PhD., 1998 University of Massachusetts

Senior Lecturer

Professor Kevra arrived in Nashville in 2001 after a dozen years in New England, teaching at Marlboro College (Marlboro, VT), Amherst College (Amherst, MA), The School for International Training (Brattleboro, VT) and the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA). Taking advantage of the rich francophone environment just north of New England, she specialized in Quebec Literature and completed a doctoral dissertation entitled, “Body Images: Representations of the Body in the Novel of French Canada and Quebec” in 1998.

Teaching

I see the classroom as a kind of linguistic laboratory, a place to experiment and to learn from both mistakes and successes. Whenever possible, I try to use cultural elements to bring the subject to life, through music, art, play acting, the presence of even ordinary francophone objects. An empty bottle of wine, a bar of French soap can serve as elixirs to open up discussion and inquiry.

Courses Taught:

• FREN101G (French for Reading Knowledge)
• FREN201 (Grammar and Composition)
• FREN103 (Intermediate French)
• FREN115F (Freshman Seminars)
• Women Writers of the French Speaking World
• The French Experience in the Americas
• HUM107W (Literature and the Interpretation of Culture)
• HUM108W (World Literature: Short Stories)
• AMER115F (Food for Thought: American Foodways)
  
• AMER100W (American Social History through Dance)
  

Research and Travel

Susan lived in la Touraine in 2000-2001, living just down the street from the chateau d’Azay-le-Rideau which Balzac called “the jewel of the Loire Valley chateaus.”  While in France, Susan began research on Marie de l’Incarnation (a 17th century French mystic who moved to New France and established the first convent in North America.)

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

• "The Mechanization of Motherhood: Images of Maternity in Quebec Women Writers of the Quiet Revolution." Ameriquests, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2007).
• Translation of Gospel and Culture in an African Context: The Tetela-Kusu-Anamongo People and the Church by Joseph Onema Fama. Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 2006.
• Book review of Louise Côté’s En garde! Les Représentations de la tuberculose au Québec dans la premi ere moitié du XX^e. si cle in Canadian Literature. Winter 2005.
• "The Mechanization of Motherhood: Images of Maternity in Quebec Women Writers of the Quiet Revolution." , Vol. 4, No. 1 (2007).
  
• Book review of La Vie musicale en Nouvelle-France by Élisabeth Gallant-Morin et Jean-Pierre Pinson. Québec Studies: Volume 38, Fall 2004/Winter 2005.
• "Undressing the Text: The Function of Clothing in Gabrielle Roy’s Bonheur d’occasion" Québec Studies: Volume 37, Spring/Summer 2004.
• "The Dance of Death in Nicole Brossard’s Le Désert mauve." International Journal of Canadian Studies: Volume 29 , Fall 2004.
• Book review of Paul Perron’s Narratology and Text: Subjectivity and Identity in New France and Québécois Literature, American Review of Canadian Studies: Fall 2004.
• "Full Swing." Artistic consultant, producer, artist and writer for a critically acclaimed CD and 20-page booklet on New England contradancing. 2001. Great Meadow Music #2006.
• "Indigestible Stew and Holy Piss: The Politics of Food in Rodolphe Girard’s Marie Calumet." Québec Studies: Volume 27, Spring/Summer 1999. Republished in Essays On Canadian Writing: Issue 78, Winter 2003.
• "Of Pigs and Princesses: Corporeal Currency in the 'Meat Market': Themes of Consumption in Les Trois petits cochons." Women in French Studies: Volume 2, Fall 1994.