France

This course is about nations and nationalism since the eighteenth century. It provides basic concepts and historical examples. Nation and nationalism are presented in a rather neutral way, which means neither nationalist nor curative. This approach reflects today's global understanding of national realities, nationality, and nation-states. As the scope of the course is more international than French, nationalism is not presented as “nationalisme,” which is often understood as a social disease in current French debate. Examples are taken from world history and issues are addressed on a world scale. The course also compares the different paths of state-building: the city, the empire, and the nation. Topics include founding fathers of the modern nation; founding fathers of nationalism; relevance of the nation in the 19th and 20th centuries; the dominant feature: equality or liberty; modern nationalism; wars, nations, and empires; history vs sociology; ethnocultural reality vs political myth; from resistance to unity; and new types of nationalism.

One of the oldest traditions in France has been la contestation: a word that can be translated as questioning, entering into a dispute, confronting, protesting, or simply contesting. French history has consequently borne the imprint of this long and lively history. More often than not these movements have been led by the youth, for whom protest was a means to bring about change and right what they viewed as wrong. This course journeys through a number of such movements and investigates what was being contested and why, what was being proposed in its place and why, and what was achieved as a result. The course begins with the French Revolution of 1789. In the 19th century, the course visits the barricades of 1848 and the Paris Commune, where the youth often paid with their lives for their ideals. It analyzes the texts of the thinkers and intellectuals who gave the youth the tools to question the status quo. Following these upheavals, the course continues into the 20th century, when the youth were faced with two cataclysmic wars in which their contestation became synonymous with choice, freedom, and resistance. The course then concentrates on the movement that culminated in the year 1968, when the streets of Paris and other major cities witnessed an unprecedented level of contestation, challenging the all-powerful government of General de Gaulle. Here, too, the course studies the texts that questioned authority. It ends with a glance at the beginning of the 21st century, where the youth—faced with the consequences of globalization, ecological concerns, unemployment at home, and wars beyond their borders leading to major waves of migration—continue to confront and question what they view as unfair and unjust.

This course covers etching, aquatint, and soft varnish techniques, as well as other more elaborated techniques. During the sessions, each technique discussed is accompanied by a demonstration. Students work with a predefined theme throughout the semester and present a project that highlights the techniques discussed during the semester.

This course introduces the arts of diplomacy and negotiation. To this end, the course offers both a theoretical and practical approach and presents the key concepts and tools behind the arts of diplomacy and negotiation. It analyzes the links between diplomacy and negotiation as well as the main challenges attached to traditional and modern diplomatic practices; discusses the impacts of globalization on the evolution of diplomatic practices and more specifically the impact of culture on international negotiation; identifies the main tools and strategies for successful negotiations: therefore, the course also serves as an introduction to communication techniques. It provides an opportunity to practice all these tools and concepts during workshop sessions, exchange in group debates, crisis and negotiation simulations. The course is designed to be very interactive: students are expected to actively participate in class and their communication skills will be assessed.