Dr. Lisa Signori
Chair, Associate Professor of French; Affiliate Faculty, Women and Gender Studies Program
Dr. Lisa Signori is an Associate Professor of French who received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Romance Languages with a specialization in 20th-century French literature.
Since coming to the College of Charleston in 2007, she has taught a wide range of courses in French, including beginning and intermediate French language and culture, French Women Writers, as well as courses in French Literature from the 19th century to the present.
Her literary research focuses on narrative reflexivity in the work of Belgian author Amélie Nothomb, and she is at work on a book-length manuscript on Nothomb’s most recent works tentatively titled Mirrors in the Text: The Process of Writing and the Creation of Meaning in the Work of Amélie Nothomb.
Dr. Signori also has a keen interest in Pilgrimage Studies, with a focus on the Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle (the Way of St. James). This interest led her to co-write several articles and co-present several workshops on the value of the pilgrimage to Compostela as an overseas immersion program for students.
Dr. Signori continues to do research in the area of pilgrimage studies, and her most recent publication, the book chapter “All you Need is Faith: Sainte Foy, Furta Sacra, and Saint Mary Magdalene,” brings together the histories of two eminent saints and the cult of relics that fueled the flowering of pilgrimage (especially along the Chemin de Saint-Jacques) in medieval France.
Having walked numerous routes to Compostela herself, she has also led several groups of students on pilgrimage routes in Spain. In addition, she has taught courses in English focused on pilgrimage for the First Year Experience and the Honors College.
Dr. Signori has Native Fluency in French and is proficient in Conversational Spanish.
Education
University of Missouri-Columbia
Ph.D.
Courses Taught
FRENCH 499 - Bachelor’s Essay
FRENCH 498 - Independent Study
FRENCH 496 - Directed Reading
FRENCH 495 - Capstone Seminar
FRENCH 482 - French Women Writers
FRENCH 437 - 20th Century French Literature
FRENCH 438 - 20th Century French Theater
FRENCH 435 - 19th Century French Literature
HONORS 381- The Art of the Pilgrimage: Cultural Heritage on the Way of St. James
HONORS 381- The Art of Pilgrimage: Transformative Travel on the Way of St. James
FRENCH 361 - Current Issues in French
FRENCH 360 - French Language Study Abroad
FRENCH 322 - Survey of French Literature
FRENCH 314 - French Conversation and Composition
LTFR 250 - French Literature in Translation
FRENCH 250 - Intensive Intermediate French
FRENCH 202 - Intermediate French II
FRENCH 201 - Intermediate French I
FIRST YEAR TRAVEL 129 - No (S)pain No Gain: Walking the Camino de Santiago
FIRST YEAR SEMINAR 116 - On The Road Again: Modern Journeys on Ancient Pathways
FRENCH 102 - Elementary French II
FRENCH 101 - Elementary French I
LEARNING COMMUNITY (LC) City of Light
Publications
Recent Publications
“All you Need is Faith: Sainte Foy, Furta Sacra, and Saint Mary Magdalene.” Women and Pilgrimage, edited by E. Moore Quinn (College of Charleston) and Alison T. Smith (The Citadel). CABI. Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Series. Wallingford, UK. March, 2022. [9738 words]
“Whose Camino Is It? (Re)defining Europe on the Camino de Santiago.” Co-author with Steven Gardner and Carl Mentley. The Camino de Santiago in the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Global Views, edited by Annie Hesp (Virginia Tech) and Samuel Sanchez (Davidson College). Routledge: 2016. pp. 57-77.
“The (W)hole in the Text. A Hermeneutic reading of Marguerite Duras’s La Pluie d’été.” M. Rector (Ed.). Romance Notes, 53.1 pp. 3-10. Chapel Hill, NC: U of NC P, 2013.
“Social Commentary in Coline Serreau’s Saint-Jacques...La Mecque.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 46.4 (2013): 21-36.
“Mirrors in the Text: Amélie Nothomb’s Mercure.” S. Sauter (Ed.). Studies in 20th& 21st Century Literature, 37.1 pp. 75-91. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State, 2013.