About
Dr. Lucy Swanson is an Associate Professor of French and Caribbean Studies at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on historical narratives and political discourse in francophone literary and visual culture, particularly in Haiti and the French Antilles. She is the author of The Zombie in Contemporary French Caribbean Fiction (Liverpool University Press, 2023), which explores the symbolic reinvention of the zombie figure in contemporary literature and art.
Dr. Swanson holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (2012). Her academic work bridges literary analysis with cultural and postcolonial studies, emphasizing themes of resistance, identity, and colonial legacies. She currently teaches courses such as FREN 245: African Literature Matters and FREN 443: Contemporary Francophone Literature and Cinema.
Her recent publications include articles in Journal of Haitian Studies, Small Axe, and Contemporary French & Francophone Studies, analyzing topics like female resistance in Haitian literature, magical thinking in Caribbean narratives, and the socio-political symbolism of zombies. She is on sabbatical in Fall 2024 and maintains a personal website at lucyswanson.com.
