French & Francophone Studies Course Descriptions

A beginning course designed to give training in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding. This course is for students with no previous training in the French language. It is recommended that students take 101, 102, and 200 in three consecutive terms. Five class meetings per week.

A continuation of French 101. It is recommended that students take 101, 102, and 200 in three consecutive terms. Five class meetings per week. PREREQUISITES: FREN 101

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

An opportunity for students to apply their French language skills in business, government, and the non-profit sector on the regional, national, and international level. Arranged in collaboration with and supervised by a member of the department. Includes readings, discussion, report, and/or portfolio. Advance consultation and application required. Repeatable for up to 6 units. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor

A continuation of French 102, structured to help students develop their skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Five class meetings per week. PREREQUISITES: FREN 102 or placement by the department

Designed to help students attain facility in reading and oral comprehension and mastery of basic skills in writing and speaking. Includes grammar review that continues in French 202. Students with two to four years of high school French or the equivalent should contact the department about placement in this course. Four class meetings per week. PREREQUISITES: FREN 200 or placement by the department

A continuation of French 200 or 201, intended to develop further a student’s proficiency in the four language skills. Placement determined by examination and consultation with the instructor. Four class meetings per week. PREREQUISITES: FREN 200 or 201 or a minimum of three years of high school French or the equivalent

In this course students advance their communicative competence and confidence through discussion and analysis of texts, films, and works of art. The course promotes intensive building of vocabulary, perfecting of grammar, and understanding of the subtleties of word and structure choices in context. Students will gain a deeper knowledge of lifestyles, history, and artistic achievement of the French-speaking world. Activities include discussions, presentations, role-plays, and written assignments. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or instructor approval.

This course introduces students to a wide range of literary genres through a careful selection of short texts and films. We study how the French have written their literary history to create and reinforce a unique national identity through a close reading of the works of writers such as Villon, Labé, Molière, Voltaire, Hugo, Maupassant, Camus, and Duras. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or consent of instructor

French films function as a springboard for readings, discussions, oral presentations, and short critical essays. We will briefly examine the history of French film from 1940 to the present, study cinematic techniques, the vocabulary of cinema, and explore the principal themes. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or consent of instructor

This course aims at introducing students to the nature and role of literature in the francophone world. Selected pieces from various literary genres (folk tales, poetry, drama, and novels) by writers such as Césaire, Senghor, Diop, Bâ, Jalloun, Kateb, and Memmi will be read. Themes will include colonialism, resistance, and identity formation. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or consent of instructor

This course’s texts are chosen for their accessibility to advanced intermediate readers of French. Objectives include: increased fluency in reading, vocabulary building, mastery of idiomatic structures, and an exploration of what makes reading worthwhile as well as pleasurable. We sample medieval legends, love poetry, dramatic novellas, and short modern novels. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or consent of instructor

Avoir une belle plume = To have a fine writing style. This course aims to hone our written expression and composition skills as we play with writing in different genres of texts: poetry, short stories, essays, and"exercices de style." As a community of writers, we will share our work in peer-reviews and roundtables to build confidence and practice bringing others into the writing process. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or instructor consent

This course introduces basic concepts, specialized vocabulary, best practices, cultural differences, and current issues in French-speaking professional environments. Primary sources (e.g, films, job postings, professional communiqués, newspaper/magazine articles, podcasts) promote understanding of cultural expectations and differences necessary for professional success. The course is taught entirely in French, so students work to improve written, spoken, reading, and listening proficiency. Students also research and present a specialized project on a professional topic of their disciplinary choosing. PREREQUISITES: FREN 202 or instructor approval

A required course for students who plan to take French 400 that will serve as an introduction to Dakar. Students will be asked to participate in weekly meetings.

Topic of study and the structure of the term’s work depend on the interest of the student, the instructor, and the subject. Tutorials are not substitutes for courses but opportunities to pursue topics suggested by courses. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

An opportunity for students to apply their French language skills in business, government, and the non-profit sector on the regional, national, and international level. Arranged in collaboration with and supervised by a member of the department. Includes readings, discussion, report, and/or portfolio. Advance consultation and application required. Repeatable for up to 6 units. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor

A thorough investigation of a topic of a student’s choice, carried out in consultation with an instructor. Students considering an honors project in their senior year should register for this course, for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

This course is part of the Lawrence Francophone Seminar in which students study in French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. Offered in alternate years. PREREQUISITES: Must be attending the LU Francophone Seminar

This course is part of the Lawrence Francophone Seminar in which students study in French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. Offered in alternate years. PREREQUISITES: Must be attending the LU Francophone Seminar

This course is part of the Lawrence Francophone Seminar in which students study in French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. Offered in alternate years. PREREQUISITES: Must be attending the LU Francophone Seminar

This course is part of the Lawrence Francophone Seminar in which students study in French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. Offered in alternate years. PREREQUISITES: Must be attending the LU Francophone Seminar

This course is part of the Lawrence Francophone Seminar in which students study in French-speaking West Africa for ten weeks. PREREQUISITES: Must be attending the LU Francophone Seminar

Beginning with Rousseau’s idealistic notions of nature, gender relationships, and social responsibility, this course examines the diverse ways in which Romantics, Realists, and Rebels reacted to the social, cultural, and political upheavals of the 19th century. Through the works of novelists, artists, poets, and musicians such as Chateaubriand, Delacroix, Chopin, Hugo, Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud (among others), we trace the wide range of responses characteristic of this turbulent period. PREREQUISITES: At least one 300-level course in French or consent of instructor.

This course in French must be taken in conjunction with GER 411, taught in English. It will expand on the films made in France by Continental under the Nazi Occupation, 1940-1944. Concurrent registration in GER 411 is required. PREREQUISITES: One course in French at the 300 level or consent of instructor

This course examines the French national self-image over the centuries, including the creation of a national historical narrative. We will also consider how defining the non-French, the foreigner, and especially the immigrant helps to reify national self-image. PREREQUISITES: One 300-level French course or consent of instructor

This course prioritizes description of setting—the natural world and human-constructed environments—over plot and character. Reading for the background turns our attention to various non-human perspectives and subjectivities. How have experimental French-language writers addressed the changing climate conditions of our planet over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries? Assignments include daily reading responses, three 3-5 page essays, and a final presentation. PREREQUISITES: At least one 300-level FREN course or instructor approval.

This course is designed to give students insights into the realities of contemporary France and other parts of the French-speaking world (Belgium, Switzerland, Québec, Vietnam, francophone Africa, and the Islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean) through the study and discussion of literature, essays, film, art, and recent newspaper and magazine excerpts, as well as radio and television broadcasts from the French media. PREREQUISITES: One 300-level course or consent of instructor

In this course, we will think about how mediated representations shape our understanding of the world we live in by investigating the dynamic relationship between diverse forms of media (print, visual, and audio) and the French revolutions of the 19th century, as well as the Franco-Algerian War and the events of May 1968. PREREQUISITES: One 300-level course or consent of instructor

This course provides students with the knowledge and basic skills involved in translating between English and French. It surveys various approaches to translation, grammatical problems involved, and linguistic and cultural differences. Literary, business, and diplomatic texts will be used. PREREQUISITES: One 300-level course or consent of instructor

Focusing on the works of writers and filmmakers such as Sembene Ousmane, Joseph Zobel, Aimé Césaire, D.T. Niane, Dani Kouyate, Euzhan Palcy and Raoul Peck the course examines the interface between the literary and filmic media in raising consciousness about societal challenges, nationhood, power and identity. It also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each medium in accomplishing these objectives. PREREQUISITES: 300-level French course or consent of instructor

This seminar explores how French-language feminist writers sharpen visions of utopia in novels that confuse the fantastic and the mundane. From gender ambiguity to hidden lives, all-consuming passions to militant prophecies, course readings address intersections of identity (especially race, class and gender) with real-world systems of power. Assignments include daily reading reflections, presentation and discussion questions, peer-writing workshop, and creative final project. PREREQUISITES: At least one 300-level FREN course or instructor approval.

This course will investigate the dynamic reciprocal relationship between travel, real or imagined, and the development of a discourse on the Other. Drawing on the works of Montaigne, Graffigny, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Loti, Celine, Maran, Dadié, and Beyala, the course will explore the writers’ fantasies in their attempt to acquaint us with the “exotic.” PREREQUISITES: One 300-level French course or consent of instructor

This seminar examines the history and contemporary life of “race” in France, from 18th-century French essays on the “races” of man, to the removal of the word “race” in 2018 from Article 1 of the French Constitution. Alongside literary/film written and oral analysis, we will deepen our historical and socio-cultural knowledge of French and American concepts, e.g. universalism, laïcité, intersectionality, “color-blindness,” minorités visibles. PREREQUISITES: One 300-level French course or consent of instructor.

This course examines the myths and realities of immigrant life through the writings of Maghrebin and sub-Saharan African francophone writers (Beyala, Diome, Boukedenna, Mounsi, Begag, and Chaouite). The course will address questions of identity, assimilation, acculturation, integration, alienation, and marginalization and various survival strategies. PREREQUISITES: One 400-level French course or consent of instructor

Seeking to uncover lives that had remained largely hidden, women writing in French have revealed and shared their innermost desires and frustrations. French and francophone women writers have braved ostracism to question their identity and their relationship to family and society. Authors may include Duras, Djebar, Cixous, Bugul, Kristeva, Sebbar, Sand, Colette, and Hébert. PREREQUISITES: One 400-level French course or consent of instructor

How did the national friendship forged during the “sister” American and French Revolutions devolve into the post-9/11 enmity-filled era of  “freedom fries” and widespread French-bashing? In this course, we will examine a variety of each nation’s diverse mutual representations in order to better understand the dynamic and often volatile nature of Franco-American cultural relations. PREREQUISITES: One 400-level course in French or consent of instructor

This seminar draws on France's fraught history as a colonial power and its cultivated self-image as an evolved European nation with a distinct cultural standing. The course's primary focus will be the current influence of the Middle East and North Africa on France and French hopes and fears for its national identity. Literary readings, films, and news media will inform students' presentations and essays. PREREQUISITES: 300-level French course or consent of instructor

In this course, we will examine some of the major literary, cultural, and intellectual movements that have shaped the character of French depictions of Paris from the 18 to the 21st centuries. Special focus will be placed on literary and visual representations of Paris and the construction of its myths. PREREQUISITES: One 400-level course or consent of instructor

This course looks at France and its people under Nazi occupation. It examines well-known films and literature produced under German and Vichy censorship and the risks those cultural products did or did not entail. It compares those literary and cinematic texts with more recent attempts to make sense of the difficult period. PREREQUISITES: One 400 level French course or consent of instructor

This course will examine an advanced topic in the field of French and Francophone Studies. Topics will vary from year to year and examine both primary and secondary texts. May be repeated when topic is different. .

A study of the variations of black cultural nationalisms in the works of francophone writers from Africa and the Diaspora. This course examines the writers, challenge to the “Négritude” school and the ways in which they articulate plural and locational black identities to affirm their unique sense of national belonging. Readings from authors such as Senghor, Cé’saire, Laye, Condé’, Chamoiseau, Contant, and Glissant. PREREQUISITES: One 400-level French course or consent of instructor

Topic of study and the structure of the term’s work depend on the interest of the student, the instructor, and the subject. Tutorials are not substitutes for courses but opportunities to pursue topics suggested by courses. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

An opportunity for students to apply their French language skills in business, government, and the non-profit sector on the regional, national, and international level. Arranged in collaboration with and supervised by a member of the department. Includes readings, discussion, report, and/or portfolio. Advance consultation and application required. Repeatable for up to 6 units. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor

A thorough investigation of a topic of a student’s choice, carried out in consultation with an instructor. Students considering an honors project in their senior year should register for this course, for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

Seniors meet with the instructor early in Term I to select a specific topic. They read and discuss texts at the beginning of the Winter Term, then formulate their own projects, which may take them in a direction of their choice (literature, art, history, music, etc.).

Topic of study and the structure of the term’s work depend on the interest of the student, the instructor, and the subject. Tutorials are not substitutes for courses but opportunities to pursue topics suggested by courses. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.

An opportunity for students to apply their French language skills in business, government, and the non-profit sector on the regional, national, and international level. Arranged in collaboration with and supervised by a member of the department. Includes readings, discussion, report, and/or portfolio. Advance consultation and application required. Repeatable for up to 6 units. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor

A thorough investigation of a topic of a student’s choice, carried out in consultation with an instructor. Students considering an honors project in their senior year should register for this course, for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor.