Popular Cultures Research Network Newsletter

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1 Popular Cultures Research Network Newsletter January 2016 ISSUE 14 Editorial Welcome to the January 2016 PCRN Newsletter, which sees in the New Year with an issue which includes various items on French and Francophone studies. One of the exceptions to this is the synopsis of a new publication, The Business of Opera, from the Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies on Opera series, on which PCRN members are offered a 50% discount. The Ashgate publishing house has now been bought by Taylor and Francis, thus this publication may be one of the last to carry the Ashgate imprint, as will The Singer-Songwriter in Europe: Paradigms, Politics and Place (Isabelle Marc & Stuart Green, Eds., p.5). The 24th day-conference of the French Media Research Group (FMRG) was held in Newcastleupon-Tyne on Friday 23 October, discussing 'French and Francophone Videogames, a synopsis of which can be found on page 3 (see photo, right). 'French and Francophone Videogames conference. Photo: Jonathan Ervine There is also news of an edited volume on French Republican values and sport, together with an invitation for collaboration. Other items include a member profile by Jean Nicolas De Surmont, as well as a selection of other new publications by members of the network. We invite you, as always, to send us your news, activities and invitations to disseminate in the next edition of the newsletter, which will be in September Editor & Member Profiles Alana Jackson: alanagjackson@gmail.com Conferences/Events Emma Bielecki: emma.bielecki@kcl.ac.uk Inside this issue: Editorial 1 The Business of Opera 4 Profile: Jean Nicolas De Surmont 2 Latest news 5 French and Francophone Videogames 3 1

2 Member Profile Jean Nicolas De Surmont Jean Nicolas De Surmont is an independent researcher. He is particularly interested in metalexicography and the song theory and history of vocal poetry from Quebec. Having graduated from Laval University (Québec) in literature and sociology, he completed his PhD at Paris-X Nanterre. He also studied in Lille, Barcelona (in terminology) and completed a post-doctorate in Louvain-la- Neuve. He taught French as a Foreign Language in Barcelona, before going on to pursue his higher education teaching career first at the University of Nancy, and then in Metz, teaching in the areas of linguistics, lexicography, and communication theory, among others. His current main interest concerns mostly songtheory and vocal poetry in the French language, but he has also applied his concepts to others cultures and languages, such as English and Spanish. Before being interested in philological aspects of song and the semantical field of vocal poetry, his works dealt with the history of radio and song in Québec, and his first book La Bonne Chanson: Le commerce de la tradition en France et au Québec dans la première moitié du XXe siècle (Montreal: Triptyque, 2001) examined the educational movement La Bonne Chanson. There has been a progression of his interests since the beginning of his career, cumulating from the knowledge of different fields such as literature, sociology, history, linguistics (especially lexicography) and music. He has spoken at numerous conferences and conventions in several countries, among them Brazil, Austria, England, Canada, the United States, Italy, France and Cyprus, and he has presented shows for community radio stations in Quebec and France. He has also authored more than one hundred articles and critical reviews published in more than thirty countries on topics such as lexicography, particularly varieties of French, including Québécois and Belgian French. In addition, he has also written five books, and has edited a volume of collected works in honour of the French- Canadian ethnomusicologist Conrad Laforte. He often collaborates with specialised magazines on music, history and as an historian and linguist works essentially in archives with documents. Selected publications: L objet-chanson entre théorie et application et variation diachronique, géographique et culturelle. Actes du congrès de la SIEF, juin 2011, Romanistik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RomGG), n 1, 2014, p Published in English translation as: The Song-Object Between Theory and Practice: Diachronic, Geographic, and Cultural Variation. International and Quarterly Journal of Cultural Studies, 2015, vol. 14, n 108, p (Turkey) Ars cantandi, ars dicendi : dire et chanter une œuvre vocale / Ars cantandi, ars dicendi: speaking and singing a vocal work, Acta Musicologica, vol. LXXXV n 1, 2013, p «M amie, faites moi un bouquet», Mélanges posthumes autour de l œuvre de Conrad Laforte / M amie, faites moi un bouquet, Essays in memoriam Conrad Laforte, Ed. Jean- Nicolas de Surmont, in collaboration with Serge Gauthier, Québec: Presses de l Université Laval, L onomatologie et ses différentes facettes / Onomatologie and its different facets, Semiotica, 2010, n 181, p Vers une théorie des objet-chansons / Towards a Theory of the Song-Object. Lyon: ENS éditeur, Visit: 2

3 French and Francophone Videogames day-conference by the French Media Research Group, Newcastle-upon-Tyne The 24th day-conference of the French Media Research Group (FMRG) was held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on Friday 23 October, discussing 'French and Francophone Videogames', organised by Hugh Dauncey (Newcastle), Jonathan Ervine (Bangor) and Chris Tinker (Heriot-Watt). The theme was chosen to help foster interest within the UK French studies in 'digital culture' in general, and digital popular culture in particular. Although videogames are the mostpurchased cultural product in France, with 31 million people playing regularly, their significance within French and Francophone studies is poorly recognised. Jeux vidéo are very firmly established in France as a significant popular cultural form and practice, and commercially and industrially, the videogames sector is increasingly important to France, with public policy in innovation, technology, education, culture and commerce steadily adapting to its newfound significance. At FMRG24, speakers came from France, Belgium, England, Scotland and Wales, and papers covered a wide and stimulating range of issues within the field. Some papers focused on individual videogames, discussing how they negotiate questions of language and subculture, identity, history, Photo: Jonathan Ervine nostalgia and heritage, urban space, reallife sport and virtual sport, or creativity and existential choice. Other papers examined videogaming in Belgium and France from a more sociological standpoint, discussing how this cultural form/practice is continuing to gain in legitimacy, and how the amateur production of videogames interrogates traditional understandings of creativity. Based on a selection of papers from the day-conference and supported by potential contributions from speakers who planned to attend but were unable to do so, a journal special number is planned, as is a follow-up conference in late Anyone interested in proposing an article, in working on French videogames and/or in building interest in digital culture within 'French studies' is invited to get in touch with Hugh.Dauncey@ncl.ac.uk. Hugh DAUNCEY (Newcastle), Jonathan ERVINE (Bangor), Chris TINKER (Heriot-Watt). 3

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5 PCRN LATEST NEWS Call for collaboration: 'Sport & the French Republic' Based on a number of papers presented at Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France annual conferences in recent years, and on invited contributions from other scholars, Hugh Dauncey (Newcastle), Jonathan Ervine (Bangor) and Cathal Kilcline (Galway) are progressing an edited volume on French 'Republican values' and Sport. Further panels on sport are to be organised at French and Francophone studies conferences in 2016 and 2017 in support of this editorial project, and expressions of interest are welcomed from anyone who would like to be involved as speaker, author, discussant, attender or any other role. As well as panels at major conferences, it is hoped that 'workshops' providing the opportunity for contributing authors to exchange views and approaches will be arranged during 2016 and Please contact J.Ervine@bangor.ac.uk for more details. Hugh Dauncey (Newcastle), Jonathan Ervine (Bangor), Cathal Kilcline (Galway) New publications Dubois, Vincent. Culture as a vocation: Sociology of Career Choices in Cultural Management. Routledge, 2016 Marc, Isabelle and Stuart Green, eds. The Singer-Songwriter in Europe: Paradigms, Politics and Place, Aldershot: Ashgate, PCRN website We are currently in the process of updating our website. Watch this space Neither the Popular Cultures Research Network nor the University of Leeds is responsible for the content of any of the websites referred to in this Newsletter. 5