Overview
Dr Armelle Blin-Rolland joined Bangor University as Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies in 2014. Before then, she was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath, and a Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Leicester. She holds a PhD in French and Francophone Studies from Bangor University (2011), with a doctoral thesis on voice in adaptations of Céline's Voyage au bout de la nuit and Queneau's Zazie dans le métro. She also holds a BA in German from the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest), and an MA in European Cultures and Languages (Bangor University).
Dr Armelle Blin-Rolland's research specialisms include: French and Francophone ecocriticism and environmental humanities; text/image and bande dessinée studies; and adaptation and intermediality. She has published articles on these areas in journals including European Comic Art, Modern Languages Open, Modern and Contemporary France, Studies in Comics and Studies in French Cinema. She is the author of Adapted Voices: Transpositions of Céline’s ‘Voyage au bout de la nuit’ and Queneau’s ‘Zazie dans le métro’ (Oxford: Legenda, 2015). She has co-edited a special issue of European Comic Art on ‘Comics & Adaptation’ (stemming from a conference she co-organised at the University Leicester), and a special issue of Studies in Comics on ‘Comics & Nation’ (also stemming from a conference she co-organised, at Bangor University). She is review co-editor for European Comic Art.
Her current research project is entitled 'Narratives of a More-than-human France, 1945 to Today: Space, Environment, Resistance' and is funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant. It investigates the relationship between narrative, space and the environment in France since 1945, with a focus on ‘hyper-sites’ (nuclear sites, factory farms, industrial slaughterhouses, zoos, toxic landscapes). It aims to analyse the cultural narratives and spatial dynamics that have shaped relationships to the nonhuman in contemporary France, and modes of resistance against anthropocentric, gendered, (neo-)colonial, nationalistic and capitalist divisions of space. The corpus comprises a range of media, as well as scientific writings, direct action, political discourse and material sites. The project develops a French ecocriticism that questions what ‘French’ means from multispecies, ecofeminist and eco-decolonial perspectives, in exposing and contesting environmentally unjust narratives, and promoting modes of understanding and sharing territory as more-than-human. Beyond the French context, this leads to a consideration of the role of Modern Languages in collective action towards sustainability. As part of this project, she is co-organising an International Online Conference on 'Greening Modern Languages Research and Teaching' (24th-25th March 2023), the CFP for which can be found here: Greening Modern Languages Research and Teaching
Dr Armelle Blin-Rolland's current administrative responsibilities are: Subject Lead for French and Francophone Studies; School International and Year Abroad Officer; Year Abroad coordinator for French; School representative on Bangor University's Senate.
Additional Contact Information
Email: a.blin-rolland@bangor.ac.uk
Location: room 417, 3rd floor, New Arts building
Teaching and Supervision
Undergraduate teaching
LXE-1700: Creating National Histories (year 1)
LXE-2025: Reading Fantastic Literatures (2nd year)
LXF-3112: Bande dessinee & adaptation (Final year)
LCF/LZF-1002: Advanced French 2 (1st year)
LCF/LZF-2020 & 2040: French language skills (2nd year)
LCF/LZF-3020, 3030 & 3040: French language skills (Final year)
LCE/LXE-3210 & 3200: Press Dossier (Final year)
Postgraduate teaching:
LXM-4035: French Film & Comic Adaptation
LXM-4001: Modes of Critical Theory (team-taught)
LXM-4002: Research Methods (team-taught)
LXM-4031: Critical Theory in Practice (team-taught)
Teaching qualification
FHEA
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Publications
2022
- Accepted/In pressTowards an Ecographics: Ecological Storylines in Bande dessinée
Blin-Rolland, A., 30 Apr 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: European Comic Art. 15, 2
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2021
- PublishedA Breton Bande dessinée? Graphic Mosaics of Brittany
Blin-Rolland, A., Jul 2021, In: Nottingham French Studies. 60, 2, p. 254-271
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedNuclear Islands: Toxicity, Bodies, Power
Blin-Rolland, A., Sep 2021.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
2020
- PublishedPolymedia Jekyll & Hyde: The Dual Character in Renoir's Film and Mattotti and Kramsky's Comic Book
Blin-Rolland, A., 28 Sep 2020, Adapting the Canon: Translation, Visualization, Interpretation. Lewis, A. & Arnold-de Simine, S. (eds.). Legenda, (Transcript; vol. 1).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2019
- PublishedAdaplastics: forming the Zazie dans le metro network
Blin-Rolland, A., 2 Oct 2019, In: Modern and Contemporary France. 27, 4, p. 457-473
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedBecoming Musicomic: Music and Comics in Resonance
Blin-Rolland, A., 16 Apr 2019, In: Modern Languages Open. 1, 2, p. 1-25
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedComics & Nation: Editorial
Blin-Rolland, A. & Miranda-Barreiro, D., 1 Jul 2019, In: Studies in Comics. 10, 1, p. 3-6
Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial - Published‘Tu te décolonises’: Comics Re-framings of the Breton Liberation Front (FLB)
Blin-Rolland, A., 1 Jul 2019, In: Studies in Comics. 10, 1, p. 73-91
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2017
- PublishedAdapting Brittany: The Ker-Is legend in Bande Dessinee
Blin-Rolland, A., 1 Mar 2017, In: European Comic Art. 10, 1
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedIntroduction: Comics and Adaptation
Blin-Rolland, A., Lecomte, G. & Ripley, M., 30 Apr 2017, In: European Comic Art. 10, 1, p. 1-8 8 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
2015
- PublishedAdapted Voices: Tranpositions of Celine's 'Voyage au bout de la nuit' and Queneau's 'Zazie dans le metro'
Blin-Rolland, A., 31 Jul 2015, Legenda.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
2014
- PublishedCinematic Voices in Louis Malle’s Adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le metro
Blin-Rolland, A., 25 Mar 2014, In: Studies in French Cinema. 14, 1, p. 48-60
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedRe-inventing the Origins of the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow up: Regis Loisel's 'Peter Pan'
Blin-Rolland, A., 1 Oct 2014, In: Studies in Comics. 5, 2, p. 275-292
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2013
- PublishedFidelity versus Appropriation in Comics Adaptation: Jacques Carelman’s and Clément Oubrerie’s Zazie dans le métro
Blin-Rolland, A., 2013, In: European Comic Art. 6, 1, p. 88-109
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2011
- PublishedVoice in Adaptation: Tardi’s Illustration of Céline’s Voyage au bout de la nuit
Blin-Rolland, A., 8 Dec 2011, Adaptation: Studies in French and Francophone Culture. Archer, N. & Weisl-Schaw, A. (eds.). Peter Lang, p. 193-205 (Modern French Identities).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
2010
- PublishedNarrative Techniques in Jacques Tardi’s Adaptations Le Der des Ders and Voyage au bout de la nuit
Blin-Rolland, A., 1 Mar 2010, In: European Comic Art. 3, 1, p. 23-36
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Activities
2023
- Greening Modern Languages Research and Teaching
Greening Modern Languages Research and Teaching
An International Online Conference, 24th-25th March 2023
Deadline for abstracts: 16th December 2022
The two-day international online conference ‘Greening Modern Languages Research and Teaching’ will reflect on the role Modern Languages as a discipline has to play in times of ecological crises, in rethinking our academic practice as educators, scholars and eco-citizens, and ways in which this intersects with current efforts to decentre and decolonise the curriculum. The conference will open a reflection on the place of Modern Languages in the Environmental Humanities and in collective action towards environmental sustainability and justice.
The Call for Papers is available at https://greeningmodlang.wordpress.com/2022/10/14/greening-modern-languages-research-and-teaching/
24 Mar 2023 – 25 Mar 2023
Links:
Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course (Organiser)
2022
- 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, University of Pittsburgh, March 24-26, 2022
More than human, more than meat: multispecies and multimedia narratives of factory farms and slaughterhouses in French culture
2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, UK and Ireland, Biennial Conference 2022‘Epochs, Ages, and Cycles: Time and the Environment’6–8 September 2022, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne
180 days, 100 000 years: Factory Farms, Industrial Slaughterhouses, Nuclear Sites and More-than-human Spacetimes in Contemporary France
2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
2021
- Comics & Music Symposium, Royal Holloway, University of London
10 May 2021
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Brittany in French-language Comics and Graphic Narratives
Lecture and seminar as part of the Post-16 Languages Recovery Project
25 Jan 2021
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Schools engagement (Contributor) - Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France Conference, University of Chester, September 2nd-September 4th 2021, ‘Islands and archipelagos / Îles et archipels’
Nuclear Islands: Toxicity, Bodies, Power
2021
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
2020
- Graphic Entanglements: Women, Nature and Brittany
Invited talk as part of 'Drawing Gender: Women and French-language Comics' symposium at The Ohio State University.
29 Feb 2020
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
2019
- Sketching/Scripting Women: Women and Politics in Bande dessinee, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing, Institute of Advanced Study, University of London
Event funded by: the Cassal Fund, IMLR (£708)
Since the mid-1990s, female artists have become an increasingly visible presence in bande dessinée (French-language comic art), a medium with which women were previously rarely associated as creators or even consumers. Research concerning the work of Francophone female graphic novelists has been slow to emerge but is now a growing field. The primary goal of the seminars in the Sketching/Scripting Women series is therefore to contribute to and help steer the development of research into female bande dessinée creation, by bringing together practitioners, academics and the general public.
The Spring 2019 seminar in this series centred on the theme of ‘Women and Politics in Bande dessinée’, which were discussed by four speakers: three academics (Dr Ann Miller as a keynote speaker, Dr Edward Still and Dr Armelle Blin-Rolland), and a prize-winning graphic novelist (Tanx). The three academic papers explored questions of the relationship between women and politics in female-authored bandes dessinées that focus on different historical and geographical contexts. Dr Ann Miller (University of Leicester) presented a keynote speech on ‘The Nude and the Naked: From Fine Art to Comics’; Dr Edward Still (University of Birmingham) presented a paper on ‘‘‘Monstrez-vous en tutu”: Obsessional Feminine Identity and Interpersonal Histories in the Bandes Dessinées of Nawel Louerrad’; and Dr Armelle Blin-Rolland (Bangor University) presented a paper on ‘Ecopolitics, Gender and Brittany in Bande dessinée’.
Following the three academic papers, graphic novelist Tanx spoke (in French) about her oeuvre and discuss her experience as a female artist in the French comics industry. Tanx’s work, with its distinctive underground and rock-inspired aesthetics, explores and subverts cultural and artistic representations of gender and the female body. Tanx was the 2009 co-recipient (for Esthétique et filatures, co-authored with Lisa Mendel) of the Prix Artémisia, an award created to honour the best female-created bande dessinée published each year.
26 Apr 2019
Links:
Activity: Participation in conference (Organiser) - Studies in Comics (Journal)
Co-guest editor of the Special Issue of Studies in Comics on 'Comics & Nation'
2019
Activity: Editorial activity (Guest editor)
2017
- ASMCF Conference (Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France): Work & Play
From the Tennis Court Oath to Nuit Debout, work and play have been instrumental in organising socio-political life in the French Republic. Culturally too, work and play are formative of identity, inviting reflection on the power relations at stake in the construction and deconstruction of identities. This conference seeks to bring together a broad range of disciplinary approaches to consider theories, representations, practices and interconnections of work and play in France and the rest of the French-speaking world. Traversing sociological, political, anthropological as well as aesthetic and cultural spheres, the conference theme is intended to stimulate debate across a far-reaching horizon of enquiry.
Keynote Speakers:
Helen Abbott (University of Birmingham)
Claude Boli (Responsable scientifique du Musée National du Sport, Nice)
Sarah Waters (University of Leeds)
7 Sep 2017 – 9 Sep 2017
Links:
Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course (Organiser) - Comics & Nation
With the generous support of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF)
In recent years, the rise of the ‘graphic novel’ has boosted academic interest in comic art from different disciplines and fields of study. Graphic texts, in their multiple forms and genres, have been a cultural manifestation reflecting societal changes, historical tensions and also their effects on individual stories since their inception. Comics have also been instrumental in the construction of national identities, both in nation-states and in stateless nations.
This conference aims to put into dialogue scholars working on a variety of cultures and disciplines to provide a forum for the discussion of the interrelation between comic art (comic books and strips, cartoons and caricature) and nation, placing special emphasis on text/image creation from minority cultures (e.g. Brittany, Corsica, Galicia, Catalonia, Wales, Scotland, Sardinia, etc.) but also including those from nation-states (e.g. UK, France, Spain, Italy, etc.).
13 Jul 2017 – 14 Jul 2017
Activity: Participation in conference (Organiser) - European Comic Art (Journal)
Review co-editor
2017 – 2021
Activity: Editorial activity (Editor)
2016
- European Comic Art (Journal)
Co-editor of a special issue of European Comic Art on 'Comics & Adaptation'
1 Jan 2016 – 15 Jan 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Guest editor)
2015
- Comics & Adaptation in the European Context
With the generous support of:
the Society for French Studies (SFS)
the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF)
10 Apr 2015
Activity: Participation in conference (Organiser)
Projects
-
Narratives of a More-than-human France, 1945 to Today: Space, Environment, Resistance
01/09/2022 – 30/09/2023 (Active)
-
01/07/2017 – 30/11/2017 (Finished)
Description
In recent years, the rise of the ‘graphic novel’ has boosted academic interest in comic art from different disciplines and fields of study. Graphic texts, in their multiple forms and genres, have been a cultural manifestation reflecting societal changes, historical tensions and also their effects on individual stories since their inception. Comics have also been instrumental in the construction of national identities, both in nation-states and in stateless nations.
This conference aims to put into dialogue scholars working on a variety of cultures and disciplines to provide a forum for the discussion of the interrelation between comic art (comic books and strips, cartoons and caricature) and nation, placing special emphasis on text/image creation from minority cultures (e.g. Brittany, Catalonia, Corsica, Galicia, Kurdistan, Mapuche, Quebec, Scotland, Wales, etc.) but also including those from nation-states (e.g. China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK, etc.).
Links: