Alexa Rae Barger
Ph.D. Student
Alexa Barger is a third-year PhD student in the French section of ELTS as of Fall 2022. Her research focuses on legacies of representation and the transmission of memory in contemporary French-language literature. In particular, she looks at concepts of memory and heritage in Francophone African and Caribbean diasporic communities, as imagined and developed by women writers.
Alexa also studies France-based literature in Catalan, with a special focus on Northern Catalonia and the memory of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath in France. She is a recipient of a FLAS year-long fellowship in Catalan through the Center for European and Russian Studies (CERS).
Alongside her research, Alexa works on translation and tutoring in French. She is a collector of Romance languages; she speaks Spanish and Catalan and has reading knowledge of Italian and contemporary Occitan. In her spare time, she enjoys writing fiction, roaming bookstores, collecting art books and supplies, and exploring coffee and tea traditions.
Education
- M.A. Comparative Literature, San Francisco State University, 2020
- B.A. Transcultural Francophone Studies, minor in Spanish and Spanish American Studies, Mills College, 2018
Interviews
Interviews with Ana Bayat, Marie Ostby, Amin Moghadam, and Shirin Vossoughi on With a Trace: Documenting and Sharing the Experiences of the Iranian Diaspora.
“Media Matters: discussing journalism in the age of Trump with Aboubakr Jamaï.” The Campanil, 11 March 2017.
Articles
- “Memory, Text, and Power: Ken Bugul, Edward Said, and Colonial Education.” Portals: A Journal of Comparative Literature, vol. 16, Spring 2019.
- “Slavery and Black Womanhood in Post-Abolition Literature.” Mills Academic Research Journal, Spring 2017.
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