French And Francophone Studies
2007-2008 Gateway And Advanced Course Offerings

STUDY ABROAD

For students wishing to go on one of our study abroad programs, a minimum of French 202 or the equivalent is required. There are three opportunities for the 2007-2008 academic year:

• The Francophone Seminar in Dakar, Senegal. A seminar that will take students to French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. Program includes courses in French language, Senegalese history, culture, music, African literature, and the Wolof language. Varied excursions will help students to appreciate, discuss, and analyze cultural differences. Offered in Term III 2008.
• The IES program in Paris or Nantes, France. Two comparatively traditional programs of French language and culture study that allow either semester or full year participation.
• The Chicoutimi Program in the heart of the province of Quebec. The program includes courses in Quebecois culture and business French for ten weeks and a five-week internship in an organization of the student's choice as available. Offered fall term.

TERM I

FREN 420 : Defining Frenchness

Americans often imagine the "French" as rather snobby wine-drinking fashion plates, whose ascendancy in cuisine leaves the rest of us eating fast-food crumbs. But how do the French see themselves and has that national self-image been consistent over the centuries? What national symbols do they like to use in self-representations: the coq gaulois? the Tour Eiffel? the ever-morphing Marianne? What national memories do they glorify—and which ones do they suppress? Just how do they define those Others (i.e., the non-French, the foreigner, and especially the immigrant) in order to reify the national self-image? How do those symbols of French-ness get transferred and translated abroad? Explorations of these questions will be guided by readings of literary excerpts, essays, films, cultural readings, art, architecture, and music. 6 units. Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: one 300-level course or consent of the instructor.
9:50 MWF Ms. HOFT-MARCH

FREN 501 : Immigrant Voices

The subject of immigration has been at the center of French political discourse for decades and has recently gained in intensity with heated debates over issues like the Islamic veil and the treatment of illegal immigrants. This course aims at examining the myths and realities of immigration through the writings of Maghrebin and sub-Saharan African francophone writers living in France. How do these writers address questions of identity? How do immigrants manage the cultural gap between their native countries and France? We will discuss the challenges of assimilation, acculturation and integration, and the survival strategies deployed to reduce the immigrant's sense of alienation, marginalization, and displacement in France. In other words, we will explore how immigrants create what Homi Bhabha has called "The Third Space" which allows them to feel at home away from home. Furthermore, discussions will focus on the challenges posed by the generational gap between immigrant parents and their children and the ways in which they try to strike a balance between their Arab-ness or African-ness or Asian-ness in the context of the precepts of the Republic. The writings of Calixthe Beyala, Fatou Diome, Sakina Boukedenna, Mounsi, Azouz Begag, and Adellatif Chaouite will form the basis of our discussions. 6 units. Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: one 400 level course or consent of instructor. This course counts as global diversity for the GERs.
1:50 MWF Mr. VETINDE

TERM II

FREN 302 : Cinematically Speaking

French films function as a springboard for readings, discussions, oral presentations, and short critical essays guaranteed to improve conversational skills in French. We will do a brief examination of the history of French films, learn the vocabulary necessary to discuss them, and read about a variety of cinematic techniques. We focus on a theme (e.g., "the outsider") that will allow us to compare and contrast different films' viewpoints and approaches. We also learn how to interpret films using short clips. From social comedy in La vie est un long fleuve tranquille to social drama in La Haine, from autobiographical subject in Chocolat to sci-fi satire in Delicatessen, we experience a breadth of topics and cinematographic styles representative of French cinema from 1940 to the present. 6 units. Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: French 202 or consent of the instructor. This course counts as speaking intensive for the GERs.
12:30 MWF Ms. SARNECKI

FREN 325 : Destination Dakar

A required course for students who plan to take French 400 that will serve as an introduction to Dakar. Students will be asked to participate in weekly meetings. 2 units. ARRANGED Mr. VETINDE

FREN 555 : Myths of Paris

In this course, we will examine some of the major literary, cultural, and intellectual movements that have shaped the character of French depictions of Paris from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. We will pay particular attention to literary and visual representations of Paris and the construction of its myths. Our inquiry will lead us not only to examine a variety of genres and media—the epistolary novel, short stories, poetry, paintings, film, and photographs, for example—but also to think critically about how diverse modes of representation contribute to the construction of cultural myths. (6 units)       Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: one 400-level course or consent of the instructor.
MWF 3:10 Ms. CHANG

FREN 600 : Senior Seminar Capstone

Seniors meet with the instructor early in Term 1 to select a specific topic. They read and discuss texts at the beginning of the winter term, then formulate their own projects, which may take them in a direction of their choice (literature, art, history, music, etc.). All French majors are expected to take this course in their senior year. This will count as a writing intensive course for the GERs. (6 units) Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: senior or super-senior standing or consent of instructor. This course counts as a writing intensive course.
11:10 MWF Ms. HOFT-MARCH

TERM III

FREN 301: Introduction to French Literary Studies

This course introduces students to a wide range of literary genres through a careful selection of short texts and films to pique students' interest and stimulate their creative juices. Although we follow a historical trajectory, we will put that apparently seamless chronology into question; thus, we study how the French have written their literary history to create and reinforce a unique national identity. We begin our journey with medieval poetry written by a juvenile delinquent (Francois Villon) and a love-sick child bride (Louise Labe), then continue with ribald comedy (Moliere), a gender-bending tale of love (Perrault), and an amazingly sensitive novella about a young Senegalese woman caught in the French revolution (Duras). Along the way we also encounter short stories (Maupassant, Camus) and symbolist poetry (Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud). Toward the end of our journey we will compare a riveting screenplay by Marguerite Duras with its cinematic version. (6 units). Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: French 202 or consent of the instructor. This course counts as writing intensive for the GERs.
11:10 MWF Ms. HOFT-MARCH

FREN 445 : Media and French Revolutions

In this course, we will think critically about the extent to which the information we consume via print, audio and visual news sources, as well as fictionalized filmic and novelistic accounts, influence public opinion and historical memory. We will examine contemporary (era-specific) representations of the French revolutions of the nineteenth-century as well as the Franco-Algerian War and the events of May 1968. By the end of this course—which will be taught in seminar format—we will have gained a deeper historical, cultural, and political understanding of these events. More generally, we will also have improved our ability to analyze how mediated representations shape an understanding of the world in which we live. (6 units) Three class meetings per week. Prerequisite: one 300-level course or consent of the instructor.
3:10 MWF Ms. CHANG

FREN 502 : Childhood

In our own 21st century American culture, childhood is idealized to the max. Our culture teaches us that childhood is—or should be—an important time of life characterized by innocence, energy, playfulness, learning, and imagination. This conception, however, isn't timeless or universal. In medieval France, for instance, the idea of a special time between infancy and adulthood virtually did not exist. Childhood had to be "created" and the Child became invested with all kinds of cultural connotations and beliefs (e.g., children are naturally evil, children are naturally innocent, children know important truths, children are naïve and ignorant). We'll check out some old "texts" (legends, artwork, essays, poetry) and compare them with some contemporary "texts" (memoirs of being a child, a suspense thriller, commercials, films) in order to puzzle out what French culture once thought and now thinks about childhood and children. Prerequisite: experience as a child. Ice cream included. (6 units) Three class meetings per week. Other prerequisite: one 400-level course or consent of the instructor.
1:50 MWF Ms. HOFT-MARCH