Summary
Christian Ahihou is a lecturer in French (Department of World Languages and Literatures) and instructor of Humanities (Core Humanities) at the University of Nevada, Reno. His field of specialization is 20th and 21st century French and francophone literatures and cultural studies. While he have research interests in Afro-francophone literatures and cultures (Maghreb, Caribbean and African Diasporas included), his research works focus primarily on Sub-Saharan Africa, the formal aspects of literature (most notably in poetic prose fiction), critical theory and literary criticism. Ahihou also work in comparative literature, interdisciplinary studies and African cinema. He has had training in law and political science as well.
This August 2021 marked the 15th year since Ahihou has been teaching at college-level in the U.S., and he has experience in teaching at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum. In an introductory class as well as in an advanced one, Ahihou's teaching philosophy is based on the development of students’ critical thinking. That is how he puts into practice his firm belief in humanities’ teaching form not only for today’s citizens, but also and most importantly tomorrow’s worldwide thinkers and decision makers. Ahihou is fully committed to the development of the student as a whole person.
Research interests
Ahihou's research interests are comparatist and interdisciplinary. They center on texts that testify to the numerous silent revolutions, whether historical, philosophical, or stylistic, that have occurred during the 20th and 21st century in French and francophone literatures. As for his interdisciplinary approach, it is mostly grounded in his academic background in law and political science.
- African Literature in French: The South of the Sahara and the Caribbean
- Representations of the Social Issues of Migration and Exile in Literature
- African Ideology in Literature and the Concept of Littérature-monde
- Women Writing in Africa
- The Concept of Glissement in Literature
- Modernity and Comparative Literature
- Multi/Interdisciplinarity
Recent pulications
Books
- Ahihou, Christian. Ken Bugul - Glissement et fonctionnements du langage littéraire. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2017.
- Ahihou, Christian. Ken Bugul – La langue littéraire. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2013.
Articles
- Ahihou, Christian. “Mariama Bâ et Ken Bugul: De l’émergence à la radicalisation de l’écriture féminine en Afrique francophone subsaharienne.” Lingua Romana, vol. 14, Issue 1, Fall 2019.
- Ahihou, Christian. “Poéticité du langage romanesque de Ken Bugul: maternement, mutilation et fonctionnement de la mimesis.” Selected Proceedings of the AATF Convention 2 (2012). Web. 10 May 2012.
- Ahihou, Christian. “Le règne du sémiotique, fondement de la poéticité du langage romanesque chez Ken Bugul.” RELIEF 5.1 (2011) Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Interviews
- Ahihou, Christian, et al. “Interview with Ken Bugul: Women Writing in French-speaking Africa and Other Topics in Literature.” Lingua Romana, vol. 14, Issue 1, Fall 2019.
- Ahihou, Christian. “Entretien avec Ken Bugul.” Ken Bugul – La langue littéraire. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2013.
Courses taught
- FREN 111 - First Year French I
- FREN 212 - Second Year French II
- Core Humanities 202 - The Modern World
Education
- Ph.D., romance languages: French and francophone studies, University of Florida, 2012
- M.A., French, University of Florida, 2008
- B.A., African literature, Maîtrise es-Lettres Modernes, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin, 2007
- B.A., Beninois legal studies, Maîtrise es-Sciences Juridiques, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin, 2004