At USC, your dissertation can be genuinely interdisciplinary while retaining rigorous training in French and Francophone Studies. Our Current students work on projects from experimental film and photography to French Asian diasporas and racial capitalism.
Explore our current Graduate Students below and our Alumni & Placement to learn more about their research and career paths.
Alexandre Collomb
Research Interest:
Among Alexandre’s research interests is a focus on decadence in 20th century literature, especially in works by fascist authors.
Jérôme Gendrot
Research Interest:
Jérôme’s research interests center on French and Francophone footballers, football culture, and athlete authorship and subjectivities.
Chloé Luu
Research Interest:
Chloé’s research centers of French Asian diasporas and cultural histories. Her research has most recently appeared in a special issue of L’Esprit Créateur on racial capital. Her article is entitled “Jaune à l’extérieur et blanche à l’intérieur: French Asian ‘Post-Migratory’ Narratives, National Belonging and Capital Erasures.”
AJ Mata
Research Interest:
AJ is a first-year student in the program. He comes to us from UC Davis where he completed a MA in Comparative Literature (May 2026). Prior to that, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and International Studies from University of San Francisco (May 2024). His research interests center on the circulation of extra-textual and visual documents within French and Francophone cinema.
Elsa Vallot
Research Interest:
Elsa’s research focuses on martial arts and the banlieue, plasticity and the body, rap music and culture, and the Indian ocean cultural continuum. Her research has appeared in Journal of the Western Society for French History. She is author of the novel Le corps le sang la rage (Hors d’Atteinte, 2021). Elsa is currently conducting her research and dissertation writing in Thailand.
Lucy Whiteley
Research Interest:
Lucy’s research focuses on the poetics of space and la zone in photography and film. Her essay “The Dust Lecture: On Mortal Flesh” recently appeared in the online literary journal Air/Light. She’s currently conducting research and finishing her dissertation in Paris.