Cana F. McGheeFrench Alumnus, Class of 2019

Currently, I'm in the last year of a PhD in Historical Musicology at Harvard! My research revolves around the intersection of music and environmentalism, and my dissertation focuses on how plants are treated as having musical potential, whether in representations of flowers in 19th-century French chamber music or in contemporary sound art installations in gardens. At Emory, I completed an Honors thesis about French-language vocal music known as melodie in relation to language standardization projects during the 1870s-1910s. Writing my thesis has been incredibly foundational to my scholarly development! I still find myself thinking about the things I learned about during my coursework at Emory, especially in terms of learning to read full novels, to think about decoloniality and race dynamics in different contexts, and to engage with concepts that may not directly translate across languages.  

After my study abroad experience in Paris during the summer of 2017, I got my first taste of living in a foreign country. During the 2024-25 academic year, I lived in Paris to work on my dissertation research, and I gained a renewed appreciation for how learning a foreign language connects us with others who might have radically different life experiences but that nevertheless find ways to make beautiful lives for themselves and their families. I had many meaningful conversations with my immigrant neighbors in the 20e arrondissement, and loved reading livres de poches while people-watching at cafes on the weekends. I've returned from that experience knowing that if I can move abroad and navigate France's bureaucratic processes in my non-native language, I can really do anything.  

We are living in a moment when it feels like our worlds are shrinking, whether in terms of social media echo chambers, or the defunding of resources like DEI initiatives or public libraries. To students thinking about majoring in French, I'd say that you'd never regret taking the time to broaden your perspective and to expand your realm of possibility. There are so many French speakers around the world, and you never know when the language might come in handy, and when speaking to someone in their native tongue will make someone feel more at home! 

If you would like Cana McGhee's contact information, please reach out to professor Subha Xavier at subha.xavier@emory.edu