Research Areas
20th and 21st century French and Francophone literature, North African diaspora, migration, film and media studies, queer studies, gender and sexuality studies, cultural studies, critical race theory.
Biography
I am a first-year graduate student in the French Ph.D. program. My research interests lie in French and Francophone culture, and media (film, documentaries, television, music). For my future thesis, I want to focus on the cultural representations of racial, gender and sexual minorities in France with an emphasis on queer identities and second/third generation immigrants from the Maghreb.
Before coming to Berkeley, I earned a BA and MA in English literature from the University of Tours (France), where I wrote a thesis on The Representations of African American Masculinities in American television series from 2014 onwards. This thesis allowed me to focus on subjects that became central to my research interests — namely, 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 a MA in French and Francophone literature.
I taught French during the entirety of my MA at CU Boulder and cannot wait to start interacting with students further along in the Ph.D.!
My pronouns are he/him/il.
Selected Publications
Book Chapters (Editor-reviewed)
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 Volume
Drif Kévin and Georges-Claude Guilbert, editors. Intersectionality in Anglophone Television Series and Cinema. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, December 2020.
Online articles
Drif, Kévin. “Les Nouvelles Aventures de Sabrina, saison 3 : Sabrina Spellman, une figure féministe ambigüe.” Le genre & l’écran, 23 Feb. 2020, https://www.genre-ecran.net/?Les-Nouvelles-Aventures-de-Sabrina-saison-3.
Podcasts
"Hollywood avec Kévin Drif". Histoires en Séries, 2 December 2022, https://youtu.be/4deb0Dylh7s.
In Preparation
Drif, Kévin. “‘Educating’ the Banlieue: Gender Dynamics and Spatiality in French Banlieue Cinema Schools.” Gender in French Banlieue Cinema: Intersectional Perspectives, edited by Marzia Caporale, Claire Mouflard, & Habib Zanzana.