Professor Julia Waters

French Year Abroad Co-ordinator
Office
Miller 114Building location
Miller buildingAreas of interest
I have particular research interests in: twentieth-century and contemporary French & Francophone literature, Francophone literatures of the Indian Ocean, especially Mauritius; women’s writing in French, especially Marguerite Duras and Ananda Devi; feminist & postcolonial theory.
My latest monograph, The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging, was published in December 2018 with Liverpool University Press and is available in Open Access format: https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/48080/
My book, Duras and Indochina: Postcolonial Perspectives (Liverpool: SFPS Critical Studies, 2006) is now available in digital form here: http://sfps.org.uk/sfps-critical-studies/
Postgraduate supervision
I am happy to supervise PhD theses on any of the areas of interest outlined above or related areas.
Current supervisions:
- Amel Ghenam (Department of English Literature): Aesthetics of Afrofuturism and dynamics of Subversion/Reconstruction in Contemporary Black feminist speculative Fiction.
Completed supervisions:
- Maria Tomlinson (Department of Languages and Cultures): The Female Fertility Cycle in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Representations of Menstruation, Childbirth, and the Menopause in Contemporary Women's Writing in French (2018).
Teaching
My main teaching interests are modern and contemporary French and Francophone literature and cinema, women's writing, and translation.
At Part 1, I teach on the Introduction to French Culture module (FR1IFC), the Greats of European Cinema module (ML1GEC) and teach French language (FR1L3).
At Part 2, I teach translation between French and English (FR2L4) and the module FR2GFLS, Global French Life Stories .
At Part 3, I teach and convene FR3FC, The French Caribbean: Language, Literature and Identity and contribute to ML3CW Cinemas of the World.
Professional bodies/affiliations
President of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies - http://sfps.org.uk
General Editor, Francophone Postcolonial Studies series, Liverpool University Press - https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/series/series-12325/
I am on the Editorial Board of Les Cahiers Marguerite Duras; and of Recherches Francophones: Revue de l'Association internationale d'étude des littératures et des cultures de l'espace francophone (AIELCEF).
I am a member of Le Conseil International des Études Francophones; The Society for French Studies; la Société Internationale Marguerite Duras; the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF); the Association of University Professors and Heads of French (AUPHF); and The Centre for Contemporary Women's Writing.
Publications
- Waters, J. (2022) Continuity or rupture?: remapping the end of empire in Marguerite Duras’s ‘Cycle Indien’. Colonial Continuities and Decoloniality in the French-Speaking World: From Nostalgia to Resistance. Francophone Postcolonial Studies , 14. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool.
- Waters, J. (2021) Lieu de mémoire, lieu d’oubli, lieu de réparation?: the colonial house in contemporary Mauritian art and literature. Francosphères , 10 (1). pp. 43-62. ISSN: 2046-3839 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/franc.2021.4
- Waters, J. (2020) La Case créole. In: Achille, E. , Forsdick, C. , Moudileno, L. , (eds.) Postcolonial Realms of Memory. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool. ISBN: 9781789620665
- Waters, J. (2019) C'est l'endroit qui nous a faits ainsi: place, gender and belonging in Nathacha Appanah's 'Blue Bay Palace' and Ananda Devi's 'Eve de ses décombres'. In: McIllvanney, S. and Ni Cheallaigh, G. , (eds.) Women in the City: French Literature and Culture. French and Francophone Studies University of Wales Press , Cardiff. ISBN: 9781786834324
- Waters, J. (2019) La vraie "géographie fausse" du Cycle Indien. In: Ammour-Mayeur, O. , Chalonge, de, F. , Mervel, Y. , Rodgers, C. , (eds.) Marguerite Duras: passages, croisements, rencontres. Editions Garnier , Paris.
- Waters, J. (2018) Over the rainbow. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 202-218. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.262
- Waters, J. (2018) Nomadic belonging: Amal Sewtohul’s Histoire d’Ashok et d’autres personnages de moindre importance and Made in Mauritius. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 168-199. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.261
- Waters, J. (2018) Everyday Belonging : Bertrand de Robillard’s L’Homme qui penche and Une interminable distraction au monde. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 139-167. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.260
- Waters, J. (2018) Belonging nowhere: Shenaz Patel’s Le Silence des Chagos. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 110-138. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.259
- Waters, J. (2018) Belonging to the island: Nathacha Appanah’s Blue Bay Palace and Ananda Devi’s Ève de ses décombres. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 77-108. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.258
- Waters, J. (2018) Belonging to the moment: Carl de Souza's Les Jours Kaya. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 51-76. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.257
- Waters, J. (2018) Introduction. The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp. 1-49. ISBN: 9781786941497 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.256
- Waters, J. (2018) The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures , 56. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool, UK. pp 224. ISBN: 9781786941497
- Waters, J. (2018) ‘Les années de braise’ reconsidered: literary representations of Mauritian independence, fifty years on. South Asian Diaspora , 10 (2). pp. 75-90. ISSN: 1943-8192 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19438192.2018.1460913
- Waters, J. (2017) Rewriting Mauritius: Ananda Devi's postcolonial self-translation. In: Misrahi-Barak, J. and Ravi, S. , (eds.) Translating the Postcolonial in Multilingual Contexts'. PoCo Pages , 2017. Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée pp. 53-70. ISBN: 9782367812410
- Waters, J. (2013) Ananda Devi as writer and translator: in interview with Julia Waters. In: Batchelor, K. and Bidsdorff, C. , (eds.) Intimate Enemies: Translation in Francophone Contexts. Liverpool University Press , Liverpool. pp. 117-123. ISBN: 9781846318672
- Waters, J. (2013) Faiblesse de l'amant chinois: l'expression d'une beauté masculine idéale?. In: Limam-Tnani, N. , (eds.) Marguerite Duras: Altérité et étrangeté ou la douleur de l'écriture et de la lecture. Presses Universitaires de Rennes , Rennes, France. pp. 163-176. ISBN: 9782753521735
- Waters, J. (2013) Ananda Devi as transcolonial translator. In: Batchelor, K. and Bisdorff, C. , (eds.) Intimate Enemies: Translation in Francophone Texts. Francophone Postcolonial Studies Liverpool University Press (4). , Liverpool. pp. 216-234. ISBN: 9781846318672
- Waters, J. (2011) The gender politics of food in Ananda Devi's recent novels. In: Bragard, V. and Ravi, S. , (eds.) Écritures mauriciennes au féminin: penser l'altérité. L'Harmattan , Paris. pp. 249-269. ISBN: 9782296542112
- Waters, J. (2010) Packaging the Francophone "African" novel: a new exoticism?. In: Daramola, A. and Makokha , J. , (eds.) Tales, Tellers and Talesmanship: Aspects of Literary Stylistics and Narratology in Contemporary African Literature. VDM Verlag , Berlin. pp. 25-35.
- Waters, J. (2010) Un monde d’objets et de gestes : la représentation du corps féminin dans La Jalousie d’Alain Robbe-Grillet. Roman 20-50: revue d'étude du roman du XXe siècle , 6 pp. 151-163. ISSN: 0295-5024
- Waters, J. (2008) From continents noirs to collection blanche: from other to same? The case of Ananda Devi . e-france , 2 pp. 55-74. (special issue: ‘L’ici et l’ailleurs’: postcolonial literatures of the Francophone Indian Ocean)
- Waters, J. (2008) Introduction:‘L’ici et l’ailleurs’: postcolonial literatures of the Francophone Indian Ocean. e-france , 2 pp. 3-8. (special issue: ‘L’ici et l’ailleurs’: postcolonial literatures of the Francophone Indian Ocean)
- Waters, J. and Giorgio, A. (2007) Introduction: gender, generation and legacy. In: Waters, J. and Giorgio, A. , (eds.) Women's Writing in Western Europe: Gender, Generation and Legacy. Cambridge Scholars Press , Newcastle. pp. 1-21. ISBN: 9781847181657
- Waters, J. (2007) Writing Indochina: Marguerite Duras and Pascale Roze. In: Waters, J. and Giorgio, A. , (eds.) Women's writing in western Europe: gender, generation and legacy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing , Cambridge. pp. 85-101. ISBN: 9781847181657
- Waters, J. and Giorgio, A. (2007) Women's writing in western Europe: gender, generation and legacy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing , Cambridge. pp 460. ISBN: 9781847181657
- Waters, J. (2006) Duras and Indochina: postcolonial perspectives. S.F.P.S. critical studies in postcolonial literature and culture Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies pp 117. ISBN: 9780954166212
- Waters, J. (2005) "Cholen, la capitale chinoise de l'Indochine francaise": rereading Marguerite Duras's (Indo)Chinese space. In: Robson , K. and Yee, J. , (eds.) France and 'Indochina': Cultural Representations. After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France Lexington Books , Lanham and New York. pp. 179-191. ISBN: 9780739108390
- Waters, J. (2004) Marguerite ou l'enchantement: l'angoisse de l'influence chez Alain Robbe-Grillet. In: Saemmer, A. and Patrice, S. , (eds.) Les Lectures de Marguerite Duras. Presses Universitaires de Lyon , Lyon and Paris. pp. 269-277. ISBN: 9782729707453
- Waters, J. (2004) Contextualising Métissage in Duras's Indochinese novels. Francophone Postcolonial Studies , 2 (1). pp. 79-82.
- Waters, J. (2004) Continents apart: intertextual subversion in Justine Mintsa's 'Histoire d'Awu'. Francophone Postcolonial Studies , 2 (2). pp. 34-50.
- Waters, J. (2004) 'Ton continent est noir': rethinking feminist metaphors in Ananda Devi's 'Pagli'. Dalhousie French Studies , 68 pp. 45-55.
- Waters, J. (2003) Colonial undercurrents: the motif of the Mekong in Marguerite Duras's "Indochinese" texts. In: Forsdick, C. and Murphy, D. , (eds.) Francophone Postcolonial Studies: A Critical Introduction. Arnold , London and New York. pp. 253-262. ISBN: 9780340808023
- Waters, J. (2003) Marguerite Duras and colonialist discourse: an intertextual reading of 'L'Empire français' and 'Un barrage contre le Pacifique'. Forum for Modern Language Studies , 39 (3). pp. 254-266. ISSN: 1471-6860 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/fmls/39.3.254
- Waters, J. (2000) Intersexual rivalry: a 'Reading in Pairs' of Marguerite Duras and Alain Robbe-Grillet. Modern French Indentities , 2. Peter Lang , Bern and New York. pp 228. ISBN: 9783906763743