French

This course focuses on the manner in which humans move and the way in which we regard those movements. The course covers movements as we view them on micro and macro levels, making distinctions between conscious and unconscious actions. Students explore and dissect the definition of the word "mobility" and how that definition has changed as technology forces us to change our image of mobility.

This course offers a discovery of literary animal studies through the apocalyptic imagination. The course studies, in fictions of the end of the world, how the animals are represented, what roles are attributed to them, what place the novelists and novelists reserve for them. The study of THE PLANET OF THE APES by Pierre Boulle and LAST MAN by Margaret Atwood (to whom we also owe LA SERVANTE SCARLET), beyond the differences between French science fiction and American science fiction, cover the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and analyze the evolution of animal representations under the effect of animal studies and animal movements. The two novels propose a temporal and societal shift to observe the current world at new expense, underlining its paradoxes and its absurdities. The course studies the reception of these works, in particular that of Pierre Boulle so often adapted to the cinema, to apprehend their political value.

This course provides a theoretical approach to the image in sequence (the semiology of the cinema, the temporality, the point of view). It also takes a methodological approach to the manufacturing of the image (the assembly, editing, framing, etc.) The objectives of the course are to present fundamental knowledge in visual semiotics and exemplify them with films and to improve the control and mastery of the tools of semiotics of the image. Through this course students are able to: understand the significant dimension of the image; apply the technical facts to the meaning; master the concepts-keys of semiotics of the image and the film analysis; problematize the image; master the main tools of visual semiotics.

This workshop encourages reflection on public affairs problems by teaching and questioning things such as lobbying and its place in public politics. The goals are: demystify lobbying by approaching it from a legal point of view, using concrete examples; examine its place in the Republic, by using political science, history, and comparative law (USA, European Union); look with a critical eye at lobbying and the criticism of lobbying; offer a first experience of lobbying as seen from the inside.

This course covers the history and interactions of the Gauls with the Romans during the period where Rome came into power. Students learn about the changing culture and way of living of the Gauls through the study of artifacts (such as vases) and the construction of buildings/towns.

The course is concerned with the political structure of France as well as global politics and their relationship with media and journalism. The class also makes comparisons between the communications of the previous century with the current methods and common functioning of communication today. The class also studies French politicians and their opinions on communication.

The French notion of “secularism” (or laïcité) is one of the most original aspects of the political, social and cultural reality of France. We speak of "laïcité à la française" to designate a certain type of relationship between the public political sphere and the status of religion(s). Through history, these relationships have been marked by distance and, sometimes, by a dimension of struggle and direct confrontation. Religions tend to be reduced to the private sphere. The “ideal” is that religions must in no way influence political life or even public and cultural life. The French adventure of secularism was thus founded on the project of radically separating politics and religion. This adventure began as early as the sixteenth century and was often confrontational. Secularism has mainly concerned relations between the state and the Catholic religion. But, today, the question arises in a new context marked by the development of Islam. This course is mainly a history class but it is also intended to shed light on contemporary issues and debates. It's about understanding the current issue of secularism through its long history. The following topics are discussed: the impact of the wars of religion (sixteenth century), the place of the Catholic Church in the Ancien Régime, the formulation of the idea of secularism in the Age of Enlightenment, the installation of a "model" of modern secularism under the Modern Republic, the existence of a "culture" of anticlericalism, the school quarrel, the new situation posed by the rise of Islam since the years 1970 and the idea of a crisis of secularism today (new or “post” laïcité).

This course gives students the possibility to discover current Genevan culture, and in particular museum and theater offerings for the current season. Part of the class takes place outside the classroom and is devoted to the discovery and exchange focusing on various cultural activities (theater, meetings with the artists, visits to exhibits and cultural places, etc.). Students think deeply about the unique experience of the City.