Patricia-Pia Célérier

Patricia-Pia Célérier is Professor of French and Francophone Studies, affiliated with the Africana Studies and International Studies programs at Vassar College. Her research focuses on contemporary African and Indian Ocean literatures and cultures, the Atlantic world, and film. She has written on a wide range of authors including Mongo Beti, Sony Labou Tansi, Emmanuel Dongala, Aminata Sow Fall, Tierno Monenembo, Alain Mabanckou, Michèle Rakotoson, Raharimanana, and Bessora. She is the author, with Odile Cazenave (Boston University), of Contemporary Francophone African Writers and The Burden of Commitment (Virginia University Press, 2011) and the co-editor of Vingt Ans après le genocide des Tutsis du Rwanda: regards sur la production artistique (Présence Francophone, 2015) and Le Renouveau du documentaire africain (Nouvelles Etudes Francophones, 2018).

At Vassar, Prof. Célérier teaches an array of French and Francophone Studies courses (from Intermediary French language to 200-level courses such as Contemporary France, to senior seminars on French and Francophone Documentaries, and Paris Noir). In Spring 2020, she and Prof. Sam Okoth Opondo (Africana Studies program and Political Studies department) will offer a new Intensive entitled “Thinking Africa: Conversations on the Thought of Achille Mbembe.”