Mission

The LSU Center for French and Francophone Studies (CFFS) is a member of the Centers of Excellence Network, designated by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. The mission of the CFFS is to promote the development of French and Francophone culture and scholarship at LSU and in Louisiana more broadly.

The CFFS serves as a research and pedagogy hub bringing together members of the LSU community who share an interest in French and global Francophone studies, including the Department of French Studies which houses the CFFS and is a close collaborator in its programming. As part of its mission, the CFFS seeks to continuously engage, both in person and virtually, with scholars and students across all units at LSU to promote interdisciplinary programming around French culture. This includes collaborations with International Programs, the Office of Research and Development, the LSU Rural Life Museum, and LSU University Press.

In addition to its role within LSU, the CFFS serves the broader community, including the Friends of French at LSU, the Louisiana Museum of Art, Whitney Plantation, the Consulate General of France in New Orleans, and regional higher-ed institutions. Through public scholarship and cultural events that reinforce the continued importance of French in South Louisiana, the CFFS affirms Louisiana’s deep historical and cultural connections to the broader Francophone world. To that end, the CFFS also sponsors international exchanges with France, Canada, Francophone countries in Europe and Africa, and the French Antilles.

The CFFS will accomplish its goals by fully or partially sponsoring colloquia, lectures and workshops on arts, humanities, and social sciences in Louisiana and global French communities in support of its mission, and will seek internal and external funding to support all of its activities on a continuous basis.

People

Director: Adelaide M. Russo

Adelaide Russo is Phyllis Taylor Professor of French Studies and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University. She is also Vice President of the netwrok Chaire Senghor de la Francophonie.

Assistant Director: Todd Jacob

Assistant to the Chair
French Studies
Phone: (225)578-6589
E-mail: tjacob1@lsu.edu
Office: 416B Hodges

Graduate Assistant: Zull-Kifuly Moumouni

Zull-Kifuly is a Ph.D. Candidate in French and Francophone Studies, with a Minor in Political Science at Louisiana State University. He is currently working on a dissertation entitled "Réparer l’Afrique: Violence politique et violation des droits de l’Homme dans la littérature contemporaine d'Afrique subsaharienne francophone,” a research that examines how contemporary francophone sub-Saharan African novels mobilize Law, Political Science and Literature as an interdisciplinary approach to not only denounce political violence in Africa but most importantly advocate for justice and reparation. His other research interests include the dynamics of immigration in Afropéa francophone literature. He is the co-translator of the novel Colorant Felix (2023) by Destin Akpo.

Zull-Kifuly holds an MA in Applied Second Language Acquisition from Missouri State University and a BA in African Studies from the English Department at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. He taught English as a Foreign Language in secondary schools of Benin for 7 years and worked as American Peace Corps Volunteer Counterpart for two years before being selected for the Fulbright- Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program in 2018. During his master’s program, he taught French at undergraduate level as Graduate Teaching Assistant and won the Outstanding Teaching Graduate Assistant Award of Spring 2023.