I started my PhD in French at the University of California, Berkeley in Fall 2024. I am originally from Tours, in France’s Loire Valley, a region known for its châteaux, wine, cheese, and remarkable concentration of literary figures such as Balzac and Rabelais. I will leave it to others to determine which of these cultural contributions has had the greatest historical significance.
Before arriving at Berkeley, I earned an M.A. in French and Francophone Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder, as well as an M.A. in Cultural Studies from the University of Tours in France.
My research focuses on contemporary French fiction and film, with particular interests in aesthetics and representations of contemporary France in literature and visual culture. More broadly, I am interested in popular culture, cultural imaginaries, and interdisciplinary approaches to literary and visual analysis.
Outside of academia, I am an avid hill runner (a hobby that California has both encouraged and mercilessly intensified), I also enjoy discovering new films, and listening to podcasts.
Selected Publications
- Catel, Julie “Dans la fabrique du mythe américain : déconstruire l’américanité avec Jean Rolin dans le Ravissement de Britney Spears”Analele Universității „Ovidius” Constanța. Seria Filologie Vol XXXVI, no. 2, 2025, p. 136.
- Catel, Julie. "La disparition de la langue française (2003) d’Assia Djebar: Donner voix aux spectres du passé" Analele Universității „Ovidius” Constanța. Seria Filologie, vol. XXXIV, no. 2, 2023, pp. 218.
- Catel, Julie (2024) "De la saleté a la poésie : portrait de la France périphérique dans l’Été des charognes de Simon Johannin," Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies: Vol. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://repository.lsu.edu/tete_a_tete/vol3/iss1/4
