Current research
Arts Research Africa and Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Research title: ‘Decolonising language ideologies in the body’.
Watch a recent presentation of Claire’s research as part of this fellowship:
Recent practice as research
AHRC/ University of Oxford research project Creative Multilingualism and Slanguages, ‘The body, making and (s)languaging’ A workshop for performers and practitioners exploring how and when the performer’s body might disrupt otherwise dominant uses of language, Friday 13 March 2020, Birmingham Rep, overview in my blog post here and evaluation in my blog post here
Articles
French, C. (2021). Facilitating departures from monolingual discourses, Applied Theatre Research, 9(1): 7-23, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00045_1, read article here.
Online publications
Jacobs, R. and French, C. (2021). Women, robots and a sustainable generation: Reading artworks envisioning education in 2050 and beyond, UNESCO Futures of Education, read report here.
French, C. (2020). Performing the languages we live, Creative Multilingualism, Oxford: University of Oxford, read blog post here.
Book reviews
French, C. (2018). Review, Explorations in Southern African Drama, Theatre and Performance. By Patrick J. Ebewo, Theatre Research International, read book review here.
French, C. (2016). Review, The Methuen drama guide to contemporary South African theatre, South African Theatre Journal, read book review here.
Forthcoming books
Routledge Advances in Theatre and Performance Series Making multilingual performance: Omission, alignment, disruption (forthcoming, 2022).
Manuscripts in submission
Theatre, Dance and Performance Training,‘The disinhibited body: Mobilising languaging for decolonial actor training’. (Under review)
Australian Aboriginal Studies Journal, ‘Ngapartji Ngapartji: Intercultural dramaturgies for Indigenous language revitalisation’, Co-authored with Jakelin Troy. (Under review)
Research in Drama Education: The journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, ‘Decolonising facilitator training: Voice messages from the South African day to the Australian night’, Co-authored with Sibusiso Mkhize. (Under review)
Invited talks
University of Witwatersrand, School of Arts, ‘Decolonising facilitator training,’ co-presented with Sibusiso Mkhize, July 2021, watch here.
Western Sydney University, Centre for Educational Research, ‘Women, robots and a sustainable generation’ co-presented with Rachael Jacobs, May 2021, watch here.
University of Sydney, CREATE Higher Degree Research Huddle, ‘The research, policy, practice continuum: Reading artworks for UNESCO’s Future of Education,’ co-presented with Rachael Jacobs, April 2021.
University of Warwick, Institute of Advanced Studies Seminar Series, ‘Disrupting language ideologies in the collaborating actor’s body’, January 2020.
University of Warwick, Language. Culture. Matters. Applied Linguistics Seminar Series, ‘Performance-making processes as sites for the analysis of language ideologies’, December 2019.
Presentations
AusAct: Australian Actor Training Conference, ‘Decolonising language ideologies in the body: Viewpoints as a multilingual pedagogy’, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia, December 2020.
Performing Multilingualism in Europe and Beyond: Migration, Globalisation, Utopia, ‘Methodologies for mobilising languaging in performance-making and rehearsal processes’, University of Kent, September 2019.
9th International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI), ‘Towards translingual praxis: departures from monolingual facilitation’, University of Auckland, July 2018.
Sociolinguistics Symposium 22, ‘Considering actors’ embodied participation in improvisational activities’, Interdisciplinary Strand, University of Auckland, June 2018, more and abstract.
Theatre and Performance Seminar Series, ‘Facilitating translingual methodologies: beyond the monolingual orientation in applied performance praxis’, University of Warwick, January 2018, more & abstract.
PaR Lab: Pecha Kucha, ‘Performance devising processes as new discursive frames for sociolinguistic research’, University of Warwick, December 2017, more.
Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA), ‘Introducing language ideology’, Applied and Social Theatre, University of Salford, September 2017.
Awards
Research Excellent Framework (REF) PhD Completion Fund, Warwick Graduate School, University of Warwick, April-September 2019
Conference Bursary, Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, 2018
TaPRA Bursury, Postdoctoral Researcher, September 2017
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, Shared scholarship for doctoral research with The University of Warwick, 2015-2019
Monash Warwick Alliance Joint PhD, acceptance, however declined due to incompatibility with Commonwealth Scholarship (above), 2015
Esmée Fairbairn, England 2016
Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts, 2015 & 2016
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, highest grade MA dissertation for Applied Theatre, through publication: The British Library archive, 2014
Leverhulme Trust, Research Project Fund, February-June 2014
Propel Arts Youth Arts WA, Y Culture Grant, 2007
Australia Business Arts Foundation, Arts-Business Match Grant, 2007
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Bachelor of Arts Regional Scholarship, 2004-2005
Academic appointments
Arts Research Africa and Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Title: ‘Decolonising language ideologies in the body’. Mentor: Samuel Ravengai, 2021 – present.
Research Assistant to Rachael Jacobs, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University. Focus areas: Arts curriculum planning; second language acquisition; translanguaging; and UNESCO Education, 2020 – present.
Associate Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Warwick, 2020 – present.
Visiting Fellow, Bachelor of Acting/ Bachelor of Performing Arts, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 2020.
Early Career Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Warwick. Focus areas: Publishing doctoral research and exploring/testing it within performance practices, 2019 – 2020.
Research Administrator to Professor Jakelin Troy, Department of Linguistics, The University of Sydney. Title: ‘Putting performance on the Indigenous Australian language revitalisation agenda’, 2016.
Researcher, Annual Report for InsightShare, Oxford, 2014.