The Transnational France research cluster brings together the many faculty across the university who study France or the Francophone world, promoting research and teaching on all things French at Notre Dame. It builds on the university’s deep institutional and historical ties to France.
Founded by a French religious order in 1842, Notre Dame went on to become an institutional hub for French Catholic intellectuals such as Jacques Maritain, Yves Simon, and Etienne Gilson in the twentieth century. This history is reflected in the university’s research strengths in the history of religion, transatlantic relations (especially during the age of revolutions), and medieval France. The Transnational France research cluster aims to promote the research of its members to a domestic and international audience as well as to build relationships with French institutions of higher learning and to encourage the study of France among our undergraduate and graduate students.
To this end, the research cluster regularly organizes talks by scholars, writers, and artists, as well as colloquia, conferences, and a film series. Funded by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, it works closely with other organizations on campus such as the Raclin Murphy Museum, Hesburgh Library, and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center to highlight the many unique resources available at Notre Dame for the study of France and the Francophone world.
Upcoming Events
Past Events
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Research Cluster Co-Chairs
Emma Planinc
eplaninc@nd.edu
Emma Planinc is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. She is a historian of political thought by training, with current and future work oriented to the present and to the challenges that face the liberal democratic order. Her work has appeared in journals such as Modern Intellectual History, History of European Ideas, and Political Theory, and in many edited volumes. Her forthcoming book Regenerative Politics (Columbia University Press, 2024) will be published as part of the New Directions in Critical Theory series and will activate her historical work to the end of making a novel contribution to contemporary, normative political theory.
Sarah Shortall
sshortal@nd.edu
Sarah Shortall is an assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. She is an intellectual and cultural historian of modern Europe, with a particular interest in twentieth-century France, Catholic thought, and the relationship between religion and politics. Her first book, Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics (Harvard University Press, 2021) has received several awards, including the Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies and the Giuseppe Alberigo Award from the European Academy of Religion. Shortall is also the co-editor of Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and her work has appeared in Past & Present, Modern Intellectual History, the Journal of the History of Ideas, Boston Review, and Commonweal.
Research Cluster Members
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Associate Professor of Political Science
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Assistant Professor of History
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Professor Emerita
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Associate Professor of Political Science
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Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
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Associate Professor of History
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Carl E. Koch Associate Professor of History
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Professor Emeritus of History
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Public Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow
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Director of Undergraduate Studies, Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
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Head, Research Services Unit Librarian
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Associate Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre; Concurrent Faculty of Romance Languages and Literatures
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Assistant Professor & Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in French and Francophone Studies
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Professor of French and Francophone Studies; Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures; Concurrent Faculty of Gender Studies
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Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
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Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
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Curator of European and American Art before 1900
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Professor of American Studies; Concurrent Faculty of Africana Studies, History, and Gender Studies