Keenan Defends Dissertation
Kelly Keenan, PhD student in our French Language & Literature program, successfully defended her dissertation on Monday, March 3. Congratulations, Kelly!
Kelly’s dissertation is titled Rewriting Body and Word:Â Gender and Catholicism in French Literature and Film. From her abstract:
“From the French Revolution through the separation of Church and state to the 1968 cultural revolution, Catholicism has declined in French society over time. The relationship between Catholicism and womanhood stands as a crucial touchpoint to this downturn. A consideration for gender adds nuance, as can be traced from the decline of female monastic life, across changing interpretations of religious mythology, and through the rise of feminism. French literature and cinema have served as a witness to these many changes: authors and filmmakers have employed Christian stories and themes to raise questions of identity, authority, faith, and voice. In this dissertation, I explore the effect of Catholicism’s presence in cultural productions and what it reveals about the relationship between gender and religion. How are women portrayed in the religiously charged stories that (re)appear in literature and film? What do these representations demonstrate about the evolving relationship between womanhood and Catholicism in France since the 18th century?”