A FRENCH RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT THE HEART OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY

The Maison Française d’Oxford (MFO), created in 1946, is a research centre at the heart of Oxford University, and one of the flagships of French culture in the UK. The new building at 2-10 Norham Road, was inaugurated by André Malraux in 1967. The MFO has welcomed to Oxford the greatest names in culture and academia: Jean Cocteau, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Delphine Seyrig and Nathalie Sarraute, and more recently Ariane Mnouchkine, Marie Ndiaye, Kamel Daoud, Maylis de Kerangal and Constance Debré.

Under the dual auspices of the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires Étrangères (MEAE), and formally associated with Oxford University, the Maison welcomes French academics and students who come to conduct research at Oxford University. It puts its premises, library and network at their disposal, and plays an active role in setting up international collaborations. The MFO is a place for meetings and debates, around which a community has formed, eager to perpetuate the Franco-British dialogue established by its founders in the mid- 1940s.