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MiChAłKrzyKAwSKi,zuzAnnASzAtAniK
UniversityofSilesia
GenderStudiesinFrench
Theyareseenasblackthereforetheyareblack;
theyareseenaswomen,therefore,theyare
women.Butbeforebeingseenthatway,they
firsthadtobemadethatway.
MoniqueWITTIG12
WithinAnglo-Americanacademia,genderstudiesandfeministtheory
arerecognizedtobecreditable,fullyinstitutionalizedfieldsofknowledge.In
France,however,theirstandingappearstobeconsiderablylower.Onecould
riskthestatementthatwhileinAnglo-Americanacademicworld,genderstudies
havedevelopedintoavalidandindependentcriticaltheory,theFrenchacademe
iswaryofanydiscoursethatsubvertstraditionaluniversalismandhumanism.
AnotableexampleofthissuspiciousnessisthefactthatJudithButler’sGen-
derTrouble:FeminismandaSubversionofIdentity,whosepublicationin1990
markedabreakthroughmomentforthedevelopmentofbothgenderstudiesand
feministtheory,wasnottranslatedintoFrenchuntil2005.
Ontheonehand,therefore,itseemsthatinthisrespectnotmuchhaschanged
inFrenchliterarystudiessince1981,whenJeand’Ormessonwelcomedthefirst
woman,MargueriteYourcenar,totheFrenchAcademywithaspeechwhich
stressedthattheAcademy“wasnotchangingwiththetimes,redefiningitself
inthelightoftheforcesoffeminism.Yourcenarjusthappenedtobeawoman”
(BEASLEY2,myitalics).Ontheotherhand,however,femininegendernouns
suchas“écrivaine,”“auteure”or“professeure”havebecomepopularinQuebec,
Switzerland,BelgiumaswellasFrance,regardlessoftherigorousdictatesofthe
FrenchAcademy.Infact,itappearsthattheAcademy’sfightforlinguisticpurity
isasfutileasDonQuixote’sfightwithwindmills:quiterecentlyLeMondetitled
anarticledevotedtothenewmemberoftheAcademy“L’écrivaineDominique
Bonaélueàl’Académiefrançaise”(“Woman-WriterDominiqueBonaElectedto
