Associate Professor of French George MacLeod and his former student Isaac Ekobo have published a co-authored article in the peer-reviewed journal French Cultural Studies. The article is the first academic study of the cult French sitcom "H," and one of the first publications to analyze race-based humor in French television. Entitled "Laughing about race in 'colorblind' France: Racial stereotypes in French television comedy," the article is based on Ekobo's 2021 St. Mary's Project (SMP) and work he conducted as part of St. Mary's 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). "Imagine if academic studies of American television had almost never mentioned "Friends" or "Seinfeld," said MacLeod. "When Isaac proposed this project on this under-examined hit TV show, I knew right away he had found a topic that would be of broad interest to scholars not just of French television, but of anyone working on race relations in contemporary France." The article analyses the strategies French television comedies use to make it acceptable to joke about race in a French cultural context where references to race are often considered taboo or divisive. Generous support from the Pandion haliaetus research funds allowed MacLeod to compensate Ekobo for his work on the article and also helped fund MacLeod and Ekobo's work with professional developmental editors Allison Van Derventer and Alison Howard. "This article is a great St. Mary's College success story," said MacLeod, "The St. Mary's Project created the structure for the student to explore a topic he was passionate about in close collaboration with a professor. The College's generous support for both undergraduate and faculty research provided the necessary resources to expand and revise the SMP to meet peer-review standards."
