Heterolanguage in Twenty-First-Century Cinema and Literature: Transnational Mediations By Mélissa Gélinas A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Comparative Literature) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Frieda Ekotto, Chair Assistant Professor Nilo Couret Professor Jarrod L. Hayes Associate Professor Daniel Chilcote Herbert Associate Professor Christi Ann Merrill Language is at the same time a site for empowerment and a site for enslavement. And it is particularly enslaving when its workings remain invisible. ―Trinh T. Minh-ha, “Speaking Nearby” Mélissa Gélinas
[email protected] ORCid 0000-0002-3978-5226 © Mélissa Gélinas 2017 Dedication À Renaud ii Acknowledgements The help and support of incredibly generous faculty, colleagues, friends, and family have thoroughly shaped this dissertation and my intellectual journey. I am very lucky to have worked with a remarkably empowering and dedicated committee. Frieda Ekotto has been a true mentor: she has always thought of me as a colleague, and this has meant a lot to me throughout this process. She has trusted me, my insights, and my ideas from the beginning. Frieda provided me with the most unwavering and comprehensive support, along with the motivation (and the cheese!) necessary to persevere. Jarrod Hayes offered such sharp and stimulating perspectives on Québécois and Franco-Canadian materials that I decided to look at them again, differently, eventually including in this dissertation elements that so deeply resonate with me. Throughout this journey, Jarrod has offered excellent advice and the most pleasant and joyful of conversations. Christi Merrill, in her “Translation After Orientalism” class and beyond, gave my thinking the guidance and space necessary for the conceptual core of this dissertation to start emerging.