French

This class focuses on the proper pronunciation and enunciation of French words. Students listen to audio files on the computer and respond to various questions that indicate and improve the level of their French auditory distinction.

This course is both an introduction to archeology and a study of the archeology of France, including an exploration of the oldest remains in Europe and France. It provides an overview of prehistoric people and cultures, with a strong emphasis on relics and archeological data found in France, and how the ancient people of what is modern France once lived. The course begins with an explanation of the tenets of archeology as a profession, and then delves into the various geological and climatic eras on Earth. It also examines the variety of human species along with their artifacts, namely in France. Discussions include the main stages of the chronology and the technical, economic, and social specifics of the societies of the current territories of France for each major historical period. The course sessions are shared by three instructors, each working in their area of expertise.

This course is designed for students beyond an intermediate language level. It covers a variety of grammatical concepts including: compound and simple relative pronouns; present and past subjunctive and infinitive; expression of comparison; expressing time; direct and indirect speech and temporal expressions. This course broadens cultural knowledge of the Francophone world through film, television, radio, videos, text, etc.

This course considers the emergence of the notion of post-modernity in cinema, and more broadly in the field of social sciences, since the end of the 1970s. It considers the multiple labels that have been attached to this movement (cinema of look, attraction, simulacrum, allusion) which bring together different and sometimes contradictory trends and which has experienced several eras over the last four decades, . From immersive cinema to a taste for recycling, from pastiche to the revisitation of genres, the course discusses works including those of Sofia Coppola, the Coen brothers, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven, Brian De Palma, Quentin Tarantino, and Lana Wachovski.

This course explores the interconnectivity between the rapid evolution of media outlets and content, the contemporary “banalization” of terrorist and other types of violence, and their fallout over issues related to social justice in France and Europe. The course examines some recent forms of social confrontation and the way these confrontations are channeled on a grand scale through mass media, both old and new. Students interrogate the political, economic, cultural, and psychological implications, as well as the “spectatorship component,” related to the growing, constant sharing of violence over public platforms, and political agendas. Different cases of social controversies are studied and compared as we probe their relevance to some larger, technological, and globalized frames of analysis. The course examines the adjustments political institutions, social bodies, and media actors have practiced when faced with these forms of protest in moments of crisis. The course attempts to understand how, and to what extent, all these altered notions have impacted national, sectorial, and class-oriented identities.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. Students who complete a research paper on a pre-approved topic are awarded 1 extra unit. Maximum units for this course are 8. The course has 2 parts: A & B. Students must take both parts. No partial credit is possible. Part A of the course focuses on the history and development of non-European literature in French, with particular attention to the relationship between literary texts and the historical, artistic, and linguistic context. Special attention is placed on the different methodologies useful for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts. Part B of the course focuses on the issues of diversity and inclusion in French-speaking migrant literatures with particular attention to Quebec, Lebanese, and Senegalese literatures. Special attention is placed on literature written  by migrant authors and literature written by those born in exile. Voluntary or forced mobility generates a literature with a dual focus: towards the country of origin and towards the country of adoption. Migrant writings, in a French-speaking context, give rise to a third space in which identity is renegotiated through writing, a space for the elaboration of diversity in search of similarities. Principal texts by Marco Micone, Antonio D'Alfonso, Fulvio Caccia, Amin Maalouf, and Wajdi Mouawad.