UC Center, Paris

Whether you are interested in fashion design, media, business, or just looking at it from the general perspective of a customer, this course discovers a complete understanding of what is sustainability in fashion and how to achieve it. With Paris as one of the world’s major fashion capitals, this course takes advantage of the city’s resources, exploring exhibitions and special visits to see how brands and leaders are embracing sustainability on a broad scale. These experiences complement practical, real-world case studies in the classroom. The course studies fashion through the perspective of circular economy to evaluate different definitions and practices of sustainability in the field. Topics include an in-depth look at sustainable materials, scrutiny of production and distribution models, evaluation of sustainable business practices, sustainable design strategies, and the influential role of consumers in fostering sustainable styles and lifestyles.

This course examines the ways in which Paris has, more or less successfully, upheld its position as the fashion capital of the world, through corporate strategies and government policies to bolster an industry, which faces issues related to environmental sustainability and labor ethics. Besides a critical understanding of the economics and politics of Parisian fashion, the class equips students with a thorough knowledge of the social significance of fashion which, in French 19th century author Balzac’s words, “is an expression of society”. How then, has French society shaped and been shaped by fashion? Through lectures, site visits and urban walks through the streets of the city, the students discover the creativity of Parisians, who have mobilized fashion as forms of political and aesthetic expression during some of the most important events of the city, including the 1789 French revolution, the industrial revolution, May 1968, and more recent youth culture and social movements. Students reflect upon historical and current regulations and norms around covering and uncovering our bodies with textile, and what they say about living up to or disregarding social identities and inequalities related to sexual and gender identities, religion, class and racialization. What are the societal consequences of shifting ideals of beauty and style? What does it mean to shop, thrift or mend clothes in Paris today? Whose labor matters and why? And how may one of the World’s most polluting industries evolve to the better in the near future?

This introductory graphic design course provides students with a foundational understanding of key principles and essential tools in visual design. Combining practical exercises with some theoretical insights, students explore the basics of composition, typography, color theory, and design principles while gaining an understanding of graphic design's role in contemporary communication. Set in Paris, one of the world’s design and cultural capitals, this course offers an immersive experience in the city’s rich visual history and vibrant contemporary design scene. Paris itself serves as a dynamic classroom, with inspiration drawn from its iconic architecture, art, fashion, museums, and daily life. Students have the unique opportunity to engage with the city's visual environment and incorporate it into their creative projects. The course introduces industry-standard software, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, with a focus on applying these tools to personal creative work. Beyond technical skills, students are encouraged to think conceptually about their designs, fostering critical and creative approaches to their projects.

The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “City as Public Forum” sessions, students are introduced to French history and culture through a series of lectures and site visits. Students discover some of the fascinating ways the core principles of social justice were tested in theory and practice on the streets of Paris in the past and explore how they evolved into the pillars of French society today. The course focuses on just how an ideal society should be forged, where all are free individuals and members of a cohesive community at the same time. Trying to make individuals believe—as religions do—in the primacy of the collective, and in its concomitant goal of protecting human rights, is at the core of social justice in France. From 52 B.C.E to today, France has been an exemplar of how—and how not—to construct a just society. To render these values visible, and therefore legible, to all by adding a physical dimension—whether constructive or destructive—to the usual means of establishing laws or setting policies, is what distinguishes the history of France's capital city of Paris. Those who control Paris—be they monarchs, revolutionaries, or presidents, past and present—believe that erecting all kinds of physical structures will render their values concrete and immutable. The ideal French society did not always necessarily mean a democratic or inclusive one. Since the French Revolution, however, institutionalizing the concept of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” has been France's greatest universal achievement and a source of constant upheaval, eliciting a unique form of secular activism that has led to targeting buildings and monuments that no longer reflect the collective's values. Students discuss how the diverse social actors, who constitute “the French,” continue to thrust their bodies and minds into the physical spaces of the public sphere in the pursuit of social justice. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students learn targeted language skills through situational communication, so they have the opportunity to use everything they learn as they go about their daily activities.

This interdisciplinary course offers a captivating exploration of the dynamic portrayal of French youth from the post-World War I era to the present day. Delving into the multifaceted experiences of French youth, it examines how literature, cinema, and societal structures intersect to shape the coming-of-age journey. While the course distinguishes between three pivotal periods in the history of French youth – the interwar period leading up to World War II and its aftermath, the transformative era from May 1968 to the 1990s, and the contemporary landscape from the 2000s to the present – the approach to primary material remains predominantly thematic. Throughout these epochs, the course analyzes how representations of youth have evolved, exploring themes of identity, rebellion, sexuality, and societal expectations. This exploration is guided by questions such as: how do educational institutions shape the experiences and identities of French youth, as depicted in literature and cinema? How do themes of rebellion and revolution intersect with coming-of-age narratives throughout French history? In what ways do representations of youth in cultural artifacts contribute to our understanding of historical events, such as May 1968? How do cultural artifacts produced by and for youth communities challenge mainstream portrayals? Through novels, graphic novels, films, songs, and first-hand experiences of initiatives targeting young people in Paris and its suburbs, the course provides a comprehensive understanding of French youth culture. Analyzing these materials fosters a nuanced comprehension of French youth culture and its representation in various media, equipping students with tools to critically evaluate portrayals of youth in contemporary society. 

This course explores the intersection between food cultures and food politics, emphasizing the pivotal debates and discussions that have shaped French culinary traditions. It delves into how food serves as a medium for studying urban transformations, global interactions, and the evolution of national identity. The course examines how food has been a tool for constructing community and belonging, as well as exclusion. Through a combination of interdisciplinary readings, analytic and ethnographic writing assignments, and immersive excursions around Paris, the course considers the role of food in structuring identities, everyday practices, and political landscapes in modern France.

This course investigates the cultural and political significance of food within Paris, with a distinctive literary approach. Focusing on the lively debates and controversies surrounding French culinary culture, it explores how food acts as a gateway to understanding dynamic changes in cities, global systems, and national identity formation. The course analyzes how food has been instrumental in fostering ideas of community and belonging. Through a rich selection of interdisciplinary readings, literary analyses, writing assignments, and exploratory excursions throughout Paris, the course examines how food influences personal identities, everyday life, and the political sphere, with a special emphasis on its representation in literature and the arts.

An annexed territory and the only colony of settlement in the French Empire, Algeria was officially a part of France, and its loss represents not only a dramatic territorial amputation (more than twice the size of metropolitan France) but also a traumatic symbolic and ideological shift. Long repressed, cloistered and today fragmented and manipulated, the painful and sensitive memories of the colonization of Algeria and the subsequent War of Independence have contributed to the construction of a deeply divided society in France. This course examines the multiple relations between Franco-Algerian history, memory, and minority identities as represented in contemporary France (Algerian immigrants and their "French" descendants, Sephardic Jews, Harkis, Pieds-Noirs, mixed-race individuals). Other groups of people living in France participated in the Algerian War, such as conscripts, professional soldiers, porteurs de valise (French who supported the Algerian nationalists), and all claim different and often conflicting histories. The course material consists of scholarly texts (articles from different disciplines), literature (three novels), and a few films. The course examines how these different resources elaborate memorial discourses carrying public claims of Franco-Algerian identity. The different minority stances often contradict the official French (and, incidentally, Algerian) narrative(s) while being in conflict with the State’s interest. Through interdisciplinary critical readings, this class studies in depths the concept of "representation" and its several meanings: the mental representation (memory of a historical trauma), artistic representation (literature, films), historical representation (conventional narratives and non-conventional approaches), and political representation (representativeness). The analysis of diverse forms of discursive practices about the French colonial past in Algeria, leading to contemporary processes of minority identifications and "community" dynamics in France, allows the class to deepen its understanding of current debates about “wars of memory” and “competitive victimhood” in French society, while reflecting upon issues of citizenship and possible ways to think of conflicted identities as a legacy of colonialism and immigration.

This interdisciplinary course examines the socioeconomic and political disenfranchisement experienced by residents of the "other France"—a France comprised of working-class citizens often of immigrant origin and from France’s former colonies. It introduces students to urban sociology by requiring that they focus on the particular problems experienced by social actors who live in economically and socially disfavored parts of Paris. Topics covered include urban sociological theories, de-facto segregation, poverty, crime, schooling, public policy, national identity, the negotiation of bi-culturality, and the French secularizing mission. Students investigate these topics from a variety of sources, ranging from documentary film and photojournalism to literary and cinematic expressions. Via these sources, students become familiar with a vibrant urban "vernacular" culture that contests issues pertaining to citizenship, racialization, and representation.

This course provides a critical introduction to French society with a strong emphasis on the debates and myths regarding French national identity (republicanism, integration). The first part of the course focuses on the main models which have been developed to account for French society (the Republic, the Education system, French Citizenship), and questions them in regard to the challenges French society had to face in the 20th century (democratization, immigration, globalization, women and LGTIQ+ movements). On the political sphere, as demonstrated by the recent presidential election, French society also confronts significant challenges with the rise of fringe parties (extreme left and, above all, the Rassemblement National). Traditional political movements (trade unions and working class actions) are equally defied by the rise of new social movements (unemployed, artists, women, gays), which put new identity (gender, sexuality, and others) at the heart of definitions within French society. The course tackles the issues of French identity politics through a focus on the media, with a true concern for their historical embeddedness, as a way to convey the complexity of events and debates that characterized French society through time.