Scooter Pégram

Scooter Pégram

Associate Professor of French and Minority Studies
Adjunct Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Communications
Director of the French Programme at IU-Northwest
Director of the Canadian Studies Programme

Scooter Pégram is the director of the French programme at Indiana University Northwest, Associate Professor of French and Minority Studies, and is member of the faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies. Dr. Pégram is also the director of the Masters of Liberal Studies at IU Northwest. A sociolinguist by training, Dr. Pégram has published articles on subjects encapsulating youth of color across North America and France on topics such as identity, acceptance, racism, integration, gender, Black Studies, African Studies, Caribbean Studies, and language. Dr. Pégram’s work has been published in multiple refereed and peer-reviewed prestigious international academic journals and manuscripts, and his book entitled Choosing Their Own Style: Identity Emergence among Haitian Youth in Québec was published by Peter Lang Press (Berlin and New York) and it can be found in the holdings of over 100 major and prestigious university and municipal libraries on all continents. Dr. Pégram has also extensively researched and published on the intertwining topics of resistance, language and identity as manifested via the medium of French-language hip-hop music. Dr. Pégram had conducted fieldwork for his investigative research across the Francophone world on all continents. Additionally, Dr. Pégram’s current scholarly work focuses on other various topics in Francophone and Black Studies, such as film, and linguistics, with a particular emphasis on Francophone and Lusophone Africa and Afro-Brazilian culture. Finally, Dr. Pégram has recently embarked on a new, important investigative research project in Laos, where he is studying the last Lao writers who published in French.

At IU-Northwest, Dr. Pégram teaches classes in all levels of French language and culture (from beginning to advanced) and he oversees the university’s French programme. In addition, Dr. Pégram also teaches a French Cinema class which is given in English each summer for students not studying en français. On occasion, Dr. Pégram also teaches courses in Canadian Studies. As a faculty member of the Department of Minority Studies, Dr. Pégram contributes to the African Diaspora mission of that academic department by offering courses that focus on Caribbean Studies, including AFRO-208 (The African Caribbean), a popular course given each spring semester that was of his own design and creation. Furthermore, Dr. Pégram’s role in Minority Studies also features his popular summer Hip-Hop Studies class, as well as his course in Black Cinema and a brand-new class that focuses on Afro-Brazilian culture. Moreover, Dr. Pégram also teaches cross-listed courses in the Department of Communications as well as in Women’s and Gender Studies.

Concerning service, Dr. Pégram is very involved with Indiana University, as he serves on several university-wide committees. Dr Pégram is also omnipresent on the IU-Northwest campus, as he is the President of the IUN chapter of the international French honor society Pi Delta Phi as well as serving as the advisor to several student organizations and clubs.

When not labouring on his academic research, teaching classes, or advising students, Dr. Pégram especially enjoys listening to electronica music, dancing, visiting different neighborhoods in nearby Chicago, surfing, bike riding, cooking / sampling different types of cuisine, and going back to his “home base” in Québec. An avid and passionate traveler of the budget “backpacker” variety, Dr. Pégram has ventured to over 115 countries on all continents and he speaks several languages fluently.