French

This course focuses on the impact of the AIDS crisis on American and European artists and activists, from the first census of cases of the disease in 1981 to the therapeutic revolution in 1997. Based on numerous visual representations inhabited by all that was at work in societies at the time of the epidemic, the course constructs a political, economic, and social history of this era haunted by the catastrophe. In doing so, it mobilizes and crosses disciplines, and develops questions and issues specific to the history of art by calling on the human and social sciences.

This course explores the geopolitical past, present, and future of African foreign policy and international relations. Through the complex analysis of African's geopolitical policy regime, it considers how the country's geography supports and complicates its political role and status in the global community. Furthermore, through analyzing international development policy in the region, the course explores how exploitation, war, and regional instability continue to lead to unfortunate political, economic, and social consequences.

This course analyzes systemically the phenomenon known as globalization, as well as current public and academic debates in France that focus on a critique of globalization and its local effects. It is structured by three main analytical standpoints. The first is the history of the process now known as globalization, a history still under debate. The second perspective comprises a look at the main features of the phenomenon of globalization: intensification of worker mobility and migration; vastly increased capital flows as well as flows of goods and services; and the significant increase in information exchange, or cultural globalization. The third point of view is that of the main actors of globalization (states, international organizations, NGOs and transnational movements, multinational corporations) whose roles are transformed by the effects of globalization.

This course examines the politicization manifested in works of fiction and the political effects of the creation and the use of artwork. Incorporating an international and comparative dimension, it explores censorship, politics, mobilization, and conflicts within the art world. The course studies several aesthetic registers including cinema, television, literature, and painting to examine the tension present in various worlds of art, between artistic recognition and the politicization of works and creators. It explores the mechanisms of this tension as well as the practices and forms of action and creation through which artists engage and see their creations become objects of disruption.

This course introduces classical music and the first quality of a good musician: knowing how to listen. In addition to acquiring a broader musical culture, the course develops listening, concentration, and analytical skills. By means of key works from the repertoire, the main forms of Western classical music are approached, from the Baroque age to contemporary music. The course also discusses the many ways of playing the orchestra. This diversity constitutes a veritable musical laboratory, but also a social one. In this regard, the orchestra is a valuable tool for better understanding what “the collective” entails: knowing how to listen to others in order to play better together. Students give an individual presentation of an analysis of a work of their choice, share listening comments, and complete a group project based on symphonic or lyrical music (concert report or recording), musicians (portraits, interviews), or concert halls (reportage), and is produced using various media: musical, literary, photographic, theatrical, digital (video, audio recording), et cetera.