Dr. Natalie Doyle
Biography
I came to Australia from France after my baccalaurat and completed a BA at the University of Sydney. I started teaching French in the Department of French Studies at the University of Sydney while completing a Masters degree in French studies, specialising in the Sociology of Literature. In 1991 I took up a lectureship in French Studies at La Trobe University. I started studying part-time for a PhD in Politics at Monash University on contemporary French political philosophy. The PhD was conferred in 1999.
At Monash, I have been contributing to the teaching of French language and culture and to the development of the European Studies program.
Teaching responsibilities
In 2006, I will be coordinating French Studies 5 and 6, teaching the cultural component and language tutorials in semester 2. I will also teach the option unit Rebelling Against Conventionality.
For European studies, I will be coordinating EUR1100 (Enlightenment and modernity), EUR2090 (Culture and Conflict), EUR3620 (European intellectuals and the idea of Europe). and EUR2080 (The Identity of Europe today).
I will also be supervising Honours theses in French studies and a PhD projecting European studies.
Contact details
Menzies Building (Building 11), Clayton Campus, Room W522
Phone: (03) 9905 9418 (international: +61 3 9905 9418)
Fax: (03) 9905 5437 (international: +61 3 9905 5437)
Email: Natalie.Doyle@arts.monash.edu.au
Mailing Address:
Dr Natalie Doyle
French Studies Program
School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Building
11
Monash University VIC 3800
Australia
Research interests
My PhD research reflected my interest in social and political theory and the fact that, in my teaching, I had often had to try and define the specificity of French culture. This led me to consider the characteristics and relevance of European culture as a whole and to concentrate on the question of the relationship between West European civilization and modernity. I focussed on the contribution made to these questions by a strand of French socio-political theory that includes such authors as Castoriadis, Lefort, Gauchet and Touraine.
My research following the PhD has lead me to deepen my understanding of the specificity of French culture within West European civilization by engaging with other European strands of social theory, notably the civilizational theory that has developed under the title of "Multiple Modernities".
I have published on French literature, intellectual culture and politics.
Recent publications include: "Democracy as socio-cultural project of individual and collective sovereignty" (in Thesis Eleven, Number 75, 2003, 71-97), "Bourdieu and Capitalism: Virtual Radicalism" (in Practising Theory: Pierre Bourdieu and the Field of Cultural Production, University of Delaware Press, 2004, pp.83-99), "Western Civilization, Christianity and Modernity" (in Budi. A journal of Ideas and Culture, vol. IX, 1/2, 2005).
My current research looks at the question of the historical connection between political and economic modernities in the West European context from a civilizational perspective. It is ultimately concerned with the question of European identity, past, present and future.