Dr. Laura Loth has been a member of Rhodes College’s Department of Modern Languages and Literatures since 2009, where she serves as Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies and Section Head for French. Her scholarly and teaching pursuits center on contemporary Francophone literature—especially voices from French-speaking North America and the Caribbean—exploring the critical interplay between postcolonial environmental studies and questions of environmental justice. She also brings to her work expertise in 19th-century French colonial literature, gender theory, visual studies, North African narratives, and immigration literatures within the Francophone world.
An avid connoisseur of French cinema, Dr. Loth secured a grant from the French Ministry of Culture’s French American Cultural Exchange Program to bring the Tournées French Film Festival to Memphis from 2012 to 2016—and proudly revived it again in 2024. She actively champions international education and has led study‑abroad programs in France, Morocco, and Martinique. At Rhodes, she enriches the curriculum beyond her home department by contributing courses to interdisciplinary programs such as Search, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Film Studies, Environmental Studies, and Africana Studies. She is proud to have served as one of the first co-directors of the Global Rhodes Internationalization Steering Committee, guiding institutional efforts in global engagement, known now as Global Rhodes.
Across campus, Dr. Loth is celebrated for her dynamic teaching and mentoring style. Students often praise her as “entertaining and passionate in class,” noting her clear grading criteria, supportive feedback, and dedication to making complex material accessible. Her commitment to student success is reflected in her strong student evaluations and willingness to support learners beyond the classroom.
Beyond her academic commitments, Dr. Loth nurtures a vibrant media presence: she hosted the weekly “Spotlight on Lifelong Learning” podcast on WKNO‑FM 91.1 for several years, reflecting her belief in the value of lifelong curiosity and community dialogue. In her leisure time, she enjoys listening to podcasts in both English and French, paddling lakes and rivers across Tennessee and Arkansas, and furthering her appreciation of wine—recently earning her Level 3 sommelier certification.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 2025.
“Gisele Pineau’s Poetics of Disaster: Trauma and Disability in Folie, Aller simple.” Special Issue on Disability, Mental Health, and Disablement. Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, 2020.
“’The Natural Elements Unchained’: Trauma, Disability, and Gisèle Pineau’s Poetics of Disaster.” Special Dossier: Women Writing Disaster in the French-speaking World. Women in French Studies 27 (2019)
“Writing and Traveling in Colonial Algeria after Isabelle Eberhardt: Henriette Celarié’s French (Cross) Dressing.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature. 36.1 (Spring 2017).
“Traumatic Landscapes: Earthquakes and Identity in Franco-Algerian Fiction by Maissa Bey and Nina Bouraoui,” Research in African Literatures. 43.1 (Spring 2016).
“(Re)Writing the Ruins: Yanick Lahens’s Post-Earthquake Narrative Revisions,” Women in French Studies. (Nov/Dec 2015).
“The Dynamics of Natural Disasters in Two Novels by Gisèle Pineau: Re-thinking Caribbean Communities.” Contemporary Caribbean Dynamics: Re-configuring Caribbean Culture. Eds. Savrina Chinien and Beatrice Boufoy-Bastick. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2015.
“Journeying Identities: Nineteenth-Century Women’s Travel Writing in French Colonial Algeria.” Symposium 63.2 (Summer 2009): 107-126.
"Epigraph-Effect/Eberhardt-Effect: The Death of Legend in Malika Mokeddem’s Le siècle des sauterelles.” Expressions maghrébines 4.1 (Summer 2005): 125-141.
SELECTED SCHOLARLY LECTURES
“Literary Resistance and Indigenous Activism in Quebec: The Case of the Magpie River,” Global Consortium for French Historical Studies, Paris, France, July 2025
“Past Disasters and Future Survivors: Narratives of Saint-Pierre in the face of Climate Change,” Winthop King Institute, Tallahassee, FL, February 2020
“The Myth of Cyparis: 21st-Century Tales of Embodied Resistance from the 1902 Eruption of Martinique’s Montagne Pelée,” Twentieth and Twenty first Century French and Francophone Studies, March 2019
“’Les éléments naturels déchaînés’ : Gisèle Pineau et la poétique du désastre," Conseil International des Etudes Francophones (CIEF), Fort de France, Martinique, June 2017
“Dressing French: Writing and Traveling in Colonial Algeria after Isabelle Eberhardt,” Western Society for French History (WSFH), Chicago, IL, November 2015
“(Re)Writing the Ruins: Dany Laferrière’s Post-Earthquake Narrative Revisions,” Caribbean Studies Association (CSA), New Orleans, LA, 2015
“Writing the Disaster: Yanick Lahens’s Failles and Haiti’s Post-Earthquake Literature,” South Central Modern Languages Association (SCMLA), Austin, TX, 2014
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