An interdisciplinary historian of modern French society, Julie Fette’s research has a strong focus on gender and race. Her first book, Exclusions (Cornell, 2012), examines middle-class discrimination in French society in the professions of law and medicine between 1920 and 1945. In 2021, she co-authored a new edition of Les Français, the beloved and widely-taught French civilization textbook for undergraduates. Fette also published Gender by the Book (Routledge, 2025), which investigates representations of gender in 21st-century French children’s literature.
Fette has won a number of grants including a Fulbright fellowship. Her free massive open online course, “America Through Foreign Eyes” (Coursera) has enrolled over 20,000 students. She was knighted by the French government as Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques.
At Rice, Fette is a faculty affiliate of the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, of the Program in Politics, Law and Social Thought, and of the Program in Media Studies.
Publications
Books
- Gender by the Book: 21st-Century French Children's Literature (New York: Routledge, 2025).
- Les Français, 4th edition. (Cambridge, MA: Hackett, 2021). (with Jean-François Brière and Laurence Wylie)
- Exclusions: Practicing Prejudice in French Law and Medicine, 1920-1945 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012).
Articles and Chapters (selection)
- “French Matters.” French Politics, Culture & Society 42.3 (2025): 101-105.
- “Book Clubs.” In Routledge Companion to Children's Literature and Culture, edited by Claudia Nelson, Lies Wesseling and Andrea Mei-Ying Wu. Routledge, 2024. (with Anne Morey)
- “Heureux comme stéréotype en France.” La Revue des livres pour enfants 310 (December 2019): 136-43.
- “From Casablanca to Houston: A Family Story.” French Politics, Culture & Society 36/3 (2018): 32-60.
- “Gender and the Role of Talents Hauts in Contemporary French Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 43 (2018): 285-306.
- “Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the Future of French Studies.” Contemporary French Civilization 41 (2016): 381-95.
- “Acting the Dreyfus Affair: History and Theatre in the French Classroom.” PMLA 126 (2011): 737-45.
- “Apology and the Past in Contemporary France.” French Politics, Culture & Society 26/2 (2008): 78-113.
- “Pride and Prejudice in the Professions: Women Doctors and Lawyers in Third Republic France.” Journal of Women’s History 19/3 (2007): 60-86.
Recent Courses
- FREN 305 The Media in France
- FREN 314 Contemporary French Society
- FREN 320 French Comics
- FREN 322 French Children's Literature
- FREN 326 Banned Books
- FREN 424 Women in France
- FREN 451 America through French Eyes
- FREN 453 Immigration and Citizenship in Contemporary France
Education
- PhD, New York University
- Doctorat, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
- BSFS, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
Research Areas
- Gender; Race; Children’s Literature; Postcolonialism; Memory