French

In order to approach the Feminine/Masculine dichotomy or its complementarity, it is worth taking a diachronic approach that embraces different literary genres and philosophical arguments. From the earliest texts of Antiquity to contemporary novels, it's important to note the clichés and canons of the two genres in order to better reopen representations of binarity. Starting with Plato's myth of the androgyne, which proposes the invention of the sexes, the course works on the definitions of masculine and feminine, as well as their relationships. It then studies extracts from medieval literature to analyze the implementation of a codified image of masculine behavior and feminine posture. This highlights works less frequently found in school anthologies, and discovers original voices that sing of the links between men and women. The Renaissance period is explored through a painting by a man depicting a woman: starting from this banal subject, it sees the stakes, both poetic and aesthetic, in the figuration of the symbols chosen. Crossing the Grand siècle, with its coquettes, inconstants and honest men, the course moves on to the Age of Enlightenment, where the question of gender becomes pressing, with the proposals of Poulain de la Barre, for example. The poetics of uncertain or metamorphosed genders is explored using texts from the 19th and 20th centuries: the castrato, the hermaphrodite, and transvestites are studied. The course looks at new ways of referring to these figures as they find their representation in literature. Intersexuality will thus be examined in the light of works chosen for their literary interest and the philosophical reflection they generate. Finally, it takes a closer look at representations of male and female bodies in contemporary literature, focusing on the poetics of weakness, injury and ageing, with particular reference to the motif of the gaze of a third party and that of the mirror to which one speaks of one's own body.

This course improves conversational French at some of the highest levels of French grammar, such as the subjective, conditional, and simple forms. Grammar worksheets, in-class videos, debates, and class discussions are used to improve oral and reading comprehension to reach proficiency goals and prepare for language competency certification at the B2/C1 level. Emphasis is placed on the field and vocabulary of the Sciences.

This course trains students to identify and contextualize diverse cultural and artistic productions (focusing on photography) in relation to genres and major literary trends, from both a historical and comparative perspective (situate them on the scale of France, Europe, and the world).

The course covers a wide range of themes representative of contemporary issues in development economics. It considers what are the developing worlds and what are the major development strategies. It also covers development policies: the roles of the market, the state and civil society; agricultural transformation and specific problems in rural areas; population growth and development; work and informality; urbanization: dynamics, issues, problems; environment and development; poverty and inequality; human capital, human development and growth; development aid; natural resources; violence and crime: dynamics, issues, and explanatory models; democracy and development.

This French conversation course is an intermediate-level course. It is based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). It prepares students for the B1 level of the DELF: oral comprehension and production.  

The course goals include: ability to listen to real-world conversations or radio broadcasts on general or specialized topics multiple times and answer questions based on what has been understood. Ability to describe one’s personality, present one's strengths and weaknesses, talk about love stories, discuss friendships, talk about health and explain health issues, describe objects, talk about different types of houses, discuss jobs and create ideas for future careers, talk about sports activities, and share ideas for creative leisure activities. 

Prerequisites: French conversation 1 and French conversation 2 

This course is dedicated to eloquence in French as a foreign language. It gives students the keys to speaking with ease, convincing and captivating their audience. The course works on the fluency, clarity, and impact of speeches, using documents from French culture in an intercultural perspective. Listening to and understanding others enables everyone to progress and "carry your voice," as Stéphane de Freitas puts it. The main activities include: vocal and body warm-up: work on breathing, posture, self-confidence, sound-based games; spontaneous expression games: exercises to free speech and enrich vocabulary; active listening and critical thinking skills; practice in prepared speeches: learn to structure, argue, work on tone and emotional management, appropriate oratory techniques and classic French rhetoric. This course offers a comprehensive approach to improving speaking skills and mastering eloquence by blending oratory techniques, practical exercises and creativity. Qualified guest speakers will enhance the practical aspects of the course.

In contemporary literature, the African city appears as a space in permanent flux, capable of taking on very diverse, complex and sometimes difficult to define forms. The course on the relationship between the colonial city and the post-colonial city is part of a general reflection on urban space in Africa. It aims to examine its history, architecture, sociology and representations. In the vast repertoire of representations, there is one constant that is the fruit of the continent's history, the trace of its colonial heritage. Today's African metropolises were often yesterday's small colonial towns. Modelled on European models, colonial cities, far from remaining pure "European enclaves", were transformed from the outset into mixed-race spaces, places of encounter, cross-fertilization and confrontation between Western and indigenous societies and cultures, but also places of cultural syncretism. Based on readings and analyses of texts from Nocky Djedanoum's collection Amours de villes, villes africaines (2001) and Léonora Miano's Contours du jour qui vient (2006), this course explores the ways in which cities are represented in African literature, and the different conceptions of the city as a place of rupture and negotiation between past and present.

Despite its apparent proximity to the history of cinema, this course is in fact a "History and Cinema" course. It looks at both fiction and non-fiction cinema and considers questions posed by Michèle Lagny and Marc Ferro on how film allows us to rethink the historicity of history and whether cinema and television modify our vision of history.

This course focuses on contemporary theater creation (theater and society, theater and music, theater about theater, etc.). It considers theater and modernity in the 20th and 21st centuries, and how to make theater today. The course starts with Brecht and the French theater of the 20th century, to consider the stage mutations and teeming directions of contemporary creation. It then studies the New Theater (50s and after), theater and society, the question of feminicide, and authentic theater from Othello to the present day.

This course introduces the mathematical theory of probability, starting with the definition of probability spaces to the fundamental limit theorems, namely the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. The following concepts are covered: measurement theory, probability spaces; conditional probability and independence; random variables, discrete random variables; density random variables; discrete random vectors; density random vectors; notions of convergence for sequences of random variables; limit theorems; Gaussian vectors.