Katelyn Knox

I’m an Associate Professor of French at the University of Central Arkansas, where I specialize in 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literature, music, and culture.

My first book, Race on Display in 20th- and 21st-Century France, came out in 2016 with Liverpool University press. I’m now working on my second book, tentatively titled Mediating Francophone Afropea, which will examine how ultracontemporary Afropean authors and artists blur boundaries between literature and music.

I also enjoy helping other junior humanities scholars–especially those at teaching institutions–navigate the tenure-track and the process of publishing their first academic book. I share advice on the academic book publishing process, establishing sustainable routines, and how to find more time for the things that matter most to you on my blog.

Citation: Race on Display in 20th- and 21st-Century France, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016.

I did an interview about my book on the New Books in French Studies Podcast.

Race on Display in 20th- and 21st- Century France addresses a central tension in contemporary France: the relationship between race, ethnicity, immigration, and national identity. The project turns the tables on the rhetoric of “internal otherness,” asking its reader not to spot those deemed France’s so-called “others” but rather to deconstruct the very gazing impulses that produce them. This book is about how postcolonial Francophone immigrants and their descendants are made—and make themselves—visible in contemporary France’s socio-political, historical, and above all cultural realms. It understands “race” broadly, and, as such, places whiteness under scrutiny alongside racial and ethnic minorities.

This book draws from a diverse and engaging corpus of 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literature, fashion, dance, performance art, children’s comics, and popular music.

Read more about it on LUP’s website, or visit the book’s webpage to interact with the objects it studies.