Safoi Babana-Hampton

babanaha@msu.edu
(517) 884-6311

B461 Wells Hall
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824

FacultyRomance and Classical StudiesFilm StudiesGlobal Studies in Arts and HumanitiesJewish Studies

Professor
French

Biography

Safoi Babana-Hampton is Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University.  Her primary areas of teaching and research are 20th and 21st century French and Francophone literatures, film and cultural studies.  Her book Réflexions littéraires sur l’espace public  marocain dans l’oeuvre d’Abdellatif Laâbi (Summa Publications, 2008) critically examines the role of culture in the construction of civic consciousness and the formation of a modern public space in Morocco. She also authored articles on a wide range of topics relating to conceptions of multicultural citizenship, the postcolonial condition, historical memory in a global context, interfaith relations, expressions of identity by French cultural minorities, and artistic hybridity in the literary and film productions of French cultural minorities, Moroccan Sephardic literature and other Francophone literary and filmic narratives from North Africa and Québec.  She is a former Fulbright fellow and a two-time recipient and Senior Principal Investigator of the UIUC Humanities Without Walls award, funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, for the transnational collaborative documentary features Hmong Memory at the Crossroads (2015) and Growing up Hmong at the Crossroads (2017).

Degree:  Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park

Research Interests: Francophone postcolonial studies; transnational and diasporic studies in the French-speaking world; film studies; theories of narrative, representation and interart dialogue in their relationship with questions of gender, class, race, cultural and historical memory

University News

Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival Returns to MSU 
Published October 3, 2024 in College of Arts & Letters
A collection of six film posters arranged in two rows. From left to right in the top row: "La Nuit du 12" (a woman in a red coat at night), "The Beast" (a close-up of a woman's face), and "Retour à Séoul" (a woman in a black coat in front of neon lgihts). Bottom row: "Other People's Children" (a smiling woman and man with a child), "Le Mépris" (a woman lounging in a room above the ocean), and "Banel & Adama" (a woman in a red dress laying on cracked earth).
Assistant Professors Elizabeth Tuttle and Jena Whitaker in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University are excited to announce the return of the MSU Albertine…Read now »
Theatre Assistant Professor Ryan Welsh Receives 2023 HARP Large-Scale Development Grant
Published April 4, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
A man stands behind a screen with a notepad. His hand is near his chin and he has an ear bud in his ear.
The 2023 MSU Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) large-scale development grant has been awarded to Ryan Patrick Welsh, Assistant Professor of Media Acting in MSU’s Department of…Read now »
MSU Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival Set for Select Dates April 3-13
Published March 28, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
The MSU Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival, which will bring six contemporary and classic French films to Michigan State University’s campus, will be held on select dates from April 3…Read now »
Inaugural HARP Large-scale Development Grant Awarded to Documentary Filmmaker
Published February 2, 2022 in College of Arts & Letters
Originally published by MSU Office of Research and Innovation Safoi Babana-Hampton, Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies, is the…Read now »
MSU Receives $160,000 in HWW Global Midwest Grants
Published February 10, 2016 in College of Arts & Letters
buildfing surrounded ith trees with yellow and green leaves
Three project teams that include MSU College of Arts & Letters faculty and students were among the 10 teams receiving funding in the 2016 Humanities Without Walls (HWW) Global Midwest Grants. In…Read now »
‘Hmong Memory at the Crossroads’ Film Premiere
Published January 13, 2016 in College of Arts & Letters
graphic for film premiere
The College of Arts & Letters Department of Romance and Classical Studies will premiere the documentary film Hmong Memory at the Crossroads at 4:00 pm, Monday, February 15, 2016 in the…Read now »