Courses

FREN B000 French TA/Drill/Discussion

Not offered 2022-23

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FREN B001 Elementary French

Fall 2022

The speaking and understanding of French are emphasized particularly during the first semester, and written competence is stressed as well in semester II. The work includes intensive oral practice sessions. The course meets five hours a week in non-intensive sections. This is a year-long course and students must register for both semesters.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B001IN Intensive Elementary French

Fall 2022

French 001 Intensive Elementary is the first half of a two-semester beginning sequence designed to help students attain a level of proficiency to function comfortably in a French-speaking environment. This course allows students to: major, minor, and be able to do their JYA in a French-speaking country. It is both speaking-intensive (through pair work, group work, and drills) and writing-intensive (through blogs and essays). In TA sessions, students develop the ability to speak and understand increasingly well through songs, skits, debates, and a variety of activities. The course meets nine hours per week.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B002 Elementary French

Spring 2023

The speaking and understanding of French are emphasized particularly during the first semester, and written competence is stressed as well in semester II. The work includes intensive oral practice sessions. The course meets in non-intensive (five hours a week) sections. This is a year-long course.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B002IN Intensive Elementary French

Spring 2023

The second half of a two-semester beginning sequence designed to help students attain a level of proficiency to function comfortably in a French-speaking environment. It is both speaking-intensive (through pair work, group work and drills) and writing-intensive (through blogs and essays). In drill sessions, students develop the ability to speak and understand increasingly well through songs, skits, debates, and a variety of activities. Class meets nine hours per week.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B003 Intermediate French

Fall 2022

The emphasis on speaking, understanding, and writing French is continued; texts from French literature and cultural media are read; and short papers are written in French. Students regularly attend supplementary oral practice sessions. The course meets in non-intensive (three hours a week) sections that are supplemented by an extra hour per week with an assistant. This is a year-long course. Prerequisite: FREN B002 or placement required.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B004 Intermediate French

Spring 2023

The emphasis on speaking, understanding, and writing French is continued; texts from French literature and cultural media are read; and short papers are written in French. Students regularly attend supplementary oral practice sessions. The course meets in non-intensive (three hours a week) sections that are supplemented by an extra hour per week with an assistant. This is a year-long course.

Course does not meet an Approach

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FREN B005 Intensive Intermediate French

Fall 2022

The emphasis on speaking and understanding French is continued; literary and cultural texts are read and increasingly longer papers are written in French. In addition to three class meetings a week, students develop their skills in group sessions with the professors and in oral practice hours with assistants. Students use internet resources regularly. This course prepares students to take 102 or 105 in semester II. Open only to graduates of Intensive Elementary French or to students placed by the department. Students who did not complete Intensive Elementary French must take either 102 or 105 to receive language credit. Two additional hours of instruction outside class time required. Additional meeting hours on Tuesday and Thursday will be scheduled according to students availability. Prerequisite: FREN B002IN (intensive) or Placement exam. Approach: Course does not meet an Approach

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Counts Toward Africana Studies

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FREN B101 Textes, Images, Voix I

Fall 2022

Presentation of essential problems in literary and cultural analysis by close reading of works selected from various periods and genres and by analysis of voice and image in French writing and film from female and male authors in Metropolitan France, Africa, and other Francophone regions. Participation in discussion and practice in written and oral expression are emphasized, as are grammar review and exercises. This is a writing intensive course. Prerequisites: FREN B004, placement, or permission of instructor.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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FREN B102 Textes, Voix, Images, II

Spring 2023

Continued development of students' expertise in literary and cultural analysis by emphasizing close reading as well as oral and written analyses of increasingly complex works chosen from various genres and periods of French and Francophone works in their written and visual modes. Readings include theater of the 17th or 18th centuries and build to increasingly complex nouvelles, poetry and novels of the 19th and 20th centuries. Participation in guided discussion and practice in oral/written expression continue to be emphasized, as is grammar review. Prerequisite: FREN 005 or 101.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward International Studies

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FREN B105 Directions de la France contemporaine

Spring 2023

Ce cours a pour objet les dynamiques et les tensions qui structurent ou déstructurent la France contemporaine. Dans quelle mesure la France a-t-elle profité de la colonisation et de l'esclavage pour devenir la France ? Le modèle républicain est-il mis à mal par ce qu'on appelle les "communautarismes", ou n'est-il lui même qu'un déguisement du communautarisme de la majorité ? Quel est ce "séparatisme" qui menacerait la cohésion nationale et les valeurs universalistes de la France ? Pourquoi la laïcité est-elle en crise aujourd'hui ? L'État de droit peut-il demeurer un État de droit face au djihadisme ? L'arbitrage impossible entre priorité sanitaire et priorité économique montre-t-il que le pouvoir politique est devenu impuissant ? Les travaux à rendre vous permettront de vous exprimer dans des formats innovants (podcast, présentation vidéo, réalisation de pages Internet) et de perfectionner vos compétences à l'oral aussi bien qu'à l'écrit. Prerequisite: FREN 005 or 101.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward Museum Studies

Counts Toward Visual Studies

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FREN B201 Le Chevalier, la Dame, et le Prêtre: études de femmes, de classes sociales et d'ethnies

Not offered 2022-23

Using literary texts, historical documents and letters as a mirror of the social classes that they address, this interdisciplinary course studies the principal preoccupations of secular and religious female and male authors in France and Norman England from the eleventh century through the fifteenth. Selected works from epic, lais, roman courtois, fabliaux, theater, letters, and contemporary biography are read in modern French translation. Prerequisite: FREN 102 or 105.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies

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FREN B207 Ouvrir la voix: Introduction aux études francophones

Fall 2022

This course provides students with an overview of foundational concepts, methods and texts relevant to Francophone Studies. We will engage with past and present debates relating to identity, diversity, nation and empire in the colonial and postcolonial contexts and explore the specificity of Francophone Studies with regards to the field of postcolonial studies. While focused on literature, the course will also explore other forms of cultural production (movies, graphic novels, political speeches, etc.) from sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb, the Caribbean and Vietnam. The course will train students in literary analysis and develop their ability to speak and write critically in French. Prerequisites: FREN 102 or 105.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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FREN B208 La diversité dans le cinéma français contemporain

Not offered 2022-23

Until the closing years of the 20th century, ethnic diversity was virtually absent from French cinema. While Francophone directors from Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa debunked colonialism and neocolonialism in their films, minorities hardly appeared on French screens. Movies were made by white filmmakers for a white audience. Since the 1980's and the 1990's, minorities have become more visible in French films. Are French Blacks and Arabs portrayed in French cinema beyond stereotypes, or are they still objects of a euro-centric gaze? Have minorities gained agency in storytelling, not just as actors, but as directors? What is the national narrative at play in the recent French films that focus on diversity? Is it still "us against them", or has the new generation of French filmmakers found a way to include the different components of French identity into a collective subject? From Bouchareb to Gomis, from Kechiche to Benyamina and Jean-Baptiste, this course will map out the visual fault lines of the French self and examine the prospects for a post-republican sense of community. This course will be taught in French. Open to non-majors. There will be a weekly screening on Sunday, 7:00pm-9:00pm.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward Africana Studies

Counts Toward Film Studies

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FREN B211 The Arts and Healing: The Many Facets of West Africa

Section 001 (Spring 2023): African Traditions

Spring 2023

This course will borrow from Achille Mbembe's views of Africa in which it is decolonization that ushered a temporal rupture which made possible a wide array of futures for the continent. After an introduction on the history of the region (background, French influence and gender relations), the 360 students will be able to examine local and global knowledge and their potentialities on the ground through a variety of approaches that include healing practices related to well-being in various areas of life, through the arts, literature, music and film. It is this exchange with both diasporic and local artists and thinkers, through lectures, readings and workshops at Bryn Mawr and in Senegal that students will be able to find some of the answers this cluster is raising. They will investigate the consequences of decolonization into the present through a series of modules and examine the differences, consequences and overlap of all the knowledge.s, creativity and futures that exist on and for the continent.

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward Africana Studies

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FREN B213 Theory in Practice:Critical Discourses in the Humanities

Spring 2023

By bringing together the study of major theoretical currents of the 20th century and the practice of analyzing literary works in the light of theory, this course aims at providing students with skills to use literary theory in their own scholarship. The selection of theoretical readings reflects the history of theory (psychoanalysis, structuralism, narratology), as well as the currents most relevant to the contemporary academic field: Post-structuralism, Post-colonialism, Gender Studies, and Ecocriticism. They are paired with a diverse range of short stories (Poe, Kafka, Camus, Borges, Calvino, Morrison, Djebar, Ngozi Adichie) that we discuss along with our study of theoretical texts. The class will be conducted in English with an additional hour in French for students wishing to take it for French credit.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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FREN B214 French Theater Workshop

Not offered 2022-23

How do we best learn a language? By speaking it and by being completely immersed in it. We also learn best when we play. When we have fun and are creative. This workshop will immerse the students in a French only speaking class and they will practice French on their feet. Students will be invited to improvise in French, to create little scenes in French and finally to work on a scene or a monologue from the French repertoire. The class will start with teaching very specific theatrical skills to push the students not only in their ability to speak French but also to act! This will enhance their confidence in speaking, thinking and performing in French, which will lead them to a better mastery of the language.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

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FREN B219 Diasporic Voices: Voyages and Identity Narratives

Not offered 2022-23

Erin Mouré's quote "once you cross a border, the border is not the same any longer" raises the question of identity and interrogates territorial integrity, wondering how people and communities morph after such life changing events. In this course, students will question the very notion of experience and being through travel; as well as its meaning in terms of identity, locus, and language. Through the works offered, we invite students to approach icons, visual and written texts with new theories and fresh eyes to interrogate the ethics of travel writing, filming and documenting, looking for ways to empower readers about history and migrations. Students will reflect on the types of travels: temporary or voluntary travels, migration under various forms of duress (violence, war, economic penury, persecution for reasons of religion, politics or sexual identity). The works read and seen will encourage discussions about reasons for leaving home and invite a scrutiny about how travel writers and filmmakers gaze and inscribe it on the page or the screen. We will then examine narratives dealing with the relationship of former colonies with its "métropole," reading texts from various regions including France, raising the question of identity. There will be an extra hour for students taking it for credit towards French minor. Prerequisite: FREN B102 or B105 if counting towards French major or minor.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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FREN B221 Femme sujet/Femme objet

Not offered 2022-23

An in-depth examination of how women authors from selected periods conceive of their art, construct authority for themselves, and, where appropriate, distinguish themselves from male colleagues, of whom several who have assumed female voices/perspective will be examined as points of comparison. It introduces students to the techniques and topics of selected women writers (as well as theoretical approaches to them) from the most recent (Djebar and M. Duras) to late Medieval authors. This course is taught in French. Prerequisite: FREN 102 or 105

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies

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FREN B223 The Fire Every Time: Cinematic Rebels Across the Atlantic

Not offered 2022-23

Cinema, as an art form, can be seen as a rebellion against reality. Then again, cinema as mass entertainment with uber-industrial might can yield the most contagious legitimization of power and social norms. Can filmmakers be genuine agents of change and social justice? Do their creations have the power to disrupt the status quo? If so, how are some films designed to subvert systemic normalization and disseminated forms of domination? In this course, we will map out rebellious modern (post WW2) cinema from both sides of the Atlantic. Setting aside chronology and conventional delimitations, we will go back and forth across genres (war film, thriller, ghost story, social realism, drama…) between contemporary and older avatars of cinematic resistance, between documentary and fiction, and between France, the U.S., West Africa and Latin America. We will investigate a series of films that focus on non-compliance and individual resilience in the face of systemic adversity, while sharing a common oppositional ethos applied to different forms of domination/violence: anticolonialism, anti-capitalism, antiracism, as well as ecology, pacifism and a critique of carceral institutions. For each of them, we will study how the style of cinematography is designed not just to support a narrative, but as a counter-language aimed at subverting the conservative grammar codes of the mainstream. This course will be taught in English. Prerequisites: FREN 102 or 105 only for students taking this for French credit with additional hour.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward Film Studies

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FREN B224 Racisme et antiracisme en France

Not offered 2022-23

Co-constructed with students, this course considers the genealogy of French racism as a socio-political construct and as a system of domination. We will analyze how racism "made in France" was designed, theorized, and deployed, but we will also study how its legacy is deconstructed and questioned by contemporary artists whose work focuses on the French colonial history. Art will be examined as a response to the violence of racism and discrimination - a process by which creators find their agency, their voice, and their strength, emancipating the person from the victimization framework. The class will be taught in French and will include interactions with the artists.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward Africana Studies

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FREN B260 Atelier d'écriture

Not offered 2022-23

Intensive practice in speaking and writing. Conversation, discussion, advanced training in grammar and stylistics.Ce cours est une nouvelle version de l'atelier d'écriture. Il a pour objet d'étude la musique française et francophone contemporaine. Pour les étudiants ayant déjà suivi le FRENB260 à Bryn Mawr ou dans le cadre de l'Institut d'Avignon, ce nouveau cours comptera dans le calcul des crédits en vue de la spécialisation ou de la sous-spécialisation. L'objectif est de donner un panorama de la musique en français depuis les années 1940, en explorant la diversité et la complexité organique des genres qui la composent : chanson française, variété, rap, slam, rock alternatif, électro, reggae. Ces mouvements seront étudiés dans une perspective comparative et globale où la thématique primera sur la chronologie et la géographie. Chaque semaine, deux morceaux d'artistes, de genres et d'époques différents seront analysés à la lumière du sujet qui est leur point commun: Paris, l'homosexualité, l'influence de la culture américaine, la fluidité du genre, la domination masculine, le colonialisme, l'esclavage, le consentement et le harcèlement, la violence parentale, la dépression, la mise en scène des origines, la révolte féminine. Dans cette perspective transmusicale, chaque chanson formera le contrepoint de l'autre. Sur le plan linguistique, la déconstruction des paroles (syntaxe, vocabulaire, style, références, utilisation de l'argot, etc.) sera au centre de notre travail, tandis que nous étudierons les vidéos-clips avec les outils de l'analyse culturelle. Centré sur l'écrit (writing-intensive), le cours proposera des formats innovants pour les devoirs (écriture créative et analyse littéraire). Une rencontre/performance en visioconférence avec l'un des artistes au programme sera organisée. Prérequis: 102 ou 105

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

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FREN B262 Débat, discussion, dialogue

Not offered 2022-23

This advanced study of oral communication develops students' linguistic skills in narration, hypothesizing, persuasion or counseling, debate, negotiation, etc. Such skills will be nurtured through enrichment of vocabulary, reinforcement of accuracy in manipulation of complex grammatical structures, and enhancement of discursive strategies. The authentic material (both print and film) which serves as the basis of analytical discussion will reflect issues of contemporary importance; for example, France and Third World francophone countries.

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FREN B298 Junior Seminar

Fall 2022, Spring 2023

Junior Seminar is designed to introduce the knowledge and skill-set expected of our rising seniors: a certain familiarity with the more broadly used critical references of our discipline; a capacity to read and interpret critically a "text" (whether literary, cinematographic, historical, social, etc.) in detail and in a sustained fashion; knowing how to formulate an argument and present it coherently to peers and professors (whether orally or in written form); knowing how to conduct research efficiently in a pre-determined amount of time; and knowing how to cite this research effectively in an argument and in a manner that follows the rules of the discipline. Prerequisites:: 2 (200-level) courses, with exceptions for students who have had fewer courses.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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FREN B299 Littérature, histoire et société

Not offered 2022-23

A study of the language and political, social and ethical messages of literary texts whose authors were "engagés" in the conflicts, wars and revolutions that shook French society from the advent of the 1789 Revolution to the First World War. This course is taught in French.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

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FREN B302 Le printemps de la parole féminine: femmes écrivains des débuts

Fall 2022

This study of selected women authors from Latin CE-Carolingian period through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and 17th century--among them, Perpetua, Hrotswitha, Marie de France, the trobairitz, Christine de Pisan, Louise Labé, Marguerite de Navarre, and Madame de Lafayette--examines the way in which they appropriate and transform the male writing tradition and define themselves as self-conscious artists within or outside it. Particular attention will be paid to identifying recurring concerns and structures in their works, and to assessing their importance to women's writing in general: among them, the poetics of silence, reproduction as a metaphor for artistic creation, and sociopolitical engagement. Prerequisite: two 200-level courses or permission of instructor.

Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies

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FREN B306 Libertinage et subversion

Spring 2023

The libertine movement of the 18th century has long been condemned for moral reasons or considered of minor importance when compared to the Enlightenment. Yet, the right to happiness ('droit au bonheur') celebrated by the so-called 'Philosophes' implies a duty to experience pleasure ('devoir de jouir'). This is what the libertine writers promoted. The libertine movement thus does not confine itself to literature, but also involves a dimension of social subversion. This course will allow you to understand Charles Baudelaire's enigmatic comment: "the Revolution was made by voluptuaries." Prerequisite: two 200-level courses or permission of instructor.

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FREN B312 Advanced Topics in Literature

Section 001 (Spring 2023): La Francophonie Queer
Section 001 (Fall 2021): Réalités et imaginaires du Maghreb

Spring 2023

This is a topics course. Course content varies. Prerequisites: two 200-level courses.

Current topic description: Amid public unrest and political debate, same-sex marriage was finally legalized in France in May 2013. In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of this landmark event, this course will travel beyond the boundaries of hexagonal France to explore queer culture and identity in the Francophone world at large. Envisioning queerness in both a global and local perspective, we will study commonalities and influences between different regions and time periods while attending to their specificities: from the lesbian scene in interwar Paris to queer fashion in contemporary Côte d'Ivoire, from homosexual tourism in colonial Morocco to the redefinition of same-sex attraction in Canada's first nations. The course will familiarize students with seminal theoretical texts pertaining to gender and sexuality studies as well as engage with literary and cinematographic works that address queerness and LGBTQIA+ history and identity (including pieces from Colette, Condé, Dolan, Obomsawin, Sarr, Taïa, Wittig). Through analysis and discussion, we will build the new corpus of a queer Francophonie, understood both as a site of resistance and a celebration of queer culture and identity. Taught in French.

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FREN B325 Topics: Etudes avancées

Not offered 2022-23

An in-depth study of a particular topic, event or historical figure in French civilization. This is a topics course. Course content varies. The seminar topic rotates among many subjects: La Révolution française: Histoire, littérature et culture; L'environnement naturel dans la culture française; Mal et valeurs éthiques; Le Cinéma et la politique, 1940-1968; Le Nationalisme en France et dans les pays francophones; Étude socio-culturelle des arts du manger en France du Moyen Age à nos jours; Crimes et criminalité; Ecrire la Grande Guerre: 1914-10; Le "Rentrée Littéraire"; Proust/Baudelaire; L'Humain et l'environnement.

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FREN B326 Etudes avancées

Section 001 (Spring 2022): La liberté ou la mort
Section 002 (Spring 2022): La France en représentation

Not offered 2022-23

An in-depth study of a particular topic, event or historical figure in French civilization. This is a topics course. Course content varies.

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FREN B350 Voix médiévales et échos modernes

Not offered 2022-23

A study of selected 19th- and 20th-century works inspired by medieval subjects, such as the Grail and Arthurian legends and the Tristan and Yseut stories, and by medieval genres, such as the roman, saints' lives, or the miracle play. Among the texts and films studied are works by Bonnefoy, Cocteau, Flaubert, Genevoix, Giono, and Gracq.

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FREN B398 Senior Seminar

This weekly thesis development workshop examines French and Francophone literary texts and cultural documents from all periods, and the interpretive problems they raise. Close reading, complemented by extensive secondary readings from different schools of interpretation, prepare students to analyze other critical stances and to develop their own.

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FREN B400 Thesis Advising

Weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your thesis advisor will allow you to write your senior thesis efficiently and to prepare for a successful defense.

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FREN B403 Supervised Work

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FREN B425 Translation Praxis

This Praxis course partners with advocacy organizations to help translate documents from French into English. Topics and projects varies.

Counts Toward Praxis Program

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FREN B625 Topics: Etudes avancées

Not offered 2022-23

An in-depth study of a particular topic, event or historical figure in French civilization. This is a topics course. Course content varies. The seminar topic rotates among many subjects: La Révolution française: Histoire, littérature et culture; L'environnement naturel dans la culture française; Mal et valeurs éthiques; Le Cinéma et la politique, 1940-1968; Le Nationalisme en France et dans les pays francophones; Étude socio-culturelle des arts du manger en France du Moyen Age à nos jours; Crimes et criminalité; Ecrire la Grande Guerre: 1914-10; Le "Rentrée Littéraire"; Proust/Baudelaire; L'Humain et l'environnement.

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FREN B672 Baudelaire

Not offered 2022-23

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FREN B701 Supervised Work

Spring 2023

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FREN B701 Supervised Work

Not offered 2022-23

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COML B217 Lovesick

Spring 2023

Love has often been compared to some kind of sickness. In this class, we will explore this traditional discourse on love from different angles: how sick is love? What kind of sickness are we talking about? Is there a cure to love? Is love always delusional? Is there always a touch of sacrifice in love? In order to answer these questions, we will read books, a graphic novels, and watch movies belonging to a variety of cultures and times. Authors include: Ovid, Mme de La Fayette, Charles Burns.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

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ITAL B213 Theory in Practice:Critical Discourses in the Humanities

Not offered 2022-23

What is a postcolonial subject, a queer gaze, a feminist manifesto? And how can we use (as readers of texts, art, and films) contemporary studies on animals and cyborgs, object oriented ontology, zombies, storyworlds, neuroaesthetics? In this course we will read some pivotal theoretical texts from different fields, with a focus on race&ethnicity and gender&sexuality. Each theory will be paired with a masterpiece from Italian culture (from Renaissance treatises and paintings to stories written under fascism and postwar movies). We will discuss how to apply theory to the practice of interpretation and of academic writing, and how theoretical ideas shaped what we are reading. Class conducted in English, with an additional hour in Italian for students seeking Italian credit.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward Counts toward Africana Studies

Counts Toward Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies

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