News & Stories

In new French class, MIT students serve as jury members of US Goncourt Prize

MIT’s French+ Initiative was recently designated as a “Center of Excellence in French Studies” by the Embassy of France, during a 2022 campus visit by Philippe Etienne, then-ambassador of France to the United States. The French+ Initiative gathers scholars working across the humanities and social sciences at MIT whose research and teaching center on the […]

A unique partnership continues to thrive

Last year’s 24th annual European Career Fair (ECF) at MIT, held in early 2020 before the pandemic shuttered campus, was a resounding success, with over 2,000 in-person attendees meeting with over 100 employers from 10 different countries. First-year students chatted with the consul general of the German Consulate Boston while postdocs and PhD candidates met […]

Faculty seed projects grow into pandemic research opportunities

Global partnerships are a fundamental component of research at MIT — even during this time of suspended travel. MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) supports those connections via MISTI Global Seed Funds (GSF). GSF enables participating faculty teams to collaborate with international peers, either at MIT or abroad, to develop and launch joint research projects. MISTI […]

Examining the French stage during the Enlightenment and French Revolution

The MIT Press recently published “Databases, Revenues and Repertory: The French Stage Online, 1680-1793,” an innovative collection of original essays that explore an important initiative in the digital humanities, the Comédie-Française Registers Project (CFRP). This international online collaboration consists of high-resolution reproductions of the detailed daily box office receipts for the Comédie-Française theater troupe in […]

When culture clashes with Covid-19

In China, wearing masks during an epidemic is a readily accepted practice — unlike the situation in, say, the United States or some European countries, where the issue of mask-wearing is revealing civic and political fault lines. To what extent are these differences attributable to the “culture” of each country? And how much have widespread […]

Hair and identity

Sefa Yakpo has always been interested in the question of the beauty standards that shape the lives of women of African descent. Growing up in Ghana, Yakpo recalls going with her mother every Sunday to the salon to watch her mother have her hair done. The posters and pictures in hair product commercials showed women […]

Civil rights in a complex world

For as long as he can remember, Bruno Perreau hoped to teach others. “Being a teacher was something I wanted from the youngest age,” says Perreau, recalling his childhood in France. That wish has come true: Perreau taught for a decade in the French university system and is now the Cynthia L. Reed Associate Professor […]

What Paris shows us about the history of photography

Imagine a photo of Paris you’ve seen before, whether it’s the Eiffel Tower or an urchin carrying a baguette. Have you ever considered the story behind that picture — why it was taken, and why it’s in circulation today? If you haven’t, MIT scholar Catherine Clark certainly has. Clark, an associate professor of French studies […]

Outstanding MIT students of French explore “Paris et la rue”

Think of Paris, and images materialize of sublime art and cosmopolitan sophistication. “We all romanticize the culture, and it’s fine to do that,” says Bruno Perreau, the Cynthia L. Reed Professor and associate professor of French studies. “But we also need to add different layers and rethink the connection between myth and reality,” he says. […]