Faculty

Profile

Emmanuel Cohen is a multidisciplinary researcher and educator whose work spans contemporary performance, French as a second language, and critical thinking. His teaching and academic endeavors are driven by a commitment to social justice, creativity, and cross-disciplinary approaches. This dedication led him to help create and join the Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Council at Parsons Paris twice, in 2022 and 2024.

As an educator, Cohen has taught French at the University of Pennsylvania and Parsons Paris, English at the Institut des Langues Orientales in Paris, and writing at Université Paris Est – Créteil. He has also led advanced seminars on performance art and theater, at Université Paris Est - Marne-la-Vallée and Institut d’Études Théâtrales (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3).

Cohen joined Parsons Paris in 2014 and became co-coordinator of the First Year Curriculum in 2018. In 2022, he was appointed Director of the First Year Curriculum, overseeing courses such as Integrative Studio and Seminar and Objects as History. During his tenure, he also served as coordinator between the First-Year Curriculum and the BBA Strategic Design and Management program.

He holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Université de Picardie – Jules Verne, and an M.A. in Literature, Arts, and Contemporary Thinking from Université Paris Cité – Denis Diderot. Cohen was the recipient of two exchange programs (Université Paris Cité, 2007; EDUCO, 2010), which enabled him to study at the University of Pennsylvania (2007–2009) and Cornell University (2010), where he received training in pedagogy and related disciplines. His dissertation focused on the rejection of drama in Parisian modernist theaters, particularly within the historical avant-gardes (Dada, Gertrude Stein, and Surrealism). He has published articles on Stein, Dada, and Surrealism in various French and international journals and co-organized an international colloquium on theater, philosophy, and critical thinking at Maison de la Culture d’Amiens and Université Paris Ouest – Nanterre La Défense in September 2014. His most recents publications and talks are occupied with questions of cultural and social expression through dress, food, or staged means. 

Cohen’s research integrates theoretical and practical methodologies across multiple media. As a photographer, he collaborated on the Étant Donnée project with the Collectif Simple Appareil and writer Cécile Portier, focusing on online data dissemination and identity. In collaboration with performer Tsuneko Taniuchi, he organized performances on food and identity at Parsons Paris in 2018 and 2022. Since 2022, he is part of the Drawing as an Expanded Research Method research group cofounded by Wiebke Leister and Cary Clough (Royal College of Art). These experiences led Cohen to co-create two labs at Parsons Paris: the Critical Bodies Lab with Carlos Franklin (BFA Art, Media, and Technology) which focuses on art research; and the Making Skills Lab with Marco Pecorari, Ph.D. (Director of MA Fashion Studies), and Alexandra Helminger (Director of BFA Fashion Design) which functions as a space to question current pedagogical practices and needs. These labs explore academic research, practice-based learning, co-learning, and experimental pedagogical approaches.

Research Interests

Performance art, performance studies, theater, avant-garde, participation, art and design pedagogy, performative drawing, art research, contemporary poetry, cross-disciplinary practices, contemporary art, fashion studies

Awards And Honors

Innovation in Education Fund 2024/25 Recipient

Distinguished Teaching Award 2024 and 2021 Finalist

Outstanding Achievements in Social Justice 2022 Finalist