France

This course explores how various forms of art, especially painting and architecture, have served to establish and strengthen the political cohesion of the young American nation. After defining key concepts, the course focuses on landscape painting in the 19th century, which was dedicated to the majesty of American landscapes. On the architectural level, it studies classicism as well as specific American forms of architecture. The course provides an opportunity analyze an artistic work in its historical and cultural context through the prism of building a national identity.

This course examines how international law was an instrument used by the European colonial enterprise under the name "International Law of Civilized Nations." It then considers how it can be used today to repair the crimes linked to past colonizations. 

This course presents the main characteristics of the French school system, with a focus on elementary school. It includes a theoretical part and an application part, through the participation of students in an introduction to their native language and culture for elementary school pupils. The topics presented in the theoretical part include: organization of the French school system (in a comparative perspective); focus on a French characteristic: nursery school; inclusive education and the schooling of children with disabilities; the case of allophone pupils and openness to other languages at school. This course provides insights of the French school system and prepares exchange students to speak in front of primary school pupils as part of a multicultural team. Students reflect on aspects of their native culture and language that it would be relevant to share with the pupils.

The history of historians is part of a range of representations and appropriations of the past. It differs from them while echoing them. The scientific approach, based on a quest for truth and objectivity, using procedures and rules for the administration of evidence, coexists with a multitude of social and political relationships with the past, which have continued to multiply over the last forty years. Memorial claims, demands for reparations, ideological constructions, and the reinvention of traditions fuel numerous and contradictory discourses on the past, which take various forms (literature, cinema, visual arts, commemorations, collections, etc.). The past is a shared object, the uses of which are at the heart of political and social conflicts, particularly through the spread of the phenomenon of victim competition. The challenge of this course is to understand the logic and forms of these various uses, while defining the specificity of historical knowledge, its requirements, and its objectives. It also involves questioning its possible role in the current context marked by the resurgence of political nationalism, religious fanaticism, and attacks on democracy.

This course focuses on the history of the 1960s in America and connects it to global and American artistic reactions. It studies mediums such as sculpture, painting, text, and performance. The course explores David Hammons and the connection of his work to the history of the civil rights movement in America.

This course introduces the roles and functioning mechanisms of two major remote communication systems between the cells of the organism: the nervous system and the endocrine system. It covers the mechanisms and consequences of membrane permeability to electrolytes, the bases of cellular excitability (neurons, endocrine cells, muscles), cellular communication (Ligand-receptor interactions: receptors for neurotransmitters (synapses) and hormones), and the muscular excitation-contraction coupling.

This course provides a foundational understanding of international relations and foreign policy analysis from both a theoretical and historical perspective. The first part of the course provides an overview of the origins and historical evolution of international systems in world history, shedding light on the emergence of a global international system. It then examines how historians and political scientists approach the study of international politics, seeking to identify differences, potential overlaps, and mutual synergies. The second part of the course explores the diverse set of theories that can be leveraged to make sense of international politics, namely realism, liberalism, constructivism, the “English School,” and critical approaches to international relations. The third part of the course investigates the wide range of domestic and international factors that influence foreign policy decision-making processes, including individual decision-makers, group dynamics among senior advisors, bureaucratic politics, domestic politics, and the role of societal actors in shaping foreign policy outcomes. The final part of the course zooms in on the sources and methods of inquiry in the study of foreign policy and international relations. It discusses the methodological issues related to empirical research on foreign policy and international relations, looking in particular at archival research and interviews with foreign policymakers.