Caroline Laurent
Assistant Professor, Department Chair, French Studies and Modern Language
- Department: French Studies and Modern Languages

Professor Laurent began teaching at AUP in 2021. At AUP, she teaches French as well as courses on Francophone cultures and literatures. Before joining AUP, she taught Postcolonial Studies at Sciences Po - Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France, African and 91Ž«Ăœ Literature at King's College London in England, and French Language and Romance Literatures at Harvard University in the United States.
Laurent's research deals with twentieth- and twenty-first-century French and Francophone literatures and cultures, with special emphasis on Metropolitan France, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Her book manuscript,ÌęThe Words of Others: Remembering and Writing Genocide as an Indirect Witness, examines literary and graphic representations of genocidal violence. She focuses on the Holocaust, the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the Khmer Rouge genocide and mass killings in Cambodia. Specifically, by connecting the authorsâ representational strategies to critical theories related to memory studies, she examines how indirect witnesses, that is individuals who did not literally or personally experience genocide, problematize their own testimonial acts. Her newest project entitledÌęConnected Histories of (Post)Coloniality: Circulation and Reception of Art Representing a Diverse Francophone PastÌęconsiders the representation and dissemination of histories through art forms, with the aim of dismantling a monolithic national(istic) narrative. By insisting on their creation, their circulation, and their reception, she shows how these historical representations encourage the formation of a new heritage that encompasses different communities. The foregoing creative processes also point to their perpetual transformation that would allow for new decolonized epistemologies and ways to illuminate the past in a context which is Francophone, but also alive in its plural, global, as well as multilingual realities.
Education/Degrees
- Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures. Harvard University, 2016.
- M.Phil. in European Literature and Culture. Christ's College, The University of Cambridge, 2006.
- BA (Hons) in 91Ž«Ăœ Literature and History & Social Sciences. The American University of Paris, 2004.
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News
- âCaine Prize 2023: Senegalese writers win for fantasy-horror story about dangers facing girls.âÌęThe Conversation Africa. 16 October 2023.
- âMohamed Mbougar Sarr: Senegalese novelist's win is a landmark for African literature.âÌęThe Conversation Africa. 9 November 2021.
- âGoncourt Literary Prize - Senegal's Mohamed Mbougar Sarr wins prestigious award.âÌęEye on Africa, France 24. 3 November 2021.
- âDavid Diop: his haunting account of a Senegalese soldier that won the Booker prize.âÌęThe Conversation Africa. 3 June 2021.
- âOur World in Graphics.â Audio blog post with Haya Alfarhan.ÌęArts and Humanities Now. Kingâs College London, 7 August 2019.
Publications
Articles
- âThe Haunting Image and Memorial Construction for the 1.5 Generation: S-21/Tuol Sleng in Francophone Sequential Art.âÌęTuol Sleng Genocide Museum: A Multifacted History of the Khmer Rouge Crimes, edited by StĂ©phanie Benzaquen-Gautier and Anne-Laure PorĂ©e, Brill, 2024, pp. 226-44.
- âSecrets de famille et fantĂŽmes/compulsion spectrale dansÌęCent mille journĂ©es de priĂšresÌęde Hui Phang et Sterckeman.âÌęSquelettes, ectoplasmes et fantĂŽmes, edited by FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chauvaud and Denis Mellier, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2023, pp. 119-41.
- âMĂ©moire et Imag(e)ination : La ReprĂ©sentation de la violence et du gĂ©nocide cambodgien par lâart sĂ©quentiel.âÌęArt sĂ©quentiel et catastrophes, edited by Charlotte Krauss and Françoise Lavocat, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2022, pp.Ìę275-96.
- âEmbodiment and Transmission: An Interview with Franco-Cambodian cartoonist Tian Veasna.â Interview with Angelica P. So.ÌęJournal of Graphic Novels and Comics, vol. 13, no. 3, 2022, pp. 486-98. DOI:Ìę
- âVers une mĂ©moire partagĂ©e des tirailleurs sĂ©nĂ©galais.âÌęMemWar - Memorie e oblii delle guerre e dei traumi del XX secolo, edited by Roberto Francavilla, Anna Giaufret, and Laura Quercioli Mincer, Genova UP, 2021, pp. 51-68.
- âVoyageurs malgrĂ© eux: Silence, Embodiment, and Exposure in Doan Bui and Minh Tran Huy.âÌęFrench Cultural Studies, vol. 32, no. 4, 2021, pp. 346-63. DOI:ÌęÌę
- âLe gĂ©nocide rwandais : LâEcrivain-tĂ©moin indirect comme âdonneur dâĂ©chosâ dansÌęMoisson de crĂąnesÌęde Waberi.âÌęNouvelles Ă©tudes francophones, edited by Nicoletta Dolce and Irena Trujic, vol. 30, no. 1, University of Nebraska Press, Spring 2015, pp. 79-90. DOI:Ìę
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Conferences & Lectures
- âReclaiming Viá»t Nam: Memory and Embodied Transmission in PapinâsÌęLes Os des filles.âÌęWomen, Memory, and Intergenerational Transmission in the Francophone World. Women in French Australia. Virtual Seminar Series, 29 November 2023.
- âThe Presence of PerecâsÌęJe me souviensâŠÌęin Francophone Works or How to Create a Literary Memory of Past Traumatic Events.âÌęPerecÌę: Je me souviens. Je me souviens de Perec. Perec: I remember.ÌęI remember Perec. MLA Convention 2023. San Francisco, 5-8 January 2023.
- âPassĂ©, exil et souffrance : le corps-archive dansÌęLes Os des fillesÌęde Line Papin.âÌęSELF XX-XXI â ExpĂ©riences. Paris, 16-18 June 2022.
- â(Mi)Lieu de mĂ©moire: Southeast Asian Identities in Parisâs Chinatown.âÌęPostcolonial Realms of Memory: Sites and Symbols in the Modern Francosphere. Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies. Florida State University. Tallahassee, 7-8 October 2021.
- âEntomological Re-Appropriation of Propagandist Rhetoric: FromÌęInyenziÌętoÌęPhalĂšneÌęin Koulsy Lamko.âÌęNarrating Violence: Making Race, Making Difference.ÌęNordic Summer University Study Circle Narrative and Violence and The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights, and Conflict Prevention at The American University of Paris. Paris, 29-31 March 2021.
- âThrough Mati Diopâs Eyes: Representing Social and Gender Realities of Women in Senegal.âÌęVisual Africa: Francophone Womenâs Aesthetic Representations of AfricaÌę(WiF Roundtable), NeMLA Conference 2021. Virtual Convention, 11-14 March 2021.
- ââJeâ to âTuâ in Loo Hui PhangâsÌęłąâIłŸ±è°ùłÜ»ć±đČÔłŠ±đ: Siblings in Stories of Migration and Exile.âÌęSiblings in French and Francophone Literature, NeMLA Conference 2021. Virtual Convention, 11-14 March 2021.
- âForgetting and Remembering FranceâsÌęTirailleurs SĂ©nĂ©galais.âÌęMemWar â Memory and Oblivion of Twentieth-Century Wars and Trauma. UniversitĂ di Genova. Virtual Conference, 9-11 December 2020.
- âSecrets de famille et compulsion spectrale dansÌęCent mille journĂ©es de priĂšresÌęde Hui Phang et Sterckeman.âÌęSquelettes, ectoplasmes et fantĂŽmes. AngoulĂȘme â CIBDI, 18-19 November 2020.
- âHybridity and Writing: The Representation of Violence in Rwanda and Burundi.âÌęNarrating GenocideÌę(Roundtable), NeMLA Conference 2020. Boston, 5-8 March 2020.
- âBeing and Belonging: from âIâ to âWeâ in ClĂ©ment BaloupâsÌęViá»t Kiá»uÌęMemoirs.âÌęNarrative Voice in Autobiographical Graphic Novels, NeMLA Conference 2020. Boston, 5-8 March 2020.
- ââPresque malgrĂ© nous, nous commencions de nous Ă©tablir en ces lieux oĂč nous nâavions pensĂ© que passerâ: Migration and Embodied Silence in Franco-Vietnamese Literature.âÌęNarratives of Forced Migration in The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. University of Stirling. Stirling, 16-18 September 2019.
- ââJe lâai cherchĂ©e sans plus y croireâ: Victims and Survivors of the Khmers Rouges inÌęLa Colline empoisonnĂ©eÌęby Poustochkine.âÌęâThe Missing Pictureâ: Rethinking Genocide Studies and Prevention, International Association of Genocide Scholars 2019 Conference. American University of Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 14-19 July 2019.
- âListeningÌęto Others: Writing the Rwandan Genocide as an Indirect Witness.âÌęThinking with Jean-Luc Nancy, Oxford International Conference 2019. Oxford, 28-30 March 2019.
- âViolence, or the Memory of Childhood in GaĂ«l FayeâsÌęPetit Pays.â ASAUK: African Studies Association in the UK 2018 Conference. University of Birmingham. Birmingham, 11-13 September 2018.
- ââRĂ©sister, par tous les moyensâ: Mobilisation in the Dystopian Political Work of Karim AmellalâsÌęBleu Blanc Noir.âÌęSous les pavĂ©s, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies Colloquium. Brown University. Providence, 12-14 April 2018.
- âThe Haunting Image and Memorial Construction: Tuol Sleng in French Comic Books.â ACLA Conference 2017. Utrecht University. Utrecht, the Netherlands, 6-9 July 2017.
- ââCâest le chemin qui dĂ©cide de lâendroit oĂč tu vas atterrir:â The Plural Representation of Migration in Barroux and Bessoraâs graphic novelÌęAlpha.â Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Languages & Literatures. University of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, 31 March-1 April 2017.
- âBeyond Borders: How to âOpenlyâ Speak of the Rwandan Genocide Through Literature.âÌęGlobal Trajectories: Towards New Critical Horizons, Inaugural French and Francophone Graduate Conference. Harvard University. Cambridge, 12 May 2016.
- âBetween Life and Death, Past and Present: The Heritage of a Specter inÌęLa PhalĂšne des collinesÌęby Lamko.âÌęPassages, Seuils, Portes, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies Colloquium. St. Louis, 17-19 March 2016.
- âMĂ©moire et Imag(e)ination: La ReprĂ©sentation de la violence et du gĂ©nocide cambodgien par lâart sĂ©quentiel.âÌęSequential Art and Catastrophes: Comics, Mangas, Graphic Novels. UniversitĂ© Paris 3- Sorbonne Nouvelle. Paris, 11- 13 February 2016.
- âLe GĂ©nocide rwandais: Voix collective et mĂ©moire multidirectionnelle (Moisson de crĂąnesÌęde Waberi).â Congress of theÌęConseil InternationalÌędâEtudes Francophones. San Francisco, 29 June-6 July 2014.
- âThe Pain of Incest in DĂ©wĂ© GorodĂ©âsÌęłąâĂpČč±č±đ: from the Individual to the Caledonian Nation.âÌęThe Poetics of Pain, Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference. CUNY. New York, 25-26 February 2010.
Affiliations
- Memory Studies Association
- Modern Language Association
- International Association of Genocide Scholars
- British 91Ž«Ăœ Literature Association
- Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies
- Northeast Modern Language Association
- Women in French
Research Areas
- 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone Literatures;
- 91Ž«Ăœ Genocide Studies;
- History and Memory;
- Psychoanalysis;
- Postcolonial Studies;
- Diaspora Literature;
- Cultural Studies;
- Graphic Novels and Narratives;
- Popular Culture