Upcoming Events
SAVE THE DATE: 3rd Annal CFFS Caribbean Digital Humanities Lecture
Linguistic Challenges and AI Innovations for Haitian Creole: Overcoming Language Barriers for Healthcare
Dr. Ludovic Mompelat, University of Miami
Virtual Lecture
Friday, February 21st, 2025 | 11 a.m. -12 p.m. CST | 12-1 p.m. EST
This talk explores the challenges and necessary steps involved in developing an AI-assisted translation and interpretation tool tailored to the Haitian Creole-speaking population in Miami. By addressing linguistic variation, multilingual code-switching, and domain-specific vocabulary for medical settings, the project aims to advance equitable healthcare access for an underserved community in the US. Key topics include the complexities of annotating and standardizing data for Haitian Creole, optimizing traditional Machine Learning approaches with the newest technologies in Machine Translation, and engaging local communities to ensure cultural and practical relevance. The presentation also highlights strategies for scalability and generalization, with a focus on quantifying success through user feedback and community outreach. Join us to learn how cutting-edge natural language processing (NLP) technology can bridge language barriers and reduce healthcare disparities.
SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, March 11th, 2025 - A Lecture with Fatima Shaik
Fatima Shaik is the author of Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free, Black Brotherhood (The Historic New Orleans Collection, February 2021). She was born in the historic Seventh Ward of New Orleans and bred on the oral histories of Black Creoles told by her family and neighbors. Only after she read the records of the Economie—3,000 pages of handwritten French stored in her family’s home—did she realize this community’s impact. She spent two decades reading the journals and documenting events with real estate records, legal cases, old monographs, and articles. A full-time journalist for more than a decade, Shaik founded the Communication Department at Saint Peter's University and taught as tenured faculty for 25 years. Her freelance articles appeared in Essence, Nikkei Architecture, L'Expansion, The New York Times, In These Times, and The Root. Shaik is a trustee of PEN America and former board member of The Writers Room in NYC. Economy Hall is her first work of nonfiction and her seventh book
SAVE THE DATE: Nuit des idées : March 27th, 2024
More information coming soon!
Previous Events
Reflections on the Paris Olympic Games: Perspectives from France and LSU Olympians
November 21, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.
Bo Campbell Auditorium in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes
Building, LSU Campus
Reception immediately following at the Huey P. Long Field House (directly next door)
The School of Kinesiology heard from their esteemed colleague Professor Guillaume Bodet, France’s leading scholar in sport management representing our new partner university, University of Claude Bernard Lyon 1. After his remarks on the significance of the Olympic Games to France, there was a panel to hear from LSU Olympians with Aleah Finnegan (The Philippines, gymnastics), Maggie Mac Neil (Canada, swimming) and Vernon Norwood (USA, track).
The event was free and open to the public and all who love sports. This event was co-sponsored by the CFFS.
Creative Writing Workshop: The Art of Storytelling and the West Indian Tale with Didyer Mannette, Manick Siar-Titéca, & Amandine Vélin
Thursday, November 14th, 4:30-6:00 PM
The CFFS hosted a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to use French language skills! In this interactive workshop, writer and publisher Didyer Mannette, accompanied by Manick Siar-Titéca et Amandine Velin, presented Antillean folktales (le conte antillais) from their home island of Guadeloupe, which served as the frame for a creative writing workshop for student-generated stories. A fun and imaginative way to explore creative expression in French, this workshop was open to all students in French 2101 or higher!
Didyer Mannette is a poet from Morne à l’eau in Guadeloupe and the director of the Guadeloupean publishing
house Neg Mawon. He has facilitated literary competitions and many other cultural
events around poetry, arts, and theatre in both French and Creole.
Manick Siar-Titéca is a trained psychologist and theater woman, as well as the designer and director of the Publishing House "Une Voix...Une Histoire", the first audiobook platform in the Caribbean dedicated to literature and Caribbean authors.
Amandine Vélin is children's book author and storyteller, originally from Guadeloupe, that invites students to explore Creole culture and identity through captivating readings of her books and collaborative workshops.
1805 Concert: September 26 & 27 at 7:30 PM | LSU Digital Media Center Theatre
Attendees traveled back in time to New Orleans in 1805, in a unique concert event that brought together classical musical performance, innovative humanities scholarship and cutting-edge technology!
Presented by the LSU Center for French and Francophone Studies, the 1805 Concert was a unique recital of arias from the French comic operas popular in Louisiana at the turn of the nineteenth century, performed live in a digitally-enabled acoustical environment that restitutes the soundscape of a massive theatre proposed for the New Orleans waterfront in 1805.
Please see the dedicated event page for more information.
Announcements
Call for LSU CFFS Micro-Grant Proposals
The CFFS Micro-Grant initiative invites members of the LSU community to convene small-scale intellectual or creative exchanges that illuminate the broad applicability of intellectual and artistic contributions from the French and Francophone world, broadly construed. All members of the LSU community – undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty – are invited to apply, although preference will be given to student and non-TT/early career faculty proposals. Successful proposals will be eligible to receive organizational support from the CFFS in the form of publicity and help securing on-campus spaces, as well as material support for honoraria and refreshments (up to $500). Whenever possible, Micro-Grant activities will be recorded and archived on the CFFS website for future reference. These grants will be administered on a rolling basis.
Student Engagement
On Thursday, November 14th, 2024, the CFFS hosted Didyer Mannette, Manick Siar-Titéca, and Amandine Vélin for a creative writing working where they presented Antillean folktales (le conte antillais) from their home island of Guadeloupe. This workshop was open to all students in French 2101 or higher.
On September 26th and 27th, attendees were able to travel back in time to New Orleans in 1805, in a unique concert event that brought together classical musical performance with LSU student and faculty performers, innovative humanities scholarship and cutting-edge technology! The CFFS also showcased LSU undergraduate research in the 1805 Concert Pre-Show DIgital Humanities Exhibition. Attendees of the event were able to look at the 2024 Department of French Studies Senior Seminar collaborative project on life in Territorial New Orleans, as well as the undergraduate-led New Orleans Historic Theater Database Project, which each provided context for the evening’s entertainment.