French and Romance Philology

Prerequisites: None.

Eligibility: This course is open to undergraduates, graduate students, and visiting students.

Based on a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the city diplomacy course is designed to offer a general introduction to the international role of cities.

With its century-old history, city diplomacy represents a relatively recent dynamics in international relations. City diplomacy is generally considered to start in 1913 with the creation, at the Universal Exposition in the Belgian city of Ghent, of the first global city network, the Union Internationale des Villes.

Since its beginning, city diplomacy emerged as a field where cities’ values and idealism are implemented through a pragmatic and cooperative approach that progressively expanded its scope. The rise of such practice was driven by the desire to foster reconciliation among former enemies of the Second World War through direct interaction between residents in the framework of twinning agreements. A few years later, city diplomacy accompanied the process of decolonization by creating a solid bond of friendship between cities in former colonizing and colonized countries. In the 90s, city diplomacy widened its scope to include enhancing the city’s positioning in the global economy. Today, city diplomacy is best known for its impact in addressing the main transnational challenges (including climate change, migration, violent extremism, and urbanization) through a methodology featuring horizontal partnerships with cities from all over the world and a vertical, participatory approach engaging and empowering residents and local stakeholders.

Through an innovative approach cutting cuts across the boundaries of traditional disciplines (international relations, urban sociology, area studies, history, geography),  the course will combine the emerging scholarly literature with a comparative accent linked to the analysis of primary sources from cities and international actors from all regions of the world. As a result, students will learn to connect global and regional macro-dynamics with micro-transformations at the local level, while gaining an in-depth understanding of city diplomacy's core features, management, tangible impact, and evolution.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Columbia Summer in Paris Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

This course will trace the rise of “comics journalism,” a term first coined and popularized by the Maltese-American artist Joe Sacco in the 1990s. Surpassing the political or editorial cartoon in both space and scope, BD reportage is often aligned with subjective or opinion journalism, or “op-art.” It is rooted in long-form reporting, oral interviews, and embedded research—all communicated via the full arsenal of tools available in the comics medium. Like investigative journalism more broadly, graphic reporting covers the breadth of topics that affect modern life: from on-going wars and conflicts, to mass migration and the immigrant experience, to environmental disasters, trial reporting, the prison industrial-complex, and so on. Often approached as a predominately American phenomenon, practiced by first and foremost by Sacco himself, it is an increasingly dominant subgenre of French-language comics, as can be seen in the runaway success of Le photographe (2003-2006)—artist Emmanuel Guibert’s stunning, multi-album collaboration with the late photojournalist Didier Lefèvre, about the latter’s 1986 humanitarian mission through Pakistan and Soviet-occupied Afghanistan during the Afghan War (1979-1989)—and in a proliferation of French-language terms and formal prizes. While glancing at a prehistory of proto-forms (like illustrated news in the UK and the US or “printed literature” in Europe), this class will reconstitute a narrower French-language lineage of graphic reporting, through early children’s supplements, wartime comics propaganda, and postwar and present-day illustrated magazines. This course also juxtaposes the work of active artist-reporters, with non-journalist illustrators whose work is adjacent to reporting. Class held in English, with primary and secondary materials in French and English. French majors and minors must submit papers in French, as must graduate students in the Department of French. This class will also involve a few class trips (TBD, likely to the Museum of the Society of Illustrators and the Rare Books and Manuscript Library), as well as at least one in-person event at the Maison Française.

This course offers a deep dive into French contemporary novelist Annie Ernaux’s auto-socio-biographical fiction. It does so through close readings of some of her major works, organized thematically and across Ernaux’s oeuvre. Close readings of texts will be paired with research notes and recent film adaptations, sociological and theoretical work that has inspired Ernaux, her growing critical reception (amplified by her recent Nobel prize), as well as other writers whom she has inspired. Themes covered include: writing impersonally in the first person; what is auto-socio-biography; exploring women’s desire and sexuality; Ernaux’s feminism and political militancy; ethnographies of contemporary France and the baby-boomer generation; history, time, and memory. Throughout, we will consider what kind of genre Ernaux’s writing is, and what writing as a knife can do. Class taught in French (if you are unsure about whether you have the required level please consult with instructor).

Advanced work in language skills. Readings in French literature. Prerequisites: FREN BC1203 or an appropriate score on the placement test.

NOTE: This course does not fulfill the Columbia College and GS language requirement.

Advanced work in language skills. Readings in French literature. Prerequisites: FREN BC1203 or an appropriate score on the placement test.

NOTE: This course does not fulfill the Columbia College and GS language requirement.

Dans ce cours, nous examinerons le phénomène qui domine—et révolutionne—le discours philosophique, religieux, sociologique et politique au 18e siècle en Occident: les Lumières. Visant les dogmes jusque-là incontestables d'un Etat monarchique et d'une Eglise catholique autoritaires, ce mouvement réclame la liberté de la pensée et du culte; condamne l'intolérance religieuse, l’iniquité politique et le préjugé culturel; expose et déplore l’inégalité sociale; examine les bases de l’autorité politique; et subvertit par ses propos l'idéo. A l'exception d'un texte de l'Allemand Immanuel Kant, nous nous bornerons à lire des écrits des principaux philosophes francophones des Lumières (Voltaire, Diderot, et Rousseau), aussi bien que deux romans "dystopiques” (Charrière et de Sade), et deux textes politiques parus durant la Révolution française.

Dans ce cours, nous examinerons le phénomène qui domine—et révolutionne—le discours philosophique, religieux, sociologique et politique au 18e siècle en Occident: les Lumières. Visant les dogmes jusque-là incontestables d'un Etat monarchique et d'une Eglise catholique autoritaires, ce mouvement réclame la liberté de la pensée et du culte; condamne l'intolérance religieuse, l’iniquité politique et le préjugé culturel; expose et déplore l’inégalité sociale; examine les bases de l’autorité politique; et subvertit par ses propos l'idéo. A l'exception d'un texte de l'Allemand Immanuel Kant, nous nous bornerons à lire des écrits des principaux philosophes francophones des Lumières (Voltaire, Diderot, et Rousseau), aussi bien que deux romans "dystopiques” (Charrière et de Sade), et deux textes politiques parus durant la Révolution française.

This course examines the aesthetic, psycho-sexual, and socio-political dimensions and implications of Surrealism, an international avant-garde movement that emerged in Paris in the wake of World War I. Focusing on artworks from a number of different genres, we will explore such issues as: the avant-garde reformulation, subversion, and/or destruction of pre-existing artistic conventions and practices; the development of an alternative literary tradition privileging the “humour noir” of such subversive authors as Jonathan Swift and the Marquis de Sade; the celebration of dreams, desire, and the unconscious, as conceived by Sigmund Freud; the rejection of “bourgeois” values such as order, rationality, morality, decency, patriotism, work, and “high culture”; the transformation of lieux communs into artistic dreamscapes; the rhetoric of violence and anarchy; and the politics of gender.

French majors will write their senior thesis under the supervision of the instructor.

A workshop in which students from the BC/CU community collaborate with a team of students from the École Normale Supérieure-Lyon on two translation projects. In addition to video-conferenced group sessions, students will work virtually with their translation partner in France, and consult in-person with their Barnard instructor. Prerequisite: completion of at least Intermediate II level of French. 

Prerequisites: completion of the language requirement in French or the equivalent. Conversation on contemporary French subjects based on readings in current popular French periodicals.

Prerequisites: completion of the language requirement in French or the equivalent. Conversation on contemporary French subjects based on readings in current popular French periodicals.

The course is taught in French and focuses on learning the French language via the study of theatre (through plays, scenes, theories, lecture/workshops by guests, as well as performing a series of activities). The course offers students the opportunity to have a better grasp of the variety of French theatres within the culture; and to perform the language through the body and mind. Its goal is to both introduce students to theatre and to explore how it challenges us physically and emotionally, as well as in intellectual, moral, and aesthetic ways. No previous acting experience is necessary but a desire to “get up and move” and possibly even go see plays as a class project is encouraged.

UN3405 enables students to hone and perfect their reading and writing skills while improving their ability to express and organize thoughts in French. In this engaging advanced language class, students are exposed to major texts in fields as diverse as journalism, sociology, anthropology, politics, literature, philosophy and history. Stimulating class discussions, targeted reviews of key grammatical points in context, and an array of diverse writing exercises all contribute to strengthen students’ mastery of the French language. This course also works as a bridge class between Intermediate French II and courses that focus on French and Francophone cultures, history and literature (such as 3409 and 3410). Students who take this class will be fully prepared to take advanced content classes or spend a semester in a Francophone country. This class is required for the French major and minor.

UN3405 enables students to hone and perfect their reading and writing skills while improving their ability to express and organize thoughts in French. In this engaging advanced language class, students are exposed to major texts in fields as diverse as journalism, sociology, anthropology, politics, literature, philosophy and history. Stimulating class discussions, targeted reviews of key grammatical points in context, and an array of diverse writing exercises all contribute to strengthen students’ mastery of the French language. This course also works as a bridge class between Intermediate French II and courses that focus on French and Francophone cultures, history and literature (such as 3409 and 3410). Students who take this class will be fully prepared to take advanced content classes or spend a semester in a Francophone country. This class is required for the French major and minor.

This class provides an introduction to the history of France and of the francophone world since the Middle Ages. It initiates students to the major events and themes that have shaped politics, society, and culture in France and its former colonies, paying special attention to questions of identity and diversity in a national and imperial context. Modules include a combination of lecture and seminar-style discussion of documents (in French).

This course is part of a two-course sequence and is a core requirement the French and Francophone Studies major.  

This class offers a survey of major works of French and francophone literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Emphasis will be placed on formal and stylistic elements of the works read and on developing the critical skills necessary for literary analysis. Works will be placed in their historical context.

This contemporary French and Francophone literature course designed for undergraduate students is part of the “Choix Goncourt USA” (US Goncourt Prize Selection), an initiative led by the Goncourt Academy in France and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy (Villa Albertine) in the United States.

The course provides students with the unique opportunity to read the latest French contemporary fiction through the lens of critical literary tools, to experience being part of a selecting literary committee, to interview outstanding contemporary writers, and to practice writing book reviews, in addition to the more traditional essays and close readings. This course is entirely conducted in French (readings, discussions, and writing). 

This course will be taught in French with films and novels in French.

This course will examine depictions of female friendship in French and Francophone novels and films. We will consider the different configurations that female friendship took over the course of the 20th century, in diverse political contexts in the Francophone world, from Algeria, France, Haiti, Mauritius and Cameroon. We will elaborate how female friendship works through the lens of three themes: virtue, desire and utopias. First, we will consider how representations of female bonds engage with or disrupt classical (and male) ideas of virtuous friendships based on equality and reciprocity, and how colonial contexts trouble these ideals. Secondly, we will trace the role of queer and heterosexual desire in making and breaking friendships. Finally, we will explore utopian visions of female friendship which imagine the future of women’s communities. This class will be strongly based on a feminist praxis of close reading, and reading “against the grain” by reading more canonical texts alongside non-canonical ones. 

Based on a historical and sociological approach, this course provides an introduction to the analysis of inequalities by focusing on the social justification of privileges and social boundaries.

Economic and social inequalities are a structuring dimension of societies and are at the center of many analyses in history, economics and sociology. This course offers an in-depth analysis of how inequalities in access to economic resources, political power, and knowledge are justified in different societies by articulating barriers of class, gender, or race. Drawing on works on different historical configurations in Europe but also in America, Africa and Asia, the course encourages an epistemological reflection on the production of social barriers and the social construction of « elites ». Against an approach that naturalizes the concept of « elite », this course will put forward the idea that the very notion of elite is the product of a work of delimitation, of construction of social borders whose analysis can be made by mobilizing the classical tools of social sciences.

The course intends to highlight the fact that there is no natural superiority of an "elite" but rather variable justifications of unequal access to power and economic resources. If inequalities are produced by structural economic logics, the course will pay attention to the fact that the activation of social boundaries always supposes an active work of universalization of their own values. These forms of justification of privilege over time vary in their lexicon but often include elements that are stable from one historical configuration to another, whether it is the way in which the European aristocracy closed the door to the rising bourgeoisie within court societies or the way in which British elites in the nineteenth century, for example, justified their closure to women or to colonized peoples through the building of an elite masculinity (in class, we will refer for instance to the book Oxbridge Men by Paul R. Deslandes). The course invites to focus on the manufacture of social boundaries, on the way in which privileges find forms of justification, including in societies that claim to put merit or talent first, as opposed to inheritance or dynastic tradition. The course will also give space to the moments when these social boundaries are criticized, fought and challenged to the point of forcing actors in positions of power to update the justification of their privileges or to leave their place to others.

In this course, students will learn to link documents excerpts from a variety of historical contexts and to analyze them based on concepts precisely defined in class (inequality, social stratification, discrimination, etc.).

“Quand on refuse, on dit non”, said Ivorian novelist Ahmadou Kourouma towards the end of his life. Taking this stance as a starting point, this seminar will explore, through the lens of the novel, major political upheavals in the Francophone world during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. We will shed light on the history of decolonization, May 68, the feminist movement, and struggles against racism and injustice by delving into the imaginary worlds of six leading francophone novelists: Marguerite Duras, Ahmadou Kourouma, Assia Djebar, Hélène Cixous, George Perec and Édouard Glissant.

In this seminar, we will explore three different but interrelated questions. First, how did women (both real and fictional) shape the Enlightenment through the radical questions they posed? Second, how has Enlightenment historiography sought to affirm or deny the importance of women to an intellectual movement many believe ushered in the modern world? Third, what critical questions do we want to put to Enlightenment women in confronting the persistent challenges of our own time? In addressing these questions, we will read novels, letters, literary portraits and philosophical dialogues, and explore critical debates surrounding sociability, letter-writing and the institution of the salons. Authors will include Gouges, Montesquieu, Graffigny, Châtelet, Deffand, Voltaire, Lespinasse, Diderot, Rousseau, Henriette and le Chevalier / Mademoiselle d’Éon.

This seminar will be offered in French, with all readings and discussions in French. Advanced undergraduates may enroll with instructor permission.

1. Course Description

Students curate, organize and attend a series of lectures open to all members of the French department, including graduate students, faculty and undergraduate majors/concentrators. Working with a faculty member, they invite two speakers each semester, collaborate on the scheduling and organization of talks, introduce guests and lead the discussion.

The lecture series exposes graduate students to new work in the field, including new methodologies and emerging areas of research and teaching. By giving students the opportunity to select speakers, it actively engages them in the cultural and intellectual life of the department. Students benefit from observing the different possible formats and styles of academic talks. By organizing and scheduling events, preparing speaker introductions and moderating questions and discussion, they also develop important professional skills.