Taylor Irene Diaz (she/her, they/them), PhD Student
Joined the program in Fall 2023.
I am interested in the history of trans women and queer writings in French, transmisogyny in French and Francophone feminisms, and queer representation in cinema. I have continuing research interests in the history and implementation of écriture inclusive in the Francophone world and in the development and conversation surrounding gender inclusive modalities in French.
My experience as an LGBT woman and speaker of French directly influences my research. I am committed to bringing further visibility to previously and currently subjugated identity groups in Anglophone and Francophone environments.
“Laura and Louisette: Women’s Parallel Lives in Emile Zola’s La Bête humaine and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.” Parallel Worlds: Female experience in Film and Media, special issue of Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook (forthcoming 2026).
Review of Manifeste pour une démocratie déviante by Constanza Spina. The French Review, vol. 98, no. 3 (forthcoming Fall 2024).
"French and Canadian Inclusive Language Doctrine and Societal Attitudes", University of North Texas Digital Library, May 2022.
“La production masculine-capitaliste et les femmes dans La Bête humaine (1890).” Semicentennial Colloquium of Nineteenth-Century French Studies, “Producing and Receiving the Nineteenth Century,” Duke University. September 2024.
“Subverting the Lezploitation Film: Body Extremes, Gender Play, and the Queer Spectator in Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Summer Salon, Panel: Women, Gender, and Sexuality. June 2024.
“Investigating Radical Queer-Feminist Language in French (as a Queer Horizon).” Queer & Trans Philologies, Panel 9A: Linguistic Creativity. University of Cambridge. March 2024. Winner of the RIDGS Center Graduate Conference Paper Prize.
Graduate Research Partnership Summer Fellow, Department of French & Italian (2024)
Graduate Conference Paper Prize Awardee, RIDGS Center, University of Minnesota (2024)
Beverly & Richard Fink First-Year Fellowship Award (2023-2024)
Graduate Student Diversity Office Summer Institute Program Fellow (2023)
TF in the French & Italian Department at the University of Minnesota (Spring 2024 - present)
Volunteer French Translator at the Global Center for LGBTQIA+ Inclusion and Freedom (present)
Group Leader, “Summer of Queers,” RIDGS Center Critical Reading Circle (present)
President, Association of Graduate Students - Department of French and Italian University of Minnesota (2023-2024)
English Language Assistant through the TAPIF Program in Granville, Normandy (2022-2023)
French Department Head at Highland Park High School (2021)
Advanced Placement French Teacher at Highland Park High School (2021)
TF in the French Department at the University of North Texas (2021)
TA in the French Department at the University of North Texas (2020-2021)
