France

This course covers the concept of law and its sources, purpose, modes of approach, and methods of interpreting legal texts. It also discusses the theories of legal argumentation, the role of logic in law, and the major theories of legal positivism and American realism.

This course represents additional work for the course FR 129, LITERARY TEXTS. This course explores the difference between the language of literature and the language of general communication. The course examines these topics by conducting close textual analyses on nineteenth and twentieth century literary samples of poetry, novels, and theater.

This course covers the history of Islam in France. It explores the great influence of Islam and Islamic nations on the French language and terminology used in France and Francophone cultures as well as the diversity among nations within the Islamic culture and religion. The general focus of this course is the impact that Islam has had in France from long ago to today and how Islamic culture in France is largely underrepresented in French history.

This course introduces the appropriate use of specific terminology for ecology and provides an awareness and understanding of interactions between the environment and the living beings. It covers the initial approach of ecology and main ecological notions related to terrestrial and marine systems as well as animal and plant domains. Topics include ecology in history, ecological factors, structure and dynamics of populations, and community ecology and structure of ecosystems.

This course investigates why advanced democratic states of the Global North have seemingly been unwilling or unable to grapple with migration, and why their societies feel threatened by migrants despite their vast wealth, stability, and ostensible commitment to human rights. Given this overarching question, the course provides a broad understanding of contemporary developments with respect to international migration in democratic states. It introduces major debates surrounding migration at the domestic, regional, and international levels and offers frameworks for analyzing migration politics tied to foundational theoretical debates in comparative politics and international relations. It provides an opportunity to develop research, written argumentation, and public speaking skills.

The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “City as Public Forum” sessions, students are introduced to French history and culture through a series of lectures and site visits. Students discover some of the fascinating ways the core principles of social justice were tested in theory and practice on the streets of Paris in the past and explore how they evolved into the pillars of French society today. The course focuses on just how an ideal society should be forged, where all are free individuals and members of a cohesive community at the same time. Trying to make individuals believe—as religions do—in the primacy of the collective, and in its concomitant goal of protecting human rights, is at the core of social justice in France. From 52 B.C.E to today, France has been an exemplar of how—and how not—to construct a just society. To render these values visible, and therefore legible, to all by adding a physical dimension—whether constructive or destructive—to the usual means of establishing laws or setting policies, is what distinguishes the history of France's capital city of Paris. Those who control Paris—be they monarchs, revolutionaries, or presidents, past and present—believe that erecting all kinds of physical structures will render their values concrete and immutable. The ideal French society did not always necessarily mean a democratic or inclusive one. Since the French Revolution, however, institutionalizing the concept of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” has been France's greatest universal achievement and a source of constant upheaval, eliciting a unique form of secular activism that has led to targeting buildings and monuments that no longer reflect the collective's values. Students discuss how the diverse social actors, who constitute “the French,” continue to thrust their bodies and minds into the physical spaces of the public sphere in the pursuit of social justice. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students learn targeted language skills through situational communication, so they have the opportunity to use everything they learn as they go about their daily activities. Advanced French students will participate in conversation courses on the program’s theme. This is the spring semester version of the course.