French

Between April and July 1994, almost one million people were killed in Rwanda in the course of the last genocide of the twentieth century. The Tutsi community became the target of a mass killing campaign orchestrated at the higher level of the State and widely executed by the civilian population. The violence reached the intimacy of social and affective bounds on an unprecedented scale. Exploring the main particularity of the Tutsi genocide, this course aims to put this major event into its long-term historical context. Based on the study of academic literature as well on written and oral archives, the course is conceived to provide key elements to understand the genocidal mechanisms implemented during the spring 1994 in Rwanda.

This seminar focuses on how inequality is measured. It covers the definitions and theories and analyzes different approaches. Students seek out sources, distinguish the strategies, and produce an argument supporting a position. The sessions cover four themes: poverty, wealth, middle class, the digital divide. This seminar identifies social problems and the evaluations of public politics.

The focus of this course is the uses of the French language, both in France and around the world. Also covered is the linguistic variation within French. The theoretical framework used is sociolinguistics (variational linguistics, linguistic attitudes, linguistic policies, etc.) and several concrete examples are used to illustrate the theory in practice. More specifically, the phenomena relevant to the use of the language in France is distinguished where French is the principal language but there is significant variation according to the speakers and the context where French is mixed with other regional languages and languages of immigrants. Also covered are instances where French is used in a formally multilingual setting, such as Belgium and Switzerland, and informally multilingual settings such as the Creole-speaking regions where French is merged with several indigenous languages, as in Reunion Island or Louisiana.

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.