Teaching Philosophy

The metaphor I would use to describe myself as a professor is that of a chamber orchestra conductor. I am passionate about the production and development of ideas, and I hope I can pass this inclination on to my students. To me, one of the core purposes of a humanistic-oriented education is to make them think about how to become better citizens, intent to make a difference. I believe it is my responsibility to create a learning environment where students are respected, valued, and supported so that they feel that they can ask questions, make mistakes, and participate freely. In this multicultural world, teaching French language, literature, and culture promotes awareness to "accented" (Naficy) otherness and is ultimately a tool for self-discovery and self-expression. Foreign language and culture programs should be an essential part of academic education and I consider myself privileged to be in the position of promoting such an interest.

Scholarly Interest 

European and American avant-garde (Tristan Tzara, Isidore Isou, Benjamin Fondane, Victor Brauner, Georges Hugnet, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Joseph Cornell etc.), 20^th and 21^st century French fiction and poetry, theories of the literary canon, ethics of technology and the human (Bernard Stiegler), digital humanities.

Recent Publications:

Literary Encyclopedia online http://www.litencyc.com/index.php: entry on Isidore Isou (December 2016)

H-France: Monique Yaari, ed., Infra-Noir Un Et Multiple: Un groupe surréaliste entre Bucarest et Paris, 1945-1947  http://www.h-france.net/reviews/list.html (review, November 2016)

"Le Serate Futuriste: The First Avant-Garde Chronotope," Caietele Avangardei, No. 7, Bucharest (June 2016)

"Isidore Isou: l'Insurrecton de l'érotologie?" Mélusine No. XXXVI, Dossier Special: Masculin-Féminin, Paris (April 2016)

"Lost in Translation?": Tristan Tzara's Non-European Side in Dada/ Surrealism Journal Special Issue "Dada and Surrealism in and of Romania," No. 20, Issue 1-2 (November 2015)

"Isidore Isou's Awry Messianism," essay contributed to The Messianic Idea in Judaism Revisited, ed. Michael Morgan and Steve Weitzman, Indiana U Press (Winter 2014)

"Cherchez... le bruit! Marcel Proust in Service of Modern Communication," Inmediaciones de la Comunicación y las Humanidades, No. 9, Montevideo, Uruguay (September 2014)

"The Louis Zukofsky Era," Journal of American Culture, Vol. 34, Issue 1 (March 2014)

"Georges Hugnet's Monsters and Women," essay contributed to The Aesthetics of Matter. Modernism, the Avant-Garde, and Material Exchange. Ed. by Sarah Posman, Anne Reverseau, David Ayers, Sascha Bru, Benedikt Hjartarson, Ed. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/ New York (November 2013)

"Georges Hugnet's La vie amoureuse des Spumifères," Dada/ Surrealism Journal, No 19, Issue 1-2 (May 2013)

"Benjamin Fondane's View on History," invited essay to Leon Volovici's Festschrift, Benjamin Fondane - o noua lectura, ed. Michael Finkenthal, University of Iasi Academic Press, Iasi, Romania (March 2013)

Online:

Permanent blog on Stanford portal Arcade. Literature, Humanities and the World: http://arcade.stanford.edu/blogs/user/cosana-eram

French Studies Newsletters (trimestrial online publication 2015-) https://mailchi.mp/39509062ef2d/french-studies-newsletter-spring-571517?e=7e59316be4

Tiger Domain pilot program: student-based blog about Paris www.sensesofparis.com

Selected Conference Presentations (while at Pacific):

"Dada 100," Modernism Studies Association (MSA) Annual Convention, "Culture Industries," Pasadena, November 2016 (invited speaker panel: Dada 100)

"Speaking East, Lettrism Now and Then," School of Advanced Study, University of London in Paris, 22 June 2016 (invited speaker)

"Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven, The Spectral Woman of the New York Avant-Garde," The International Conference: "Visual Dada," Central University Library, Bucharest, Romania, 24-25 June 2016

"Isidore Isou, la pornographie comme critique sociale," European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies Biennial Conference: "Quest/ Investigation," Rennes, France, 1-3 June 2016

"The Avant-Garde Logic of Dispute," Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous, Berkeley (invited speaker), 15 April 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ogIEnhASIk

"Dada Scandals," Special 100th Year Anniversary Event Dada Data, Stanford University, 14 April 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1LLUeQ1D4k (43'-53')

"France's Response to Terrorism," X Boundaries University wide initiative and series at Pacific (main organizer and participant), 3 March 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whx_eSHHpl4

"Why Do They Talk about Paris?" University of the Pacific Humanities Center Colloquium, 28 February 2016 (invited speaker)

Discussant in panel on "Traveling Shots: Families beyond Boundaries," The 4th Romanian Film Festival at Stanford, 8 November 2015

"Writing Of(f) Dada History," and "Victor Brauner's Utopian Picto-Poet World," 4th European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies Biennial Conference "Utopia," Helsinki, Finland, 29-31 August 2014

"Literary Adaptations in Recent Romanian Film," Round Table at the 3rd Romanian Film Festival, Stanford, 27 April 2014

"L'Intermédialité comme pratique d'enseignement," XXe Congrès de l'Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée (ICLA-AILC), Sorbonne, Paris, 18-24 July 2013

"Isodore Isou: the Avant-Garde After," 3rd European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies Biennial Conference "Material Meanings," Kent-Canterbury, UK, 1-4 September 2012

"Isidore Isou's Paris: Traité de bave et d'éternité and Perambulatory Transgression," 20th & 21st Century French & Francophone Studies International Colloquium "Crossings, Frictions, Fusions/ Traversées, frictions, fusions," Long Beach, Ca (29-31 March 2012)

Books:

Canon. Canonic, Univers Enciclopedic, Bucharest, Romania (signed as Cosana Nicolae, 2007) (second augmented edition forthcoming in 2017-2018)

Affiliations:

Advisor and Honorary President, French Club at The University of the Pacific
Honorary Member, National French Honor Society, Pi Delta Phi (annual inductions each April)

French 193, Pourquoi la littérature? 
French 118, Identité, mémoire et représentation dans la littérature française et francophone du 19^e et du 20^e siècles
French 122, L'Éspace francophone (The Francophone World)
French 128, Images et Voix de Femmes 
French 11 A, 11 B, French 23, French 25
French 51, Seduction à la française
Pacific Seminar 1 
Pacific Seminar 3