How did France deal with the global crisis of COVID-19? Professor Oana Panaïté’s Fall 2021 course titled France during the Pandemic: Resistance and Resilience explores this question as part of the College of Arts and Sciences Themester program, where this year’s theme is Resilience. With support from the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy, Professor Panaïté welcomed French guest speakers to speak with her students and elucidate the impacts of the pandemic on French society.

On October 26, Frédérique Andry-Cazin from Sorbonne University spoke on “Stories of Masks: an Exploration of Mask Culture in Pandemic Times.” Andry-Cazin has served as Secretary General of the Heritage Observatory of the Sorbonne University – OPUS Alliance since 2018. Trained in cultural mediation and heritage conservation, she has overseen the university heritage collections of the Faculty of Sciences at Sorbonne University for 10 years. She is also a member of the board of Universeum - European Academic Heritage Network, a European association for museums and university collections. 

On November 4, Rym Kireche-Gerwig and Bérénice Mariau, also from Sorbonne University, spoke to Professor Panaïté’s students on the topic “Culture in a cage: Resistance strategies of cultural institutions during the COVIC period in France.” Kireche-Gerwig is a teacher and researcher at CELSA, the communication and journalism school of the Sorbonne. His work forcuses on the mediations of the body in contemporary fashion. Mariau is an associate researcher at CELSA, and her work is in the field of journalism and its mutations, information systems, and news writing. The guests noted “nous sommes ravies de pouvoir échanger avec les étudiant.e.s à ce sujet car ils.elles pourront également nous apporter leurs observations et leurs propres expériences culturelles en temps de Covid dans l'Indiana."

You can find an interview with Professor Panaïté about her course here.