French Faculty

Faculty introductions

Moussa Traore

Office: W1114

(651)-748-2635

Moussa.Traore@century.edu

The core of my schooling and education is centered on language; how it came to be, how it works, how it evolved and evolves, but most importantly, how it makes the production of meaning and culture possible. My work (studies and teaching) is heavily defined by the history of the French language: how the cultures of what was to become French (or francophone) engendered a tool of communication of which the origins are as varied as the people they included, how the way in which the language came to prominence coincided with the idea and reality of an academic culture, and how these forces created a French literature that speaks both culture and civilization. The connections culture-language-culture-literature-civilization-culture is one that I tread on. And these connections have been reaching beyond the Channel, the seas and others waters: the expansions of both France and French are stimulating stories to read, to tell, and to learn from. In terms of literature proper, I am an Enlightenment interlocutor engaging the 17th- and 18th -centuries more often… but I understand and agree that all part of Time had and have Lessons for Us.

Education

Licence	English	Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) (1993)
Maîtrise	English	Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) (1994)
Master’s	French	University of Minnesota (1998)
PhD	French	University of Minnesota (2005)

Teaching

I teach French and French (-Speaking) culture and civilization (history, society, and literatures). I have been teaching (formally) for more than a decade.

Intellectual interests

Origins and purposes of thought, overlooked pieces of evidence gathering into bits of wisdom, and the higher meanings of nature.