Emma Johnson
Emma explores the diffusion of Francophone reading materials and their ties to knowledge and power, both in the historic moment and in the contemporary archive.
PhD Candidate in French
School of Languages and Cultures
Qualifications
Master of Arts in French Studies (with distinction), Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington (2024)
Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies and French, University of Canterbury (2001)
Profile
With a background in editing, publishing and working with words, Emma decided to deepen her engagement with books through postgraduate studies. Her thesis ‘Islands of reading: French cultural legacies in former French India (1880-1911)’ explores the impacts of French reading materials and associated print cultures in the region—a site of imperial contest and centuries-old indigenous practices. Reading materials were intertwined with knowledge production and its diffusion. By responding to the questions: 'What can these cultural circulations tell us about the socio-political, cultural and intellectual histories of the region?'' and 'How do these cultural goods and the sites that produce them relate to structures of power and to the meta-narrative of the Anglo-French contest?', Emma will track relationships between culture, space and power. Her approach is grounded in archival formations in both India and France, and she seeks to connect and map extant material resources to a larger, connected discursive space of French cultural flows. Through the unique combination of French studies, book history, island and empire studies, ‘Islands of reading’ seeks to deepen understanding of empire and knowledge production in the region and in the archives.
Supervisors
Associate Professor
Waiteata Press
Publications
Johnson, Emma. ‘Between the covers, into the world: Reading Edmond de Montalk’s reading diary,’ Australian Journal of French Studies 62, no. 3-4 (August 2025): 359-373. https://doi.org/10.3828/ajfs.2025.2