Francophone Cultural Studies is, above all, an epistemology of social-historical contexts related to the French language.

This epistemology encompasses the study of the norms, myths, ideologies and social representations that circulate in the French speaking world. In this field, narratives and discourses are usually described and explained as traces of various social imaginaries. Discourses, literary texts, films and TV series are common objects that scholars analyze. Traditionally, cultural studies are associated with area studies or even civilization studies. Furthermore, the development of the so called French theory in the seventies highlighted the interest for the French Studies as many French Postmodern thinkers elaborated new epistemological tools used in cultural studies, discourse analysis and semiotics. The aim of this discipline, in line with Stuart Hall’s work on cultural studies, is to decode the power relations visible in discourses in the French speaking world.