Research Areas
20th/21st century French and Francophone literature and culture; North African diaspora and migration narratives; French children of immigrants ontologies via cultural studies, film and media studies, television studies, queer studies, post-colonial studies and critical race theory.
Biography
I am a third-year graduate student in the French Ph.D. program with a designated emphasis in Film and Media. My research interests lie in French and Francophone contemporary cultures and media (film, documentaries, television, music). I currently focus on the cultural representations of education and the school space in French literature and cinema, and the complicated relationship this republican institution has with children of immigrants in its mission of dissemination of a certain French identity. For my dissertation, I intend to hone in on the television medium and address similar questions of national identity, cultural hybridity, and emancipatory practices.
Before coming to Berkeley, I earned a BA and MA in English literature and cultures from the University of Tours (France), where I wrote a thesis on The Representations of Black Masculinities in American television series from 2014 onwards. This thesis allowed me to focus on subjects that became central to my research interests — namely, cultural studies, media studies, gender and sexuality studies, and critical race theory — all through an intersectional analytical framework. A one-year student exchange in the French department at the University of Colorado Boulder helped me rediscover French literature and led me to graduate from CU Boulder with an MA in French and Francophone literature.
When I am not obsessively reading about banlieue cinema or reading about American television, I am binge-watching television series (for research of course), spending time at a local theater or exploring nature in the Bay!
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Feel free to contact me for any questions (teaching, research, tutoring) by email.
Selected Publications
Book Chapters (Editor-reviewed)
- Drif, Kévin. “Gender Dynamics and Spatiality in Banlieue Education Films.” Gender in French Banlieue Cinema: Intersectional Perspectives, edited by Marzia Caporale, Claire Mouflard, & Habib Zanzana, Lexington Book Publishing, August 2024, pp. 97-113.
- Drif, Kévin and Georges-Claude Guilbert. “Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood as Queer Utopian Uchronia.” Ryan Murphy's Queer America, edited by Brenda R. Weber & David Greven, Routledge, 2022, pp. 105-118.
- Drif, Kévin. “CŒUR DE PIRATE: A Pirate with a Heart” & “EDDY DE PRETTO: The Dawn of a New Genre.” An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z, reedition, edited by Michaël Abecassis & Marcelline Block, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022, pp. 235-238 & pp. 276-279.
- Drif, Kévin. “Titus Andromedon’s Intersectional Identity in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-2020).” Intersectionality in Anglophone Television Series and Cinema, edited by Kévin Drif & Georges-Claude Guilbert, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020, pp. 36-47.
Edited Volumes
- Drif Kévin and Georges-Claude Guilbert, editors. Intersectionality in Anglophone Television Series and Cinema. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, December 2020.
Reviews
- Drif, Kévin. Review of Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes US by Karen Tongson. Continuum, 28 Feb. 2024, DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2024.2325097.
Podcasts
- “Beur and Banlieue Cinema.” The French History Podcast, June 22, 2024, https://www.thefrenchhistorypodcast.com/beur-banlieue-cinema-by-kevin-drif/.
- “Hollywood avec Kévin Drif.” Histoires en Séries, 2 December 2022, https://youtu.be/4deb0Dylh7s.
In Preparation
- Drif, Kévin. “When the Banlieue Meets the Third Arrondissement: Education, Hip Hop, and Emancipation in Allons Enfants (2022).” Education in Contemporary French and Francophone Film, edited by Rhiannon Harries and John Marks.