in France?"

Aurélien Mokoko Gampiot earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Rennes 2 and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa where he teaches a graduate seminar on African societies and Diaspora as seen through colonial and postcolonial African Francophone literature.

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: Home of Mr. David Blake & Mr. Bob Burns
(Address @ Lecture)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

UAB Department of Foreign Languages and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Dr. Nicole Bacharan
(Chercheur associée à la Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques (Science-Po) et National Fellow de la Hoover Institution à l'Université Stanford en Californie)

"Faut-il avoir peur de l'Amérique?"

L'histoire de l'anti-américanisme français est antérieure à la naissance des Etats-Unis. Néanmoins, les " années Bush " ont suscité un regain sans précédent de cette vieille passion française. Dès le lendemain du 11 septembre, certains pointaient du doigt une Amérique coupable, source de menaces et avide d'affrontements. La guerre d'Afghanistan, mais plus encore la guerre d'Irak, ont renforcé cette hostilité._L'Amérique est-elle conforme à l'image dont on l'affuble volontiers à l'étranger : arrogante, violente, inégalitaire, impériale, arc-boutée sur ses convictions, si sûre de son modèle démocratique qu'elle voudrait l'imposer à la Terre entière ? _Alors que le pouvoir vient de changer de mains à la Maison Blanche (après une élection qui a suscité une véritable passion chez les Français), la démocratie américaine mérite d'être passée au sérum de vérité, sans tabou, sans préjugé. Le rêve américain a-t-il encore un sens à l'heure du terrorisme et de la guerre ? La religion prend-elle peu à peu le pouvoir ? Le pays de la peine de mort et de Guantanamo est-il vraiment une démocratie ? L'Amérique a-t-elle trahi ou non ses idéaux ? Veut-elle dominer le monde ? En somme, faut-il en avoir peur ?
Nicole Bacharan est historienne et politologue spécialiste de la société américaine et des relations franco-américaines. Nicole Bacharan est chercheur associée à la Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques (Science-Po) et National Fellow de la Hoover Institution à l'Université Stanford en Californie.

The history of French anti-Americanism precedes the birth of the United States. Nonetheless, “the Bush years triggered a revival without precedent of this old French passion." Immediately following September 11, 2001, some people were pointing their finger at America as the guilty culprit, as a source of threats and of avid confrontations. The war in Afghanistan and then even more so the war in Iraq served to reinforce this hostility. Has America conformed to the stereotype often heard abroad: arrogant, violent, elitist, imperial, buttressed by its convictions, so sure of its democratic model and willing to impose it on the entire world? After a change of power in the White House (following an election that incited a real passion among the French), American democracy warrants a close scrutiny without taboo or prejudice. Does the American dream still make sense in a time of terrorism and war? Is religion, slowly, gaining power? Is a country that kept capital punishment and Guantanamo really a democracy? Has America betrayed her own ideals? Does America want to dominate the world? In short, should the world fear the US?
Nicole Bacharan is an historian and political science professor specialist in American society and Franco-American relations. She is a senior fellow with la Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques of Paris (Science-Po), France, and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University in California.

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: chez Mme Gerda Carmichael

Saturday, February 28, 2009

UAB Department of Foreign Languages and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Dr. Cécile Coquet
(Professor at the University of Tours &
Visiting Professor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

"Communautés et communautarisme en France
et aux Etats-Unis"

Dr. Cécile Coquet-Mokoko is a former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-St. Cloud. After teaching at Harvard University's Department of Romance Languages and Literature, she earned her Ph.D. in African American Studies from the university of Paris VII. She is associate professor of American and African American Studies at the University of Aix-en-Provence and the University of Tours. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where she teaches in the American Studies Department while carrying out personal research on the (self)perception of biracial couples and multi-and trans-racial families in present day Alabama.

The aim of this lecture is to discuss what the French and the Americans mean when they talk about "community" and "communitarianism." These two words encompass two such widely different conceptions of social interaction; and of how individuals and groups (whether socio-professionally, ethnically or culturally defined) find their place in each society's mainstream. By discussing them together, we may hope to reconsider, and maybe ultimately discard, the mutual preconceptions and misrepresentations that have proven a constant source of misunderstandings between the two cultures and their representatives in the political sphere, and hopefully work towards a better appreciation of both societal models.

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Humanities Building, Room 105, 900 13th St. S.
Admission: FREE
Reception: Home of Mr. & Mrs. John Floyd
(Address @ Lecture)

For more information, call 934-8902

Saturday, January 17, 2009

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Dr. Stephen Miller

"The Terror in Southern France During the French Revolution 1793-1794."

Dr. Stephen Miller completed his doctorate at UCLA in 1999. Three year-long research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Chancellor of UCLA, and the UCLA history department, as well as a Faculty Development Grant from UAB, permitted Dr. Miller to complete research for a book about eighteenth-century France and the Revolution. The book shows that positions of political authority such as seigneurial domains and venal offices were central to the wealth and status of the nobility and bourgeoisie of eighteenth-century France. This insight allows Dr. Miller to show that social forces played a critical role in the origins and unfolding of the French Revolution. Miller documents this thesis with meticulous research on the old regime province of Languedoc. His work can be seen in several articles in journals including French Historical Studies, The Journal of Social History, and European History Quarterly. The book, State and Society in Eighteenth-Century France: A Study of Political Power and Social Revolution in Languedoc, was published in 2008 . Miller's next project, for which he has received grants from the American Philosophical Society and the Faculty Development Program of UAB, analyzes the monarchy's efforts to reform its institutions by creating provincial assemblies of landowners in the 1770s and 1780s.

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: TBA

For more information, call 934-8902

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Dr. Lamia Ben Youssef Zayzafoon
(Professor of French & Arabic at U.A.B.)

"Le Droit à la Mémoire:
Le Cauchemar Postcolonial à Travers la Peinture Folie de Moncef Ben Amor (1943-1990)"

Agnostique, misogyne, opposant politique versé dans la pensée Kafkaïnne, l'école Freudienne, le surréalisme "Dalien," le nihilisme Nietzschien et la culture arabo-musulmane du Maghreb, Moncef Ben Amor est le seul artiste Tunisien qui soit parvenu à libérer la peinture Tunisienne de sa thématique coloniale et à réinscrire dans l'histoire le Guernica de Bourguiba avant de se suicider un 19 Juillet 1990

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception: TBA

For more information, call 934-8902

Saturday, April 5, 2008

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Antoine Sfeir
(Journalist, Publisher of Les Cahiers de l'Orient, Director of the Centre d'Etudes et de Réflexions sur le Proche-Orient (thinktank on the Middle East) since 1990)

"Turmoil in the Middle East"

French-Lebanese journalist, Antoine Sfeir contributed to French paper La Croix and magazine L'Express as well as to several periodicals such as Esprit and Etudes. He currently teaches at the journalism school CELSA (Paris IV Sorbonne). Sfeir is the author of a series of studies about the Arab world for the French Government (Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs). He authored works on religion, Dieu, Yahweh, Allâh : Les Grandes Questions sur les trois religions, 100 réponses à des vraies questions d'enfants (Bayard Jeunesse, 2004), on Islam and Islamism, Les Réseaux d'Allah (Plon, 2001), and on communitarism and secularism with René Andrau, Liberté, Égalité, Islam (Tallandier, 2005.) In 2006, in collaboration with Nicole Bacharan, he published a book on the Middle East, Américains, Arabes: la confrontation (Seuil, 2006) and Vers l'Orient compliqué (Grasset, 2006).

Why did the United States invade Iraq? It has now been five years that this question has been asked. Antoine Sfeir tries to answer the question by recalling the history of these countries from the Sykes-Picot accords to today; retelling the stories of their coming to independence; the regional power struggles, and the Gulf war of 1991. However, by stressing the more recent date of September 11, 2001, his demonstration takes on greater meaning. Finally, Antoine Sfeir sets forth a hypothesis, which, beginning from an analysis of American foreign policy, appears to find greater confirmation each day, and puts in perspective the opinion of an American failure in Iraq.

Time: 6:30 PM
Place: UAB Humanities Building, Room 105, 900 13th St. S.
Admission: FREE
Reception: Chez Mme Cynthia Butler
3525 Cliff Road
Birmingham Al 35205
326 0866

Call UAB Associate Professor Serge Bokobza, Ph.D., for more details at 204-934-8902.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Gaston Kelman
(French author and consultant)

"An End to The Racial Alibi"

Kelman, a native of Cameroon, is author of the book "I Am a Black Man and I Don't Like Manioc" published in 2003. In this bestseller, Kelman, with provocation and a dose of humor, castigates the clichés associated with the condition of being black in society.

Among his controversial views, Kelman denies there is black culture. He thus favors what he calls an assimilating humanism and is unsympathetic toward certain associations or organizations that call for the integration of black populations while at the same time maintaining the right to assert a difference.

In 1992, Kelman started an association for the discussion of matters relating to the integration of the races, known by its French acronym as the CRI. He also owns a consulting firm that deals with socio-cultural issues related to immigration from black Africa.
Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Humanities Building, Room 105, 900 13th St. S.
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA

Call UAB Associate Professor Serge Bokobza, Ph.D., for more details at 204-934-8902.

DR.ROBERT SATLOFF

WEDNESDAY - JANUARY 30, 2008

Hulsey Recital Hall

“Countering the Holocaust Denial in the Arab World:

A Personal Approach”

1:00PM – 2:00PM

“In Search of an Arab Schindler: Did Any ARABS SAVE ANY JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?”

6:30PM – 7:30PM

Book signing session

3:00PM-4:20PM

Lamia Ben Youssef Zayzafoon, Ph.D. /Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures / University of Alabama at Birmingham / HB 408 / 1530 3rd Avenue South / Birmingham, Alabama 35294-1260 / 205.934.2214(tel.) / 205.934.1944 (fax) / lzayzafo@@uab.edu

Reception to follow

Friday, January 11, 2008

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Christopher Thompson
(History Professor, Ball State University and
author of The Tour de France: A Cultural History)

"Giants of the Road or Junkies"

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA
For more information, call 934-8902

Friday, November 30, 2007

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Antoine Malamoud
(grandson of Léon Blum)

"Léon Blum en captivité:
des prisons de Vichy à Buchenwald (1940-1945)"

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA
For more information, call 934-8902

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception chez M. George et Mme Cynthia Butler
For more information, call 934-8902

Cette conférence est organisée avec le soutien de la Délégation générale de l'Alliance Française de Paris aux Etats-Unis.
This lecture is organized with the support of la Délégation générale de l'Alliance Française of Paris in the United States.

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Jean Harzic
" French Language and Cultural Diversity"

Click here for more information on M. Harzic

Time: 6:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception chez Mme Annie McCarter
For more information, call 934-8902

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulesselhoul, born in Algeria in 1955. An officer in the Algerian army, he became a commander by the time he left in 2000 after thirty-six years of military life, to dedicate himself to his real vocation: writing. In 2001, after a short stay in Mexico , he settled in France where he has lived ever since with his family. His wife suggested he take on a pseudonym and lent him two first names.
Yasmina Khadra hit the scene in 1997 with Morituri, soon followed by L’Ecrivain, an autobiographical novel.

Les Hirondelles de Kaboul, translated in the USA by John Cullen, was best book of the year in 2005 according to the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor. L’Attentat, pubished in 2005, confirmed his talent and international acclaim.

Nobel prize winner J. M. Coetze sees in this prolific writer, now translated into 17 languages, a novelist of the highest order. In 2004, Newsweek acclaimed him as one of the rare writers capable of giving a meaning to the violence in Algeria today. His novel set in Afghanistan under the Taliban The Swallows of Kabul was short listed for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception to be announced
For more information, call 934-8902

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Born in Paris in 1950, Philippe Gumplowicz is distinguished lecturer in musicology at the University of Bourgogne and teaches seminars at the Sorbonne as well as at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Studies.
He is also a writer, and his published works including Les Travaux d'Orphée (The Labors of Orpheus), nominated for the Musical Literature Prize, and Le Roman du Jazz (The Novel of Jazz), covering three periods, the third one being published in 2006.
He is a playwright, having penned three stage plays.
In the area of audio-visual, Philippe Gumplowicz is a producer with France Culture and France Musique, radio stations for which he works on musical news programs, he puts together shows that are broadcast on the television stations ARTE, LA SEPT and France 3.

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by