Sarah L. Carmody ’06 (right) majored in history and French, and will work as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at the Académie de Strasbourg, France, at the secondary-school level.

“Called to Unity: Language Perfection, Propagation, and Practice in France, from Louis XIII to the Third Republic”

Paul Spagnoli, associate professor, history department; and Virginia Reinburg, associate professor, history department (not pictured)

“Sarah describes the way in which the modern French language took shape and how it served to unite the modern nation. In the early seventeenth century, French was only one of many languages spoken in France. By the beginning of the twentieth century, it had triumphed across the country. Sarah stresses the role of the French Academy as well as the impact of the Revolution of 1789, when radicals equated foreign tongues within France with counterrevolution, and the spread of education in the 19th century. She pays special attention to Alsace, where she spent her junior year. Alsatians too found their identity in their language, but in their case the language was a German dialect, even though they were fierce French patriots.”