Remembrance Service for Anne-Marie Obajtek-Kirkwood, PhD

Friday, September 30, 2016

5:30 PM-7:30 PM

It takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, and a day to love them, but it takes an entire lifetime to forget them.” – Author unknown

With a PhD in French literature from the University of Pennsylvania, Anne-Marie Obajtek-Kirkwood joined Drexel in 2001. A dedicated teacher and researcher, her passion for French-speaking cultures and peoples influenced entire generations of students in our Modern Languages and Women and Gender Studies programs. On her website, Obajtek-Kirkwood gathered testimonies from numerous students who studied abroad in France, Senegal or Cameroon, and completed intensive French-language projects under her guidance. Students often describe these experiences as life-changing and critical to their career development.

In both her courses and research, she was a leading advocate for the inclusion of Francophone cultures outside of France (Africa, Canada, the Caribbean) and women. Her courses aimed to facilitate common understanding among different peoples and cultures by examining perceptions of the “Other.” One of the many advanced courses she created analyzed how Francophone countries are seen through U.S. eyes and vice versa; in another, she explored media and literary representations of minorities and women. In the latter part of her career, she also took a keen interest on war from a humanistic perspective. She co-edited with Ernest Hakanen, PhD, Signs of War: From Patriotism to Dissent (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and published numerous pieces on French-language literary and media representations of war, from World War II to the Iraq war.

Family, friends, students and alumni will gather to honor Anne-Marie and share stories from her life.

For questions and to RSVP, please contact Jackie Rios at jsr62@drexel.edu.

This event is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages.

Contact Information

Jacqueline Rios
215.895.6910
jsr62@drexel.edu