Specializations

• Contemporary Theater (France, Maghreb and the Middle East)
• Arab-Jewish Relations
• Immigration and Minorities in France
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Gender Studies and Feminisms

Nathalie Debrauwere-Miller’s research explores 20th and 21st-Century French and Francophone Literature, focusing on North African Arab-Muslim and Jewish writers, as well as Jewish Studies and Feminisms. A key aspect of her work examines the relationship between Jews and Arab-Muslims in France, particularly how it reflects the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A central focus of Debrauwere-Miller’s scholarship is the exploration of minority and gender identities within the French and Francophone (Maghreb) context. Since the establishment of the Fifth French Republic, especially from the 1990s onward, issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality have gained increasing visibility in public discourse, leading to the acknowledgment of a more gendered and racialized republic. Her work seeks to examine these evolving identities while exploring the tension between the republican ideal and the politics of micro-identities. It contributes to the ongoing analysis of the French republican model in the context of a pluralistic society that includes Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish populations.

She emphasizes the role of contemporary theater as a vital platform for fostering dialogue among minority groups in conflict and addressing complex political and historical issues. Theater in France, from Molière to Beckett, has historically been a powerful tool for social commentary and political critique. Today, plays that confront religious extremism, prejudice, antisemitism, and racism are not only artistic expressions but also acts of civic engagement. These works challenge ideologies and encourage new perspectives.

Debrauwere-Miller’s commitment to research is reflected in her dedication to teaching, and her contributions to interdisciplinary education were recognized with the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University.

Representative Publications

Books

“Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Francophone World”
Ed. Nathalie Debrauwere-Miller, New York: Routledge, 2010.

“Envisager Dieu avec Edmond Jabès”
Les éditions du Cerf, Paris: June 2007.

Articles

• “Ode à l’ennemi par temps de catastrophe.” Revue des Lettres Modernes, Ed. Minard (Paris), “Posterity of Albert Camus.” Numéro 26 Série Albert Camus. Forthcoming in 2024.
• “Franchir les obstacles murés dans Le Quatrième mur de Chalandon.” Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature, 47 (4), (Winter 2023): 29-40.
• “Équivoques de l’oubli après Vichy.” French Politics, Culture & Society (NYU), 41 (2), (Summer 2023): 48-70.
• “‘Tumor of Memory’ in Fabrice Humbert’s The Origin of Violence.” In Emerging Trends in Third-Generation Holocaust Literature. Eds. Alan Berger and Lucas Wilson. Lexington: Lexington Books, Lexington Studies in Jewish Literature Series, 2023.
• “Chahdortt Djavann et la honte sexuelle du “surmusulman.” L’Esprit créateur : The International Quarterly of French and Francophone Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press, 59 (3), (Fall 2019): 99-113.
• “Mémoires d’outre-tombe de Philippe Grimbert.” Sigila: Revue Transdisciplinaire Franco-Portugaise, Edition Gris-France et CNL (Spring-Summer 2018): 47-56.
• “Jabès’s Poetic Theogony and Levinas’s Receptivity.” Journal of Jewish Identities, Johns Hopkins University Press, (July 2016): 119-138.
• “‘Neither Victims nor Executioners’ in Hubert Haddad’s Palestine.” South Central Review, Johns Hopkins University Press, 32 (2) (Summer 2015): 67-92.
• “Bernard Lazare: du franco-judaïsme au prophétisme romantique.” French Historical Studies, Duke University Press, 37 (1) (Winter 2014): 89-116.
• Mohamed Kacimi’s Holy Land and the Banality of Terror.” MLN (Modern Language Notes), Johns Hopkins University Press. 128 (Fall 2013): 848-67.
• “Parcours historique des féminismes intellectuels français depuis Beauvoir.” Contemporary French Civilization, Liverpool University Press, 38 (1) (Spring 2013): 23-46.
• “Proust et Levinas: La fatigue de la nuit.” In Lecteurs de Proust au XXème siècle. Ed. Joseph Brami. Paris : Editions Minard, (December 2010): 151-172.
• “France and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” In Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Francophone World. Ed. Nathalie Debrauwere-Miller. New York: Routledge, 2010.
• “Le ‘malgérien’ d’Hélène Cixous.” MLN (Modern Language Notes), Johns Hopkins University Press, 124 (4) (September 2009): 848-867.
• “Crypts of Hélène Cixous’ Past.” Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature, 33 (1) (Winter 2009): 28-46.
• “Hélène Cixous, la passante de l’histoire.” Dalhousie French Studies, 84 (October 2008): 89-99.
• “L’amour transi de Simone de Beauvoir.” In Simone de Beauvoir à Cent Ans de sa Naissance. Ed. Thomas Stauder. Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen: collection “Edition Lendemains” (December 2008): 141-159.
• “L’Oeil de Dieu: Levinas lisant Jabès.” In Edmond Jabès: L’éclosion des énigmes. Paris: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes (December 2007): 117-132.
• “Hélène Cixous: A Sojourn without Place.” Contemporary French and Francophone Studies/Sites, 11 (2) (April 2007): 253-264.
• “La ‘Conscience d’un cri’ dans la poétique de Jabès.” French Forum, University of Pennsylvania Press, 30 (2) (2005): 97-119.
• “L’Infidèle chez Edmond Jabès.” Plurielles, Paris X-Nanterre and Ed. du Manuscrit, 12 (December 2005): 135-150.
• “The Tree of Consciousness: The Shekhinah in Edmond Jabès’s Yaël.” Literature & Theology, Oxford University Press, 17 (4) (2003): 388-406.
• “Au carrefour de la négritude et du judaïsme: Moi, Tituba Sorcière. . . Noire de Salem de Maryse Condé.” Romanic Review, Columbia University Press, 90 (2) (1999): 223-233.