Francoise Ugochukwu

Profile

Francoise Ugochukwu joined the French Central team at the Open University after serving for several years as an Associate Lecturer in French in London and Manchester. Habilitée à diriger des recherches, a Chartered Linguist and a French Professor of Comparative Literature (CNU Section 10), she studied successively Classics and English before obtaining a Maîtrise in French Stylistics, and a PhD in French Literature from the University of Grenoble (France, 1974). She has been lecturing in Higher Education in Nigeria, France and the UK for forty years and authored several books and more than hundred book chapters and articles in international journals of high repute on the five continents. An external collaborator to the Paris CNRS-LLACAN research unit, with active links with INALCO (Paris) and IFRA (Nigeria), she is a member of several professional Societies including the ILTHE, the African Studies Association, UK chapter (ASAUK), the International Society for Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA), the Institute of Linguists, the French Association for the study of African literatures (APELA) and the prestigious Société des Africanistes, Paris. Back in 1990, while a Professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, she was appointed by the Nigerian Universities Commission as a member of the national panel in charge of HE accreditation. She has been a correspondent for the Senghor Foundation journal for years, she is a regular reviewer for Africa (UK) and the Cahiers d'Etudes africaines and recently developed links with the research sector in the US. Her pioneering work in the field and her longstanding contribution to the strengthening of cultural and educational ties between France and Nigeria awarded her the national distinction of Chevalier des Palmes Academiques in 1994.

Teaching Interests

Before joining the Central team, Francoise served the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in French in London and Manchester between 1997 and 2005. She is a co-course chair on L310 and a team member, L211 and L120, with a long experience of face-to-face and online teaching. She has been lecturing in Higher Education in Nigeria, France and the UK for forty years, in French language, literature, culture, comparative literature and translation. She has also been serving as an examiner for both the Open University and the Chartered Institute of Linguists, an external examiner (PhD) on Nollywood Studies & Nigerian literature (Ireland & France), an external assessor (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and as an international consultant in Igbo Studies. Her interest in folktales and oral literature, and her experience of creative writing, led her to visit schools and storytelling societies as a guest storyteller; some of her creative writing publications have been on school programmes in France and in Francophone Africa, like Senegal, for years.

Research Interests

A member of CREET and of the Ferguson Centre, O.U., she also belongs to the Paris CNRS-LLACAN research laboratory as external collaborator and is a Senior Research Fellow, IFRA (Nigeria). She equally maintains active links with INALCO (Paris). She is a member of several professional Societies including the ILTHE, the Association of African Studies UK (ASAUK), the International Society for Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA), the Chartered Institute of Linguists, the French Association pour l'étude des littératures africaines (APELA). A long-standing member of the prestigious Société des Africanistes, Paris, she served on its Council, 2008-2012. She has been a correspondent for the Senghor Foundation journal for years, a regular reviewer for several European journals, and joined the Editorial Committee of the Joie par les Livres Association, a learned association focusing on Children's literature, in 2012. She has published extensively in France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several African Countries. Her pioneering work in the field and her longstanding contribution to the strengthening of cultural and educational ties between France and Nigeria awarded her the national distinction of Chevalier des Palmes Academiques in 1994. Recent publications include the first French translation of the first Igbo novel, Omenuko (1933/2010), Biafra la déchirure (Paris, L'Harmattan 2009), Torn Apart: the Nigerian Civil War and its Impact (London, Adonis & Abbey 2010) and Le pays igbo du Nigeria (Paris, L'Harmattan 2010).

Ethnolinguistics: Apart from numerous book chapters and articles on Igbo Studies, Françoise was called upon to head the 1996 Igbo-French dictionary project that led to the publication of the Dictionnaire igbo-francais suivi d'un index francais-igbo, Paris, Karthala 2004. This bilingual dictionary, commissioned by the French Government in support of its cultural relations with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and sponsored by the Ibadan-based French Institute for Africa, is the very first Igbo-French dictionary based on standard Igbo. Its 3985 Igbo entries cover all areas of speech including specialised vocabulary of metalanguage, health and science.

Oral Literature: After a Ph.D on Gift and givers in French folktales that already included the collection, translation and study of some twenty Nigerian folktales, she embarked on twenty-five years of fieldwork in Eastern Nigeria, collecting some hundred Nigerian live folktales from informants before translating them into French and studying them. This led to the publication of two volumes in Karthala, Paris, 1992 and 2006, the first Igbo folktales published in French. She has also published on proverbs and Onomastics.

Comparative Literature: Her publications in that field include book chapters and journal articles on area studies, popular culture, children's literature, Francophone, Anglophone and Igbophone literature, including authors such as Sembene Ousmane, Dadié, Mokto, Goyemide, Achebe, Adichie, Momodu and Nwana.

Nigerian Film Studies: Francoise just started publishing on the reception, cultural and linguistic impact of Nollywood in Europe.

Current Research

Francoise is currently involved in two CNRS-LLACAN (Paris)  research operations (2010-2015): analysis of literary discourse in context, and dynamics of the move from orality to writing in African Languages & Literatures. She is also progressing a research on the reception and impact of Nollywood on Nigerian diasporic communities in Europe.

Publications