Menu Close
Lecturer in French Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Bristol

Dr Fraser McQueen is a lecturer in French Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Bristol, having previously held positions as a lecturer and postdoctoral research fellow at the Universities of Stirling and Edinburgh respectively. He completed his PhD, entitled 'Race, Religion, and Communities of Friendship: Contemporary French Islamophobia in Literature and Film' in November 2021, with cross-institutional supervision from the Universities of Stirling and Aberdeen. His thesis, which explores Islamophobia and community in contemporary France through a corpus of twelve literary and filmic texts, is currently under contract as a monograph with Liverpool University Press. His current research interests retain the interdisciplinary focus of his earlier work, drawing on scholarship from literary theory, history, film studies, sociology, anthropology, and political science. He has interests in the cultural production of the French far right; the mainstreaming of far-right conspiracy theories; the work of Michel Houellebecq (on which he has published two articles in peer-reviewed journals); representations of jihadi women in media and cultural production; the role of utopianism in both propagating and opposing racism; and the national variations (or lack thereof) in the so-called 'culture wars' that have underpinned politics in recent years. A common thread in all of these apparently diverse interests is an interest in postcolonial and decolonial studies, and in the difficulties both have had in being recognised as legitimate fields of research in France (whether in the academy or public discourse). This interest has led Fraser to be an active member in, and, since 2019, communications officer of, the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies.

Experience

  • 2021–present
    Lecturer, University of Stirling
  • 2017–2021
    Tutor, University of Stirling
  • 2015–2016
    Lecteur d'Anglais, Université de Toulon

Education

  • 2021 
    University of Stirling, Ph.D. French Studies
  • 2015 
    University of St Andrews, MLitt French Studies
  • 2014 
    University of Stirling, BA (Hons) French and History - First Class

Publications

  • 2022
    The Unimaginable Apostate: Olivier Arnaubec’s 2023. Le Mur, Xavier Durringer’s Ne M’abandonne pas, and Zahwa Djennad’s Tabou. Confession d’un jeune de banlieue, Contemporary French Civilization
  • 2021
    Christophe Guilluy’s France Périphérique and the Absence of Race from Michel Houellebecq’s Sérotonine, Modern and Contemporary France
  • 2020
    Zombie Catholicism Meets Zombie Islam: Reading Michel Houellebecq's Soumission with Emmanuel Todd, Forum for Modern Language Studies
  • 2018
    France’s ‘Elites’, Islamophobia, and Communities of Friendship in Sabri Louatah’s Les Sauvages, Modern and Contemporary France

Grants and Contracts

  • 2022
    IASH Postdoctoral Fellowship
    Role:
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    Funding Source:
    University of Edinburgh
  • 2016
    AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership Scotland studentship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    Arts and Humanities Research Council