Sa’id Obey

Education

M.A. in French Literature, University of Mississippi, 2026.

B.A.Ed. in French and Education, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, 2021.

Research Interests

Eighteenth-Century French Literature; Enlightenment thought, Philosophy and Aesthetics; Ecocriticism; Pastoral literature; Decolonial Ecology; Environmental Humanities; Colonial and Contemporary Louisiana, Opera Studies.

Bio

Sa’id Obey is a first-year PhD candidate in French. His current research focuses on eighteenth-century French literature, particularly ecocriticism and colonial representations of Louisiana. His M.A. thesis, « Une analyse écocritique des représentations coloniales de la Louisiane dans Manon Lescaut de Prévost et Les Indes galantes », examines how literary and operatic texts construct Louisiana as both a punitive and idyllic space, while erasing Indigenous presence and ecological realities through colonial imaginaries.

More broadly, he seeks to examine how eighteenth-century literature and philosophy address ecological vulnerability, human responsibility, and the relationship between society and nature in dialogue with contemporary environmental humanities. He is especially interested in how Enlightenment texts transform questions of nature, ethics, and collective life into literary form, linking eighteenth-century thought with present-day environmental debates.

Conferences

Violence et criminalité : une analyse de l'influence des environnements urbains dans un nègre a violé une blonde à Dallas de Ramonu Sanusi. South Central Modern Language Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2024.

Ecocritical Representations of Louisiana in Manon Lescaut, presented at the Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SEASECS), Jacksonville, AL, 2026.

Honors and Awards

Pi Delta Phi, National French Honor Society.

Outstanding M.A. Student Award, University of Mississippi, 2026

SEASECS Graduate Student Research Grant, 2026

Graduate School Travel Grant, University of Mississippi,2024