French

This workshop studies how to read and analyze journalistic content on economic and social themes in a professional manner. It provides an opportunity to question journalistic expression by analyzing the facts and data it provides, the credibility of the information transmitted, and the meaning of their publication on certain dates and distribution platforms. The course examines quality, balance, and relevance of the sources; tone, rigor, and atmosphere of the expression; precision of the information; point of view of the narration; identification of the news; typology of the publications; analysis of the formats; and platforms of distribution.

This course examines how the European Left thinks and practices economics, above and beyond the vast but erroneous stereotype: that this is a party that is incapable, once in power, to conduct a coherent economic policy. At the crossroads of history, sociology, and political science, this course reexamines the tormented history of the Left towards economics, from the first world war to the consequences of the financial crisis of 2007-2008.  It uses a transnational comparative approach and looks at several case studies done in the European zone to examine the movement of ideas and the crucial role of the economy in the changes and political recompositions of the Left during this time.

This translation course is taught at the second-year level. The course focuses on training students how to translate both the tone and grammar of Francophone and Anglophone literature and/or journalistic texts. Students first translate from English to French, and then from French to English. Students are given abstracts from English and French writers, mostly from the latter half of the twentieth century.

Postcolonialism first emerged as a discipline in the United States in the 1980s, but it has its roots in the work of anticolonial writers from the first half of the twentieth century. Postcolonial theory looks at the interaction between European nations and the societies they colonized and, in doing so, raises questions about concepts such as power, race, language and identity. Literature plays a key role in the anti-colonial struggle as it can offer an alternative vision to the official history of colonization. This course introduces students to some of the key concepts in postcolonial theory through the study of two novels, THE SECRET RIVER (2005) by the white Australian author Kate Grenville and THE WHALE RIDER (1987) by the Maori writer Witi Ihimaera.