French and Francophone Studies

French I is an introductory course for students who have had little or no formal contact with the language. Students learn vocabulary and structures to discuss topics of immediate personal relevance in predictable contexts through the study of culturally specific examples from the francophone world. Examples include food culture, friends, familial relationships, work, and leisure activities. French I also introduces students to the structures and cultural functions of grammatical gender and formal and informal registers. Conducted in French; meets four times per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Students who have previous experience in French are required to take a placement examination for entrance (available from the Registrar’s web site).

French II situates the student in time, emphasizing past and future narrative structures in predictable contexts through the study of culturally specific examples from the francophone world. Themes may include urban culture and media, health and the environment, travel and technology, and personal and national celebrations. Weekly readings and compositions, grammatical exercises, exercises in spontaneous and recorded oral production, and active participation required. Conducted in French; meets four times per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. 

French III develops the capacity to describe and explain personal history and current events with nuance and detail. Students review and build on structures from French I and II, but in less predictable contexts and with greater emphasis on the articulation of temporal and causal relationships. Weekly readings and writing assignments, grammatical exercises, focused vocabulary development, spontaneous and recorded oral production, and active participation required. Conducted in French; meets four times per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant.

French IV develops skills in intellectual exchange and debate. Students engage with increasingly complex issues and learn to articulate critical comparisons with an emphasis on the respectful and nuanced articulation of multiple points of view. Weekly readings and writing assignments, grammatical exercises, focused vocabulary development, spontaneous and recorded oral production, and active participation required. Conducted in French; meets four times per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant.

Migration and language are central themes in Senegalese cinema. Beginning with the work of Ousmane Sembene, Senegalese filmmakers assert the importance of African languages in film at the same time as they document and critique the conflicting roles of French language in Senegalese society. Through the work of Sembene Ousmane and successors Djibril Diop Mambéty, Moussa Sene Absa, and Matti Diop, we will explore the central preoccupations and visual and verbal languages of Senegalese cinema. Course work will include screenings, short readings, written assignments, and presentations. Conducted in French.

We will read contemporary and classical examples of French theater with our voices and our bodies, exploring how the text exists in space and time as well as words. We will take these insights and apply them to texts of our own creation, that we will then also read and revise together. This course integrates the practice of improvisation in its use of theater to generate writing, and personal writing to generate theater.

Talk shows, soap operas, crime series, sit-coms, even the news—these types of programs are familiar to American telespectators, yet the form they take in French-language settings can be substantially different, reflecting traditions, values and current issues in the country of origin. Focusing primarily but not exclusively on France, this course will explore television as a culturally specific and significant expression of French-language cultures. We will concentrate primarily on recent content, while highlighting historical and institutional factors that have influenced current practices. Two course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

As a nation, the French have a long tradition of self-definition and commemoration through large piles of stone. The Pantheon, the Arc de triomphe… but also the Louvre, the Académie française, and the Sorbonne all blend the institutional and the monumental. Public spaces are furthermore adorned with innumerable statues and busts commemorating historical figures, some of whom, like Confederate statues in the United States, are being challenged and sometimes removed for their colonial or slave trade activities. But who gets to decide what is collected, remembered, or ignored? How is France dealing with its colonial collections and heritage, and how are new works redefining what it means to build a monument? In this course we will examine symbolic objects, institutions, and individuals as cultural products. Coursework will include readings, media analysis, short writing assignments, and a collaborative project. Two course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

Cinema continues to be a prominent part of cultural production in the Francophone world. This course will focus on contemporary production in France, with possible inclusions from other French-speaking countries. Screenings will provide the basis for discussion, analysis of cinematic techniques, and exploration of contemporary issues as represented in recent films. Course work will include additional readings, written assignments such as film reviews and scene analyses, and presentations. Conducted in French. May be repeated for credit. Two course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

This 2-credit course will be devoted to the study of Francophone popular song culture from the early twentieth century to the present. Artists considered will come from North America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe. Students will analyze not only song lyrics but also cultural norms surrounding performance, the social construction of the singer's persona, and the historical context for particular works. Assigned work will include short papers, class presentations, a curated playlist, and a final project. Two course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

This course will focus on recent cultural and political events in France and the Francophone world. Students will explore a variety of media outlets and examine common journalistic formats, working with print, visual and audio sources. Course work will include the discussion of current new reports and major developments from recent months, vocabulary exercises, analysis of a broad range of news media platforms, and a final research project. Two course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

A one-time offering focused on a specific aspect of French and Francophone studies. See course schedule for any current offerings.

Students will develop speed, fluency and range in register in oral communication skills in French through exercises in theatrical improvisation. In-class exercises will blend traditional theater sports games with scene work and improvisation around existing texts. Two class meeting per week. Homework includes extensive vocabulary development, reading and preparing scenes using text and video sources and practice writing dialogue in French. Conducted in French. May be repeated for a maximum of four credits.

Why are culinary and gastronomic traditions so strongly associated with Francophone cultures? How did these traditions develop, and why do they continue to play a significant role today? Students will perfect advanced French language skills through the critical exploration of text and media content. We will consider the concept of “terroir” and examine the relationship between food and class. We will examine the cultural assumptions implicit in television shows like Qui sera le prochain grand pâtissier? We will read texts ranging from Zola to Astérix to the Guide Michelin, with stops along the way. Students will explore the flavors as well as the words of French cooking, and interrogate the role of food cultures in national identity.  Active participation, targeted grammatical exercises, frequent short writing assignments, oral presentations, and a final project required.  Conducted in French; meets three times per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant.

Paris—political capital of France, cultural capital of the western world—has been both a monument and a magnet for authors, artists, musicians, and philosophers for over 400 years. Through the combined lens of literature, history, and urban geography, we will explore the invention of consumerism in the 17th century, the architectural and industrial modernization of the city in the 19th century, and the colonial exhibitions of the early 20th century. We will examine the shifting physical and cultural landscape of the modern city, examining both the monumental cultural projects of François Mitterrand's presidency and the marginalization of the banlieue. Coursework includes short papers, class presentations, and a final project. Three course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

Alexa, how do you say….? Translation is both a creative practice and a personal and global necessity. We will investigate the texts and contexts of translation, from literary texts to film subtitles to news feeds; from academic writing to official documents; from the function of translation in multilingual societies to the impact of machine translation and voice recognition. Coursework will include readings, films, written exercises, discussion, multimedia projects, and live interpretation games. Targeted exercises will develop students’ grammatical and syntactical awareness of the relationship between English and French. Three course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

Why is there an entire category of French comics set in the American West? Why have so many American authors written their works in France? The French have a love affair with the “grands espaces” of the American West; Americans long to visit Paris, “the city of lights”. French comics celebrate masculine colonial fantasies of the American frontier; Emily goes to Paris.  The history of Franco-American exchange networks goes back centuries and continues today. In this course we will examine network structures of migration and cultural influence across geographic location. We’ll analyze the language used to talk about culture using the tools of digital humanities. We’ll study national stereotypes and the international reception of, and revision to, cultural products. Students will strengthen and hone advanced French language skills through the comparative analysis of text and media content, and through in-depth exploration of values, networks, and patterns of cultural and linguistic exchange. Active participation, frequent short writing assignments, oral presentations, and a final project required. Three course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

In 2014, the Observatory of the French Language excitedly announced that, by the year 2070, population growth in African nations would make French the second most widely spoken language in the world. The Observatory has since backed away from that prediction, but French remains a significant world language, with a large majority of French speakers living outside of France. This course will examine the widely varying roles French plays in countries across the globe, functioning as a language of education, commerce, culture, diplomacy and everyday life. We will also explore some of the variations in the language itself as it appears in other settings and coexists with other languages. Students will refine advanced French language skills through the critical exploration of text and media content. Coursework will include frequent short writing assignments, active participation, and a final project. Three class meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

The Franco-Belge “bande dessinée”, or “9th art” is the third largest comic market in the world after the USA and Japan. This course will focus on the poetics of French-language graphic narrative across multiple sub-genres (fiction, documentary, adventure, autobiography, social commentary), with an emphasis on recent works. Coursework will include frequent short writing assignments, active participation, creative projects, and a final presentation. Three class meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

From the royal gardens of Versailles to the impressionist garden of Monet, from the Expedition in Egypt to the Musée nationale de l’histoire naturelle, from the pastoral wanderings of Rousseau to the eco-tourism of WWOOFing, this course will explore human relationships with cultivated spaces through French eyes. Course texts will include close reading of literary passages, media analysis of contemporary and historical images, exhibits, and practices, and short theoretical texts. Assignments will include frequent short writing assignments, a visual portfolio, active oral participation, and a final project. Three class meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

We will explore migration in the Francophone world from multiple angles—historical, political, social, and economic—with particular attention to personal accounts and creative works. Who migrates, for what reasons, and with what results? What role does the French language play in these movements? Students will develop and refine advanced language skills through the critical exploration of text and media content. Coursework will include structured language exercises, frequent short writing assignments, active participation, and a final project. Three class meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French.

Students enrolling in French and Francophone Studies 405 will meet two times per week with students from French 305. A third, separate meeting each week will focus on more extended literary readings that will complement the materials from 305. Coursework includes short papers, class presentations, and a final project. Three course meetings per week plus one half-hour conversation session with a French Language Assistant. Conducted in French. Students may not receive credit for both French 305 and 405.

Directed readings of topics or works selected to complement, but not substitute for, the regular period offerings of the French program. The proposal for independent study must be approved by the tenure-track staff. The number of students accepted for the course will depend on the availability of the staff.

An original critical or creative project on an interdisciplinary topic of relevance to French and Francophone studies. Junior majors should begin identifying a project and supervisor at the end of their junior year. The proposal for the senior capstone project must be submitted for approval by the start of the fall semester.

Designed to further independent research projects leading to the preparation of an undergraduate thesis or a project report. Required of and limited to senior honors candidates in French.

French is the vibrant, official language of Quebec, a linguistic island in the English-speaking nation of Canada. For nearly 200 years, however, French-speaking people in Quebec were an oppressed minority under British rule. How did this linguistic minority overcome decades of exclusionary prejudice to affirm a collective identity?  In the Canadian context, the Quiet Revolution refers to a seminal period (the 1960s) of intense social, cultural and political development in Quebec, leading eventually to the election of a pro-sovereignty government and the declaration of French as the sole official language of the province. Literary and artistic production played a significant role in this movement, critiquing Canadian society, giving voice to Quebecois aspirations, and providing inspiration for linguistic minorities in places like Scotland and Catalonia. Study of dramatic, poetic, narrative, cinematic, polemical and theoretical works. Course taught in English; students who wish to do so may complete some readings in French. May be taken for credit toward the French and Francophone Studies major or minor.

This course provides a critical exploration of masculinity in French and Francophone film and fiction. In examining the politics of gendered and racial representations of masculinity, we ask: What types of desires and actions are associated with certain models of masculinity? How does France’s colonial heritage impact and inform the projection of its own masculinity and that of its formerly colonized others? How do writers, theorists, and filmmakers unsettle the fantasy of French masculinity? This course also takes up masculinity’s vexed relation to femininity, tracking how the ideological production of the latter is often premised on the former’s hegemonic stance. Short papers, oral presentations, and active participation are required. May be elected as Gender Studies 230 or Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies 230.