Monique N. Zahui

Fall 2026 Office Hours

Tuesdays 11:00am - 1:00pm in New Cabell Hall 344 or on Zoom by appt.

Biography 

Monique Zahui is a PhD candidate in the Department of French at the University of Virginia. Her research explores representations of the Black body in Francophone African literature, photography, and cinema, with particular attention to colonial visual imaginaries and the ways African and Afro-descendant writers and artists reclaim, reframe, and reimagine Black bodies, identities, and histories. 

As a Francophone educator and French instructor, she considers language and culture inseparable. Her teaching introduces students not only to French language and culture but also to the richness and diversity of Francophone literatures, histories, and cultures across the world. 

During the 2025–2026 academic year, Monique was a pensionnaire étrangère at the École normale supérieure (ENS-PSL) in Paris, where she furthered her doctoral research and deepened her engagement with French and Francophone academic and cultural life. While at ENS, she organized a film screening and discussion of Abdellatif Kechiche’s Vénus noire (2010), a rewriting and reclaiming of the story of Sarah Baartman (the so-called Hottentot Venus). The screening, held in the presence of actress Yahima Torres, took place at the ENS in Paris. Her talk and the ensuing discussion are available here. 

Research Interests 

Francophone African literature and culture; African and Caribbean poetry; African and Francophone cinema; photography and visual culture; representations of the Black body; colonial and postcolonial studies; Black women’s representation; memory and identity. 

Education 

• MA in French, North Carolina State University 

• MS in Communication Science and Technology, University of Côte d’Ivoire 

• BA, Florida Atlantic University