معرفی
Katherine Roseau is an Associate Professor of French in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Mercer University, where she has been a faculty member since 2019. She teaches all levels of French language, courses on Nazi-occupied France, transnational francophone literature, and life writing, emphasizing classroom interaction, learning from mistakes, and exposure to diverse francophone perspectives through Integrative Studies 201 with service-learning components.
Her educational background includes:
- Ph.D. in French Literature, Purdue University
- M.A. in French Civilization, Society, and Culture, Middlebury College
- B.A. in French, Anderson University
Dr. Roseau's research employs interdisciplinary frameworks from memory studies, cognitive science, and genre theory to investigate life writing's role in shaping Jewish experiences during the Holocaust. Her work examines how individuals cope with identity threats during wartime through diary-keeping, correspondence, and autobiographical practices, with particular focus on materiality, immediacy, and cognitive processing of trauma.
Her recent publications reveal consistent exploration of diaries as historical testimony during WWII France, analyzing epistolary networks, mutual aid systems, and cognitive mechanisms of self-construction under occupation. These works bridge literary analysis with historical research to illuminate individual resilience strategies while highlighting the pedagogical value of life writing in understanding war's human devastation.
Dr. Roseau has received recognition including:
- Fellow of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah
She currently directs a National Endowment for the Humanities Humanities Initiatives grant (2024-2026) titled "Integrating Voices of Refugees and Immigrants: Faculty and Curriculum Development" with Libertad Aranza, developing service-learning partnerships with Haitian communities and refugee aid organizations in Georgia to incorporate lived immigrant experiences into academic curriculum. This project extends her commitment to connecting classroom learning with real-world community engagement.
Through her NEH-funded initiative, Dr. Roseau collaborates with Georgia-based Haitian communities and refugee support organizations to create sustainable service-learning pathways. Her team integrates oral histories and refugee narratives into curriculum development while providing students with direct community engagement opportunities that bridge academic study with contemporary migration experiences.
