Jonathan Gosnell

Jonathan Gosnell is Professor of French Studies and Department Chair at Smith College. His research focuses on French cultural identity beyond metropolitan France, examining colonial and postcolonial constructions in the Americas and Europe. He has published two monographs: Franco-America in the Making: The Creole Nation Within (2018) and The Politics of Frenchness in Colonial Algeria (2002).

• Ph.D. and M.A. in French Studies from New York University
• B.A. in French from Brown University

His work spans topics like:

• French imperial designs across Europe and the Americas
• Creole cultures in the Gulf South
• Francophone spaces in the New World
• Colonial and postcolonial identity politics
• Transatlantic cultural exchanges
• Frenchness in diasporic contexts

Recent publications analyze:

• Swiss trash aesthetics and French cultural resistance (2022)
• Creole identity in Littérature-Monde (2021)
• Overseas France's colonial past and postcolonial present (2020)
• Baseball as an assimilation tool in Franco-American communities (2018)

Gosnell directed Smith's JYA Program in Geneva multiple times (2006–07, 2010–11, 2012–13) and serves as faculty mentor for Posse 8 (Class of 2026). His research combines historical analysis with contemporary cultural studies, emphasizing global Francophone connections.