Dr Sophie Watt

Contact details

Qualifications

BA, Paris VII
MA, PhD University of Iowa (USA)

Biography

I studied history as an undergraduate at the University of Paris VII and hold a Masters Degree and an interdisciplinary PhD in Modern French History and Literature from the University of Iowa.

Before joining the department in 2009 as a Teaching Associate, I worked as a Teaching Fellow in French at the University of Aberdeen. I teach French language at all levels and a second year module on French history.

My doctoral thesis analyses the construction of minority identities within the broader contours of French national identity during the late Third Republic and traces ethnic prejudices inherent in republican ideology. It focuses on episodes of prejudice that transformed minorities – specifically Jews and colonised peoples – into constructed subjects. My research interests include discourse analysis, postcolonial theories of textuality and historical inquiry.

Publications

'Alexandre Arcady and the re-writing of French Colonial History in Algeria.' Article forthcoming 2010 in an edited volume.
'Comparative Analysis of Three "Human" Exhibitions: The Semiotic Construction of the Jewish and Colonised subjects', in The Essence and the Margin: National Identities and Collective Memories in Contemporary European Culture, Studia Imagologica series vol. 15 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009)
'The Discursive Construction of Minority Identities in Third Republic France: The 1937 Madagascar Plan, Exemplification of Republican Racism', in The European Mind: Narrative and Identity (Malta: Malta University Press, 2008)

Departmental Responsibilities

I supervise work placements for the Year Abroad.