France

This course considers how nuclear energy is viewed from a science, political, and public standpoint. It investigates how one of the most sought-after solutions to climate change is also the most decried one. Based on recognized institutions reports and experts interviews, the course turns to history and physics to explain this energy (and its track record) to address politically and culturally the root of the various debates surrounding its use, impact, and potential threats; investigate the potential it represents in addressing the greatest challenges of our generation and the next; and overall, to rebalance the debate on nuclear energy by exploring its advantages as well as disadvantages, as far removed as possible from the passion it sometimes inspires.

This course investigates the institutional, legal, political, and economic aspects of the global city. It explores how a truly multinational but local-based political community could rise where, in a circular way, native roots, universalism, cultural diversity, and international links can coexist and support each other. It considers how cities have been the standpoint from which scholars investigate macro-phenomena and issues affecting society as a whole, and discusses how any change affecting the delicate urban ecosystem will therefore also have wider repercussions on how global governance itself is conceived.

This course improves conversational French at some of the highest levels of French grammar, such as the subjective, conditional, and simple forms. Grammar worksheets, in-class videos, debates, and class discussions are used to improve oral and reading comprehension to reach proficiency goals and prepare for language competency certification at the B2/C1 level.

The first part of this course explores one of the founding works of Chicano literature, Rudolfo Anaya’s BLESS ME, ULTIMA (1972), a coming-of-age novel combining magical realism with an exploration of the social and identity issues faced by Chicanos in the modern United States. The second part of the course focuses on Henry Fielding’s THE HISTORY OF THE ADVENTURES OF JOSEPH ANDREWS AND OF HIS FRIEND MR. ABRAHAM ADAMS (1742), the author’s first full-length novel self-defined as a “comic epic poem in prose.” The course studies narratological issues as well as the social, political, and gender dimensions of the texts.

This course considers how personal autonomy, the idea that persons should be in control over their own lives, underlies virtually every aspect of law, from private law institutions like property and contract to the basic rules of constitutional law. To navigate this complex relationship, it discusses questions such as what cognitive capacities are needed for personal autonomy; what does it mean to exercise autonomous control over a given decision, action, or event; what role does causation play in such control; and what is meant by a person's “own life.” In addition, the course discusses how these questions figure in Canadian and American criminal law, tort law, and law on socio-economic rights.

This course provides an introduction to the enterprise of comparative constitutional law as a judicial practice and as a field of academic study. It compares, across different constitutional systems, issues of constitutional structure, judicial review, separation of powers, constitutional interpretation, constitutional amendments, and individual rights, among others. Additionally, the course considers the various approaches that have been used to solve similar constitutional problems, with special attention given to equality, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and the recognition and adjudication of social and economic rights.

This course covers economic strategy and management in a business context. It also addresses theory of economics in the perspective of business management.

This course covers the main authors, concepts, and theories that structured questions related to technology. It begins with the historical figures (Plato, Descartes, Marx, Bergson, Heidegger) that laid grounds for more contemporary theorizations. The course focuses on the “founding myths” related to technology in philosophy, as well as how the 19th century contributed to several shifts from these very myths by bringing forth its own questions. It then explores the diversity of contemporary issues related to technology from a philosophical perspective (Ellul, Sloterdijk, Stiegler, Hottois, Simondon). The course covers issues that range from what technology is for humans, for societies, as well as for itself once removed from the human-centric perspectives on technology.

This course studies how art and culture exist in France. It examines the various aspects, institutions, and movements that make up art and culture from an anthropological and sociological point of view.

This course introduces the field of environmental economics, which is concerned with the impact of the economy on the environment, the significance of the environment to the economy, and the appropriate way of regulating economic activity so that a balance is achieved among environmental, economic, and other social goals. It discusses how economic analysis can guide public policy to efficient utilization of these resources in a world of increasing scarcity and competing demands. The course investigates why unregulated markets cause environmental problems, what the socially optimal degree of environmental protection is and how can it be determined, and how the government can regulate the economy to protect the environment more efficiently. It equips the toolkit of an environmental economist and discusses the major environmental problem of our time: global warming. Moreover, the course discusses other environmental issues such as air pollution and biodiversity loss.