Courses

Can everyone read graphic novels? Of course; however, their accessibility doesn’t mean they are simple. In this course, students will learn to read graphic novels as cultural products generated by artists, places, and institutions. Coming from French-speaking countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, these texts argue for different (and sometimes contradictory) definitions of the genre; but also bring to the fore political and societal issues at stake in the francophone world. Using the tools of contemporary theory, students will draw connections between art and cultural representations. Conducted in English. Texts in translation.

Through readings, discussions, analysis of media, and other activities, this course increases students’ skill and confidence in French. Continuing the emphasis on all modes of communication begun in French 101-103, French 204 focuses on Francophone cultures, contemporary issues, and an iconic text in French. Taught three days a week in French.

Through texts, images and films coming from different continents, this class will present Francophone cultures and discuss the connections and tensions that have emerged between France and other French speaking countries. Focused on oral and written expression this class aims to strengthen students’ linguistic skills while introducing them to the academic discipline of French and Francophone studies. The theme will be school and education in the Francophone world.

This course seeks to deepen students’ knowledge of contemporary French culture through a pluridisciplinary approach, using multimedia (books, newspaper and magazine articles, videos, etc.) to generate discussion. It will also promote the practice of both oral and written French through exercises, debates, and oral presentations.

Keep up your French while learning about current issues in France, as well as world issues from a French perspective. Class meets once a week for an hour. Requirements include reading specific sections of leading French newspapers, (Le Monde, Libération, etc.) on the internet, and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students.

What can a body do? How does it mean? Cultural attitudes elicit distinct responses to this question, and French-speaking cultures in France, North Africa, and West Africa produce particular responses, as do gendered and differently abled bodies. At the same time, isn’t every body like every other body, but different? Through literature, cultural readings, podcasts, and film, this course will examine various aspects of the human body in francophone culture, including gender, athletics, manual labor, artistic expression, sexuality, dance, and “personal development.” Taught in French.

Born as a response to the colonial gaze (ethnographic films, in particular) and ideological discourse, African cinema has been a determined effort to capture and affirm an African personality and consciousness. Focusing on film production from Francophone Africa and its diaspora over the past few decades, this course will address themes such as slavery, colonialism, and national identity, as well as the immigrant experience in France and in Quebec. It will provide an introduction to African symbolisms, world-views, and narrative techniques.

What if Little Red Riding Hood wore a red burqa? And if Eurydice willingly relocated to the Underworld to join her cancan-crazed lover Pluto? In this course, we will explore bold and inventive acts of rewriting the French classics in a wide assortment of contexts. To do so, we will immerse ourselves in the often irreverent world of literary, musical, comic strip, and film retellings, adaptations, sequels, and spin-offs. Works by Perrault, Molière, Baudelaire, Offenbach, Camus, Ben Jelloun, Daoud, Prévert, Truffaut, and more. Songs from the cabaret era to raï. Special emphasis on developing analytical and communicative skills. Conducted in French.

Recent events in France have highlighted the issues of free speech and religious intolerance, among other cultural questions. Some of the most fascinating and now canonized works in French and Francophone literature were once banned because they called into question the political, religious, or moral sensibilities of the day. Even today, Francophone books deemed to be subversive are routinely censored. Through texts, graphic novels, and films by Sade, Baudelaire, Camus, Frantz Fanon, Pontecorvo, Julie Maroh, Hergé (Tintin), and others, we will explore the crucial role of forbidden works in their cultural contexts.

French lyric poetry occupies a privileged position in the literary landscape of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, it also shares a common heritage with less literary siblings, such as popular music and even advertising. Starting with the study of such poets as Lamartine, Desbordes-Valmore, Baudelaire, MallarmÚ, ValÚry, and Bonnefoy, we will also investigate poetic techniques in popular songs and contemporary ads. Conducted in French.

What does “eating together” mean in France–and for whom? Through works of fiction, we will investigate cultural representations of food from the Middles Ages to the present day and address the following topics: the construction of a so-called “national gastronomy”; the social significance of food for Caribbean and African communities in France; the link between food and collective memory; women’s writings’ relationship with food in colonial and postcolonial masculinist contexts; the Rabelaisian disruptive potential of bodily pleasures; and contemporary ethical issues, such as the rise of veganism and animal rights activism.

This class is an overview of France’s social, cultural, and political history from 1939 onwards. The core units of this class (WWII, decolonization, May 1968, the Women’s liberation movement, the rise of the National Front, globalization, and immigration) will be studied through their comic representations. Sources for this class will include historical, political, literary and journalistic texts as well as photographs, paintings, videos, blogs, and music. The contrast between comical and non-comical texts and objects will highlight the uses and functions of humor in communicating about history, and illustrate the impact of comic discourses in everyday culture. In French.

Reading and discussion of literary works, with analysis of social, historical and political issues, with an emphasis on cultural and literary movements such as Négritude (El Negrismo, in Cuba) and their role in shaping ideas of self-determination, Nationalism and Independence in the French colonies of the Caribbean and Black Africa. We will read works by Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Léon Gontran Damas (French Guiana), Jacques Roumain (Haîti), Laye Camara (Guinea), Mongo Béti (Cameroun), Simone Schwartz-Bart (Guadeloupe) and Alain Mabanckou (Congo). Conducted in French.

This course is the second part of a two-term course sequece beginning with French 308. This course will be a critical examination of the Francophone label within the context of literature, education, history and daily life in Senegal. During the December break field trip, students will visit significant cultural sites in Dakar and Saint Louis and meet with writers, artists, and other major thought leaders. During the winter term, students will complete an independent project based on their experience in Senegal as part of this course.

Mysteries and detective novels are tied to the French-speaking world: Poe’s foundational tales take place in Paris and are translated by Baudelaire; murder and suspense run through the French fantastic; even Agatha Christie felt compelled to make her favorite detective a Belgian. Through the tradition of suspense in film and literature, we’ll study how themes and techniques intersect with social anxieties to produce white-knuckle narratives. Readings include such authors as Poe, Baudelaire, Mérimée, Simenon, Daeninckx, Jonquet, Khadra, Vargas, Haneke. Conducted in French. 

This class is an overview of French history through the analysis of ten cultural objects borrowed from different socio-political, geographic and aesthetic spaces. Starting with the Gauls, this class will take students across centuries and ask how cultural productions (the Vix Krater, the Versailles Palace, the guillotine, etc.) come to represent a mentalité and often become integrated in the French nationalist project.

Home of some of the finest and best known museums in the world, Paris has long been recognized as a center for artistic activity. Students will have the opportunity to study art from various periods on site, including Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. In-class lectures and discussions will be complemented by guided visits to the unparalleled collections of the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, local art galleries, and other appropriate destinations. Special attention will be paid to the program theme.

In this course, students will explore the historical, cultural, social, and religious traces of Islam as they have been woven over time into the modern fabric of French society. Through images drawn from film, photography, television, and museum displays, they will discover the important role this cultural contact zone has played in the French experience. The course will take advantage of the resources of the city of Paris and will include excursions to museums as well as cultural and religious centers.

How to transcribe the self? How is a self created, examined, or reinvented through storytelling? Is cultural context inextricable from self-writing? Our inquiry will be informed by readings from Montaigne, Descartes, Maryse Condé, and the controversial contemporary author Édouard Louis; a film by Agnès Varda; an autofictional graphic novel; and songs by the Franco-Rwandan singer Gaël Faye. During the course of the term, students will also produce their own autobiographical/autofictional projects. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels, and coursework will be adjusted accordingly.

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the “Frenchness” and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Eloquence has been described as being able to say what is necessary and not say what is not. The idea of “speaking well” has changed over time and continues to evolve in French society. Can one speak well with an accent, with grammatical mistakes, with slang, or with curse words? How has France fabricated its language as a sacred treasure, and how has this vision excluded native and non-native French speakers? The history of eloquence will be complemented by its practice as students learn to master different registers of French language and learn to argue effectively.

Why is “la joie de vivre” inseparable from the idea French culture? Recognizing that there are as many definitions of what constitutes “la joie de vivre” as there are French speakers in the world, this course will explore and interrogate various approaches to defining–and living–the good life. Philosophers, writers, podcasts, videos, and songs will inform our analyses, from Montaigne to the present.

This course will look at the presence of France and its capital Paris in the imaginary landscape of a number of prominent African writers, filmmakers and musicians such as Bernard Dadié (Côte d’ Ivoire), Ousmane Sembène (Senegal), Calixthe Beyala (Cameroun), Alain Mabanckou (Congo-Brazzaville), Salif Keïta (Mali) and others. The history of Franco-African relations will be used as a background for our analysis of these works. Conducted in French.

Learn what language can do for you when you use techniques that express ideas with clarity, convince readers and listeners, and create a sense of style. Beyond basic grammar, you will work on various strategies to enliven your writing and speaking and to communicate more effectively with a given audience. Sample projects in the course may include translations, subtitling, blogging, academic and creative writing, and formal oral presentations.

The rise of newspapers and magazines in the nineteenth century promotes a variety of short genres that will remain popular to the present day: short stories, prose poetry, vignettes, theatrical scenes. In this short course (first five weeks of the term) we’ll study short works by such authors as Diderot, Sand, Balzac, Mérimée, Flaubert, Allais, Tardieu, Le Clézio. Conducted in French.

Decried as scandalous, heralded as the first “modern” novel, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (published in 1857) sparked debate, spawned both detractors and followers, and became a permanent fixture in French culture and even the French language. In this five-week course we will read the novel, study its cultural context and impact, and see how it has been variously re-interpreted in film and other media. Conducted in French.

Conceptions of gender and sexuality are essential to the study of Francophone cultures, as can be observed in works by the African poet Léopold Senghor and the recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux, among many others. Through the genres of novel, film, graphic novel, and song, we will examine historical and contemporary manifestations of gender (female, male, trans, two-spirit, and others), including the intersectional questions of race and class in context. Particular attention will be given to France, Francophone Africa, and Québec. Conducted in French.

Persepolis, Syngue Sabour, Le rocher de Tanios—three prize-winning texts written in French by authors whose native tongue was not French but Arabic or Farsi. In this class we will direct our attention to the close—albeit problematic—relations between France and the Middle East (broadly considered) through an analysis of cultural and literary objects. What has this “French connection” meant for the Middle-Eastern and for French culture?

In Beaumarchais’s oft-cited words, “Everything ends with songs.” This course will study the distinctiveness of French chanson (song) and its unique role in French history and culture from Montmartre’s cafés-concerts to the present. We will examine iconic performances in Parisian cabarets, music halls, and nightclubs; the rise of the singer-songwriter; the changing dynamics between lyrics (poetry), music, and performance over time; song categories such as yé-yé, the protest song, and the chanson about Paris; rap and slam’s poetic affiliation with chanson; musical hybridity and identity politics; and the clout of the music industry. No musical experience necessary. Conducted in French.

How to transcribe the self? How is a self created, examined, or reinvented through storytelling? Is cultural context inextricable from self-writing? Our inquiry will be informed by readings from Montaigne, Descartes, Maryse Condé, and the controversial contemporary author Édouard Louis; a film by Agnès Varda; an autofictional graphic novel; and songs by the Franco-Rwandan singer Gaël Faye. During the course of the term, students will also produce their own autobiographical/ autofictional projects. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels, coursework will be adjusted accordingly.

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the “Frenchness” and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Over fifty years after Algeria’s independence from France, discourses and representations about the cause, the violence, and the political and social consequences of that conflict still animate public life in both France and Algeria. This class aims at presenting the Algerian war through its various representations. Starting with discussions about the origins of French colonialism in North Africa, it will develop into an analysis of the war of liberation and the ways it has been recorded in history books, pop culture, and canonical texts. We will reflect on the conflict and on its meanings in the twenty-first century, and analyze how different media become memorial artifacts.

Racisé, transclasse, personne valide, female gaze are all concepts that have emerged recently in the Francophone world even though they reflect experiences that have existed for a very long time. In this class we will work through such concepts and explore how central they are to the contemporary Francophone world. Through theoretical texts and cultural artefacts (films, songs, BD, literature) from Morocco, France, Belgium, Senegal, and other spaces, this class seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the issues that animate the French-speaking world today.

In the Francophone world comics are known as the ninth art, a popular, legitimate–albeit contested–art form. What then differentiates this art form from others? How do comics create meaning? How do they tell stories? What stories do they tell? In this class we will develop a multilayered approach to comics by analyzing the form and content of texts, but also by questioning the place of comics in French, Algerian, and Québecois societies. Readings will include iconic texts (Asterix, Tintin), alternative comics (by Fabcaro, Louerrad, Ziadé), theoretical pieces on bandes dessinées, and conversations with working artists.

This course examines the&n bsp;main aspects of social change in the&n bsp;area formerly covered by the&n bsp;medieval Empire of Mali, through anthropological texts, oral narratives, novels, films and both traditional and modern music. Some of the&n bsp;writers, film directors and musicians who will be studied are: Amadou Kourouma, Massa Makan Diabaté, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, Souleymane Cissé, Cheick O. Sissoko, Salif Keita, and others. Conducted in French.

During their senior year, students expand and deepen an essay in French from one of their advanced courses in the major. Normally, but not always, the director for this project will be the professor from that course. This essay may be completed during any term, but must be finished by the end of winter term. In the spring term, students deliver an oral presentation (in English) summarizing their work. Seniors may choose either of the following: 1) A substantial individual essay, or 2) An individual essay that complements work done in a second major (subject to approval by the Department). Further details are available on the Department’s website.