Dr. Cécile Bishop

Biography

Cécile's research lies in the area of Francophone Postcolonial Studies, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and the French Caribbean. Her work explores the intersections of political issues and aesthetic representation across a variety of genres and media, including literature, social science, film, and visual arts. After completing her PhD at King's College London, Cécile joined Somerville College as a Junior Research Fellow in October 2012. Her current book project examines the relationships between photography and humanism in a postcolonial context, taking as its starting point the work of French photographer Denise Colomb in the Antilles from 1948 to 1958. Colomb's work is situated within the aesthetic of French humanist photography, which was made famous by Robert Doisneau and produced iconic representations of France in the 20th century. The project concentrates on the issues raised by Colomb's transposition of aesthetic representations into the Caribbean context, particularly the apparent tension between the emphasis on 'poetry of everyday life' and the difficult social and political situations in the French Antilles. In addition, Colomb's complex collaborations with influential writers such as Aimé Césaire and Michel Leiris are examined, investigating how written and visual representations engage with the tension between political and aesthetic dimensions.

Research Interests