France

This seminar studies the successes of LGBTQI rights activism globally with an in-depth focus on issue areas that afford a broad overview of international LGBTQI policy. The first section of the course focuses on the new theoretical frameworks in political science, sociology, and international relations that deal with sexuality and LGBTQI issues. In the second part of the course, an examination of global aspects of sexuality and LGBTQI issues allows students to look at how LGBTQI rights arrive in the diplomatic arena, and how they affect international organizations' policies. In the third section, case studies from various parts of the world are discussed through the lenses of the international developments in LGBTQI issues. The main objective is to make students understand and criticize the increasingly important role LGBTQI issues play in international relations and development policies.

The course deals with themes of Lyon's urban history (by urbanization, space, public squares, housing, architecture, places of worship, trade and commerce, the ways of life of the inhabitants and their relationship with the Rhône and Saône rivers). Comparisons are made with other cities. Finally, the course covers the city’s cultural institutions in charge of transmitting memory and urban heritage (museums, archives, etc.) and includes field study sessions. Through the approach of social history, the course presents the two-thousand-year history of the city, from its origins to the present day, with emphasis on certain particularly decisive moments in the construction of space, the transformations of urban activities, and ways of life.

While the pursuit of happiness is an ideal present in many Western cultures, for the French, happiness takes various forms: a certain joie de vivre, an appreciation of life’s simple pleasures, and an affinity for companionship. Why is it, then, that France is consistently ranked as one of the least happy countries in Europe according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE)? The French may be known as contentious grumblers who are prone to flights of melancholy and often embroil themselves in gloomy philosophical reflection. And yet, the deeply-ingrained cultural desire to live a full life and find happiness is undeniably a major concern for the French. This course explores representations of happiness in French cultural production, with an emphasis on the city of Paris. Through the study of socio-cultural and historical events as well as critical, literary, and cinematic texts, students explore how the concept of happiness manifests itself in unique ways throughout recent history and in diverse social worlds. From the nineteenth century to the present, happiness has taken many forms: material seduction, consumer delight, everyday bliss, personal independence. The course explores how authors and filmmakers encourage us to reflect on a deceptively simple question: What is happiness and where can we find it? Is happiness to be found in the people and things that surround us, or are we to find it within ourselves?

Mapping and cartography have long been used in social sciences, in geography and beyond. Political scientists, historians and sociologists have increasingly used such tools, which have become more and more present in the media, the administrations and the corporate world as well. Maps in all their forms have gained a strong foothold in all these fields and are now easier to produce thanks to the digital tools making their production easily accessible by non-specialists. This workshop has two main objectives. The first is to master critical approaches to cartographic designs, not only thanks to a better understanding of the foundations of cartography but also of their status as a discourse on various objects of study. The second is for the students to acquire skills enabling them to make their own maps and designs with some of the basic digital tools available, in relation to multidisciplinary issues.