Yvonne-Marie Mokam joined Denison’s Department of Modern Languages in 2013. Before coming to Denison, she had several years of experience teaching at the Université de Douala in Cameroon, the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), and American University (Washington, DC). She earned her doctorate at the University of Arizona, and her Licence (bachelor’s degree equivalent), Maîtrise (master’s degree equivalent) and DEA (post-master’s) at the Université de Yaoundé in Cameroon. Her teaching at Denison expands the offerings of the French program to include courses in postcolonial francophone Sub-Saharan African. She has developed and taught new courses as well as existing ones. Her research focuses on contemporary male and female writers from francophone postcolonial Africa and the issues of history, memory, and identity in the current global era. Her recent scholarly work has appeared in journals such The French Review, Dalhousie French Studies, Études Littéraires Africaines, Fixxion, Interculturel Francophonies, and in Mongo Beti: une conscience universelle. She received the Tibbie Leslie Travel Grant in 2017 for travel in Martinique and Guadeloupe
Learning & Teaching
Selected advance topic courses:
- FR 305: Introduction to Francophone Texts focusing on African folk tales
- FR 312: Survey of Literature from French Revolution to Present focusing on the representation of hospitality in 20e century French and francophone literature.
- FR 330: Francophone African Women Voices exploring the work of multigenerational contemporary African women writers, filmmakers, and critics, looking at their theoretical priorities and cultural positions.
- FR 418: Senior Seminar titled Global Africa that explores the place of Africa in globalization.
- FR 418: Senior Seminar titled Black France Matters that explores France’s colorblind concept through a survey of the intense and complex yet overlooked multifaceted experiences and contributions of people of African descent to France’s cultural, political, and economic history dating from the signing of the “Code Noir” by Louis XIV in 1685 to current days.
Works
Selected peer reviewed publications:
Edited volume
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie and Phyllis Taoua. Études Littéraires Africaines 42 : Mongo Beti : l’exilé de retour et l’épreuve du réel. Université Lorraine, Metz, France, December 2016.
Articles in refereed journals
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. “Subversion of Humanitarian Narrative in Emmanuel Dongala’s Johnny Chien Méchant” The French Review Vol. 93, No. 3, March 2020: 116-128.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie and Phyllis Taoua. « Présentation ». Études Littéraires Africaines 42: Mongo Beti : l’exilé de retour et l’épreuve du réel. Guest edited by Yvonne-Marie Mokam and Phyllis Taoua (December 2016): 7-12.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie and Phyllis Taoua. « Bibliographie ». Études Littéraires Africaines 42: Mongo Beti : l’exilé de retour et l’épreuve du réel. Guest edited by Yvonne-Marie Mokam and Phyllis Taoua (December 2016): 73-88.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « Mongo Beti de retour d’exil : du roman-feuilleton au roman ». Études Littéraires Africaines 42: Mongo Beti : l’exilé de retour et l’épreuve du réel. Guest edited by Yvonne-Marie Mokam and Phyllis Taoua (December 2016): 37-54.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « Littérature francophone d’Afrique subsaharienne : l’avènement du polar historique ». Dalhousie French Studies 109: Fiction et histoire en littératures française et francophone. Guest edited by Driss Aïssaoui and Vincent Simédoh (Summer 2016): 77-86.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « Polar historique et mémoire de la capture des esclaves ». Revue Fixxion 10: Le Roman policier français contemporain. Guest edited by Jean Kaempfer and André Vanoncini (June 2015): 64-72.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « Mémoire, histoire, subjectivité dans L’ex-père de la nation ». Revue Interculturel Francophonies 27: Regards croisés sur l’œuvre d’Aminata Sow Fall. Guest edited by Cheikh Diop and Alioune Diaw (June 2015): 131-148.
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « L’écriture de la femme musulmane dans Loin de Médine d’Assia Djebar ». Présence Francophone 65 (2005) : 133-149.
Book chapter
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. « Mongo Beti l’anticonformiste ». In Adama Samake, Eds. Mongo Beti: une conscience universelle. De la résistance à la prophétie. Paris: Editions Publibook, 2015: 199-218.
Dictionary entry
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. “Mongo Beti”. In Dictionary of African Biography. Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Emmanuel Akyeampong. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. 4 (2011): 260-263.
Book reviews
- Mokam, Yvonne-Marie. Rev. of Mongo Beti le rebelle I. Textes réunis et présentés par André Djiffack. Préface de Boniface Mongo Mboussa, Paris, Gallimard, coll. Continents noirs, 2006, 400 p. In Études Littéraires Africaines 23 (2007): 79-81.
