The Diplomat
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Hebouche Joins Department of French
Nadra Hebouche, instructor of French
Part IV of the 2011-12 series on new, tenure-track faculty members.
Born in Algeria and raised in France, Nadra Hebouche has traveled extensively and experienced many cultures. But nothing prepared her for the culture shock of moving to the American Midwest six years ago, when she taught French in a small town surrounded by cornfields in central Iowa.
“Honestly, I was scared,” Hebouche says of her experience teaching in an exchange program in Pella, Iowa, 40 miles east of Des Moines. “One of my professors in France convinced me to try it, and I didn’t know what to expect. The town had two movie theaters and 42 churches. But I discovered a lot more of myself.”
The year in Iowa turned out to be rewarding for Hebouche, who began a tenure-track position in the Department of French at Franklin & Marshall College this academic year. After teaching in Iowa during her master’s program, she remained in the U.S. to begin a Ph.D. program at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York, where she will soon defend her dissertation on national identity and the failure of collectivism in Francophone cultures.
Hebouche’s scholarship focuses on modern Francophone narrative, particularly in the regions of the French Caribbean, the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa. She has a strong interest in postcolonial and gender studies, which she draws upon to examine the new, transnational sense of identity emerging in the regions of the postcolonial Francophone world.
“The most fascinating thing about my research is that it’s relevant to today’s international events,” Hebouche says in her office on the first floor of Keiper Liberal Arts Building. “Today, we see people fighting for individual rights in Morocco, Libya, Egypt and other places. How should we approach this? Can we really speak of a postcolonial time when we still live in a time when 'banal nationalism' and nationalist patterns drawn from colonialism shape the modern world and the demise of the individual? Contemporary Francophone authors address the question in various ways and are elaborating a new discourse which calls into question the systematic recourse to collectivism.”
Hebouche is introducing her students at F&M to Francophone literature this semester in Le Monde Francophone, a course that includes the reading, discussion and performing of texts in their cultural context. She also teaches Elementary French II, the second introductory course in French. “The best part of teaching is the way students look when they learn something new,” Hebouche says. “You can see it in their faces, and it’s very rewarding.”
Away from her teaching and research, Hebouche has a range of diverse interests that include swimming, soul music and driving. She loves fast cars, especially those named Jaguar XKR-S and Ferrari. During visits to France, she often takes high-performance driving lessons at a training center.
“Some of my friends would tell you that I drive too fast,” Hebouche says. “I take one week of training lessons every time I go back to France. I’m now on level four of 10 [at the driving school].”
While there is no high-performance driving school in Lancaster, Hebouche has gained just as much satisfaction from teaching in the liberal arts environment. “I’ve been surprised by the wonderful cultural diversity at F&M, and the diversity of the curriculum,” Hebouche says. “I couldn’t think of a better place to teach.”
- Chris Karlesky
