Entitled “Why France? The Place of France in American Academia,” the conference opens at 2 p.m. with “50 Years of American History of France,” moderated by NYU’s Edward Berenson, with participants Herrick Chapman, NYU; Laurent Dubois, Michigan State; Jacques Revel, E.H.E.S.S.; and Bonnie Smith, Rutgers University. For further information call 212.998.8750.

To celebrate the publication of the book Why France? American Historians Reflect on an Enduring Fascination (Cornell University Press, 2007), edited by Laura Lee Downs, professor history at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (E.H.E.S.S.) and Stéphane Gerson, associate professor of French and French Studies at New York University, La Maison Française of NYU and the university’s Institute of French Studies will host a conference on Friday, March 23, beginning at 2 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place at Maison Française, located at 16 Washington Mews (at University Place). For further information call 212.998.8750.

Entitled “Why France? The Place of France in American Academia,” the conference opens at 2 p.m. with “50 Years of American History of France,” moderated by NYU’s Edward Berenson, with participants Herrick Chapman, NYU; Laurent Dubois, Michigan State; Jacques Revel, E.H.E.S.S.; and Bonnie Smith, Rutgers University.

At 4:30 p.m. “France Across the Disciplines: Literature, Sociology, Anthropology” will be the topic under discussion with moderator Frédéric Viguier, NYU. Other participants include Emily Apter, NYU; Priscilla Ferguson, Columbia University; and Susan Carol Rogers, NYU.

The conference continues at 7:30 p.m. with editor Stéphane Gerson on “Why France? Autobiographical Reflections” and Clare Haru Crowston from the University of Illinois and Jan Goldstein, University of Chicago, among other speakers.

Concluding the event is one of France’s most distinguished historians, Roger Chartier, author of the book’s “Afterword.”

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