French

This course examines narratives in French-speaking films. It looks at the historical context of the emergence and evolution of cinema in formerly colonized French-speaking countries, and explains how this context reveals postcolonial practices that question geopolitical dominations, new radicalisms, globalized cultures and local traditional constraints. It also looks at the institutional context and the aesthetics of French-speaking cinema, as well as its thematic convergences with French-speaking literature.

This course studies key aspects of contemporary French culture and civilization. The course covers topics that are pertinent to the functions of French society such as state organization, the educational system, the press and media, and demographics.

This course introduces Francophone literature through the reading of two different works: Tahar Ben Jalloun's L'ENFANT DE SABLE (1985) and Marima Bâ's UN SI LONGUE LETTRE (1979). Through these texts, the course examines the themes of sexuality, the question of masculine and feminine roles in francophone society (notably in Morocco and Senegal), while also analyzing how their culture and religion may have affected the author's upbringing and writing.

This course highlights the unique link between the school and the Republic. It first investigates the origins of the school in the West and the eventual establishment of elite education systems by the Church. It then examines how the political landscape throughout the centuries and the call for education for the masses evolved into the school model of today, particularly during the Fifth Republic following the election of the president by direct universal suffrage. The course addresses the web of crises and tensions surrounding the democratization of education that persist today.

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 works on translating from Spanish to French. The course is taught in Spanish using French texts.