France

This course examines French and Francophone cultural productions since the end of the Second World War, a traumatic event that transformed and deeply marked France’s society. It focuses on the evolutions of French national identity and diverse representations of it in a context of decolonization, European dynamics, and globalization. The concept of national identity is challenged by multicultural and immigrant populations that shift our understanding of “French” towards a transnational perspective. The critical urgency of this issue of definition is underlined by increasing political tensions in France that are also accentuated by the growing demands for new public commemorations that seek to acknowledge silenced, wounded memories and that, in doing so, may further divide society. The course examines how dissent about French identity revives democracy while paradoxically undoing national borders. It progresses chronologically, starting with post-War liberations from the margins: women (feminism), colonials (decolonization), youth, and other social identities (May 1968). It then analyzes how these forms of gender, ethnic, and social otherness persist or were dealt with in the 70s and 80s. The course also takes a close look at the geographical and spatial fractures that weigh upon French society. Finally, it addresses today’s issues concerning the education system, in particular the teaching of history, the unprecedented economic crisis, old age, climate change, Islam, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, the attacks in Paris in 2015, and the refugee crisis.

This course introduces the sociology of the state in the Middle East and North Africa region in a historical and comparative perspective. It explores the dynamics that have framed the establishment of state bureaucracies from the former Ottoman, Persian, and Mughal empires, as well as their transformations throughout the political changes of the 20th century, to shed light on the working of contemporary states in the Middle East and North Africa region. While providing an institutional history of the region, the course introduces theoretical resources to study the state and actors that compose it and addresses how modes and patterns of political change (colonization, independences, revolutions) shape the design, staffing, and, ultimately, functioning of states.

This course covers the history and political evolution of France since 1940. The course examines the following topics: World War II, the Resistance, the Vichy Regime, the Collaboration, the Liberation and reconstruction, growth and crises, social changes and transformation of the political structure, and the Fourth and Fifth Republics.

Combining history with current affairs, this course examines the rise of the global drug regime and considers its present-day governance lessons. It covers how the anti-narcotics system was constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries through a specific historical process, beginning with the opium wars and culminating in a UN-centered global system; and with what consequences. The course evaluates various historical drug regimes, including the full tolerance once practiced in the United States and United Kingdom, the Asian opium monopolies, and the Portuguese decriminalization of possession. It considers contemporary challenges to prohibition, such as cartel violence, the opioid epidemic, marijuana legalization; and finally, paths for reform.

This course approaches crucial topics such as migration, conflict, and development from a gender perspective. The course explores gender as a framework for socio-political analysis; presents an overview of different theories and concepts relative to gender-differential impact in policies and practices in development, conflicts, and migration; identifies the relationship between gender and power, and between gender and the social order; analyzes how masculinities and femininities are constructed in times of peace, conflict, and war in access to resources, the implementation of development policies, and in migration policies; and assesses the implications of international policies and initiatives aimed at “mainstreaming gender” in peacekeeping, international development, and migration. The course includes interdisciplinary approaches (law, gender studies, anthropology, politics, economics) and analyzes international legal instruments, tools, and specific cases, as well as their implementation at the regional and national level. It also focuses on practical tools and experiences such as gender-sensitive project planning, use of legal instruments as advocacy tools, claiming women's rights in different areas of development (land, water, food security, food sovereignty, education, health), and migration and conflict studies.