Ryan Gomez is a PhD candidate in French and Francophone Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned is BA in Linguistics & French from the University of New Mexico in 2015. He spent 2017 and 2018 in France as a lecteur d’anglais at the Université de Rennes 2 and returned to UNM to complete an MA in French in 2020. At WashU, he has completed graduate certification in Translation Studies offered by the Department of Comparative Literature, and has begun dissertation work.
Ryan’s dissertation continues previous research on the translation of French and Francophone graphic literature and bande dessinée, exploring the geopolitical and theoretical implications of translating graphic literature across centuries and media, in the construction of what he has termed the “translator-function” paradigm. The paradigm aims to provide a broad yet sophisticated theoretical profile of translators and their work applicable to various disciplines, especially literary studies. This dissertation work incorporates many of Ryan’s research interests: French language, translation studies, comics and graphic literature, semiotics, and sociolinguistics among others.
Ryan is a member of the Washington University Translator’s Collective and accepts translation work on academic, literary, and technical texts while translating previously untranslated French texts into English in his spare time.
Outside of academic work he greatly enjoys music, both singing and playing violin, exploring St. Louis and other parts of the Midwest, and spending time with his cats.