French

Economic science was built around the debate over the existence or otherwise of a harmonious, spontaneous order, ensuring the coordination of decentralized individual actions. The notions of order and disorder are understood by economists through the concepts of equilibrium, disequilibrium, optimum, crisis and regulation, as well as rationality and self-control. Equilibrium refers to a situation in which the plans of agents are compatible with each other, and in which the rational decisions of individuals are optimal and coherent. Imbalance, whether in the market or during individual decision-making, refers to the opposite situation. An equilibrium can be optimal, i.e. efficient, or sub-optimal; it can be stable or unstable, i.e. it can reproduce itself or not. This course examines how economic theories have historically tried to answer the question of whether the economy tends spontaneously towards a harmonious or optimal "natural" equilibrium or order, or whether it tends towards imbalance, disorder, crisis or the irrationality of individual decision-making. This questioning implies an inter-disciplinary reading of the discipline of economics, which itself draws on concepts of equilibrium and rationality from the natural and life sciences (such as physics, biology, neuroscience, etc.), as well as from other social and human sciences such as psychology, sociology, philosophy and anthropology.

This course offers a reflection on science and acquires cross-disciplinary analytical skills. It addresses the notions of problematization, definition, and reasoning, notably through the reading of philosophical texts.
 

This is the second part of a two-semester course covering the period from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. It focuses on the arts of the Classicism. Rather than the global and idealizing point of view, often confining to the "family novel" of the great heroic artists, it places greater emphasis on a whole series of problems, artistic and inartistic, considered as sensitive questions: problems of space, place of Antiquity, religious devotion, funerary practices, political images, mannerisms and bodily movements, and mannerism and technique. In other words, a history of forms and styles allows a deeper questioning of the profound inventiveness of the visual productions of the Renaissance and the Baroque age.

This course is a communicative course aimed at developing students' understanding and production of the language at CEFR level A2/B1. The course consolidates knowledge of French grammar and develops reading and writing skills. Students work on listening and speaking skills and students have the opportunity to practice the language with their peers on a variety of everyday topics such as talking about past experiences and events and expressing opinion, as well as discussing selected movies.

This course covers French literary works from the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries, focusing on poetry and "factual" genres, a terminology encompassing a wide range of text forms and types of writing (essays, chronicles, historical accounts, reports, diaries, epistolary texts, speeches, etc.). The course is divided into two parts, one devoted to the history of poetic genres and their problematics; the other to a diachronic survey of "factual" texts, exposing their diversity and the difficulties of generic apprehension they give rise to. Each section studies different works and authors in relation with the theme.

This course provides a concise historical overview of the Classical Hollywood studio system from the introduction of sound (1927) to the rise of New Hollywood (1967). It examines how studios controlled production, shaped genres, enforced the Hays Code, and navigated political pressures—from World War II debates to the Hollywood blacklist. Attention is given to the influence of European émigré filmmakers—such as Chaplin, Hitchcock, Lubitsch, Lang, and Wilder—alongside overlooked voices like Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, and Oscar Micheaux. By revisiting recent scholarship, the course questions the idea of a unified “Classical Hollywood style” and considers how marginalized creators and genres challenge traditional definitions of the Hollywood canon.

This course provides a better understanding of France, its population, their characteristics, and the country’s political life. The curriculum focuses on current French society and its evolution in relation to the weight of history, its territorial dynamics, and cultural and political ideals.

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).