Professor Julia Waters
Responsibilities
I will be on research leave during the Autumn term 2021.
French Year Abroad Officer (Spring and Summer term 2022)
Teaching
My main teaching interests are modern and contemporary French and francophone literature, 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.
Areas 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/
In 2012-13, I held an AHRC Fellowship for a research project on Contemporary Mauritian Literature: (De)Colonisation, Globalisation, Multiculturalism.
Postgraduate Supervision
I am happy to supervise PhD theses on any of the areas of interest outlined above or related areas.
Current supervisions:
- Assya Belahmar Louazani (Department of Languages and Cultures): The ‘Hammam’ as Anti-Exotic Locus of Emancipation in Post-Colonial Algerian Women’s Writing and Film-making.
- 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).
Research groups / Centres
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
2021
- 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://doi.org/10.3828/franc.2021.4
2020
- Waters, J. (2020) La Case créole. In: Achille, E., Forsdick, C. and Moudileno, L. (eds.) Postcolonial Realms of Memory. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool. ISBN 9781789620665
2019
- 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. and Rodgers, C. (eds.) Marguerite Duras: passages, croisements, rencontres. Editions Garnier, Paris.
2018
- Waters, J. (2018) Belonging nowhere: Shenaz Patel’s Le Silence des Chagos. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 110-138. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://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. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 77-108. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.258
- Waters, J. (2018) Belonging to the moment: Carl de Souza's Les Jours Kaya. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 51-76. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.257
- Waters, J. (2018) Everyday Belonging : Bertrand de Robillard’s L’Homme qui penche and Une interminable distraction au monde. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 139-167. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.260
- Waters, J. (2018) The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp224. ISBN 9781786941497
- Waters, J. (2018) Nomadic belonging: Amal Sewtohul’s Histoire d’Ashok et d’autres personnages de moindre importance and Made in Mauritius. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 168-199. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.261
- Waters, J. (2018) Over the rainbow. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 202-218. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.262
- Waters, J. (2018) Introduction. In: The Mauritian Novel: Fictions of Belonging. Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 56. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, pp. 1-49. ISBN 9781786941497 doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.256
- 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://doi.org/10.1080/19438192.2018.1460913
2017
- 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
2013
- 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) Ananda Devi as transcolonial translator. In: Batchelor, K. and Bisdorff, C. (eds.) Intimate Enemies: Translation in Francophone Texts. Francophone Postcolonial Studies (4). Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, pp. 216-234. ISBN 9781846318672
- Waters, J. (2013) Faiblesse de l'amant chinois: l'expression d'une beauté masculine idéale? In: Limam-Tnani, N. (ed.) 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
2011
- 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
2010
- 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. (2010) Packaging the Francophone "African" novel: a new exoticism? In: Daramola, A. and Makokha , J.K.S. (eds.) Tales, Tellers and Talesmanship: Aspects of Literary Stylistics and Narratology in Contemporary African Literature. VDM Verlag, Berlin, pp. 25-35.
2008
- 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)
2007
- 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. and Giorgio, A. (2007) Women's writing in western Europe: gender, generation and legacy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, pp460. 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
2006
- Waters, J. (2006) Duras and Indochina: postcolonial perspectives. S.F.P.S. critical studies in postcolonial literature and culture. Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, pp117. ISBN 9780954166212
2005
- 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
2004
- 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) 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) 'Ton continent est noir': rethinking feminist metaphors in Ananda Devi's 'Pagli'. Dalhousie French Studies, 68. pp. 45-55.
2003
- 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://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/39.3.254
- 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
2000
- 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, pp228. ISBN 9783906763743