French and Romance Philology
The Department of French and Romance Philology offers courses in French language and literature, as well as French grammar and composition. The department also offers courses in French philosophy, the scientific imagination in France, French painting and aesthetics, French literature and poetry, religion and art in France, Islam and France, Caribbean writing, and structuralism and poststructuralism.
For questions about specific courses, contact the department.
Placement Test
Students who have had courses in French elsewhere (in high school, college, or both) must take the French Placement Test before registering for any French (language) course. The test is given during registration week and the first week of classes. The date and time of each test is posted on the department bulletin board during the registration period. Throughout the term, the test can be taken between 9 AM and 4 PM in the department prior to enrolling in a course.
Language Resource Center
The Language Resource Center, in 116B Lewisohn Hall and 353 International Affairs Building, provides intensive practice in French pronunciation and aural comprehension. Exercises in the laboratory are closely integrated with classroom work.
Maison Française
The Maison Française offers resources, including a library with an extensive selection of periodicals, lectures, and other cultural activities, and regular events such as Cinema Thursdays and informal conversation groups. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the Maison Française. For further information, please call 212-854-4482 or visit the Maison's website: http://www.maisonfrancaise.org/.
For questions about specific courses, contact the department.
Courses
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.
Course Number
CLFR3821W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18169Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Andrew WellsThis 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.
Course Number
CLFR4612W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
We 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/17535Enrollment
4 of 15Instructor
Aubrey GabelThis 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).
Course Number
CLFR4722W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Th 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/17537Enrollment
6 of 15Instructor
Thomas DodmanCourse Number
FREN1002X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:40-12:55We 11:40-12:55Fr 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
001/00106Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Elsa StephanCourse Number
FREN1002X002Points
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Fr 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
002/00107Enrollment
16 of 18Instructor
Elsa StephanCourse Number
FREN1002X003Points
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-11:25Th 10:10-11:25Fr 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
003/00108Enrollment
15 of 18Instructor
Niamh DugganCourse Number
FREN1002X004Points
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 11:40-12:55Th 11:40-12:55Fr 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
004/00109Enrollment
16 of 18Instructor
Niamh DugganCourse Number
FREN1101W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 08:40-09:55Th 08:40-09:55Fr 08:40-09:55Section/Call Number
001/14473Enrollment
8 of 18Instructor
Samuel SkipponCourse Number
FREN1101W002Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-11:25Th 10:10-11:25Fr 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
002/14474Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Samuel SkipponCourse Number
FREN1101W003Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:40-12:45Tu 11:40-12:45We 11:40-12:45Th 11:40-12:45Section/Call Number
003/14475Enrollment
14 of 18Instructor
Hayet SellamiCourse Number
FREN1101W004Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 13:10-14:15Tu 13:10-14:15We 13:10-14:15Th 13:10-14:15Section/Call Number
004/14476Enrollment
11 of 18Instructor
Hayet SellamiCourse Number
FREN1101W005Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Fr 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
005/14477Enrollment
10 of 18Course Number
FREN1101W006Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 16:10-17:25Th 16:10-17:25Fr 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
006/14478Enrollment
5 of 18Course Number
FREN1102W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 08:40-09:55Th 08:40-09:55Fr 08:40-09:55Section/Call Number
001/14465Enrollment
6 of 18Instructor
Juliette GoutierreCourse Number
FREN1102W002Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 08:50-09:55Tu 08:50-09:55We 08:50-09:55Th 08:50-09:55Section/Call Number
002/14466Enrollment
10 of 18Instructor
Pascale CreponCourse Number
FREN1102W003Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:15Tu 10:10-11:15We 10:10-11:15Th 10:10-11:15Section/Call Number
003/14467Enrollment
2 of 18Instructor
Pascale CreponCourse Number
FREN1102W004Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:40-12:45Tu 11:40-12:45We 11:40-12:45Th 11:40-12:45Section/Call Number
004/14468Enrollment
14 of 18Instructor
Sophie QueunietCourse Number
FREN1102W005Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 13:10-14:15Tu 13:10-14:15We 13:10-14:15Th 13:10-14:15Section/Call Number
005/14469Enrollment
11 of 18Instructor
Pascale Hubert-LeiblerCourse Number
FREN1102W006Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Fr 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
006/14470Enrollment
14 of 18Instructor
Renate MattarCourse Number
FREN1102W007Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-17:25We 16:10-17:25Th 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
007/14471Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Laetitia NdiayeCourse Number
FREN1102W008Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 18:10-19:25We 18:10-19:25Th 18:10-19:25Section/Call Number
008/14472Enrollment
15 of 18Instructor
Jeanne DevautourCourse Number
FREN1203X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:25We 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/00110Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Hadley SuterCourse Number
FREN1203X002Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
002/00111Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Hadley SuterCourse Number
FREN1203X003Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
003/00112Enrollment
7 of 18Instructor
Niamh DugganCourse Number
FREN1203X004Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 17:40-18:55We 17:40-18:55Section/Call Number
004/00113Enrollment
7 of 18Instructor
Alexandre BourneryAdvanced 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.
Course Number
FREN1204X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-11:25Th 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/00114Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Melanie HeydariAdvanced 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.
Course Number
FREN1204X002Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
002/00115Enrollment
14 of 18Instructor
Melanie HeydariCourse Number
FREN2101W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 12:10-13:00Tu 12:10-13:00We 12:10-13:00Th 12:10-13:00Section/Call Number
001/14455Enrollment
7 of 18Course Number
FREN2101W002Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Fr 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
002/14456Enrollment
16 of 18Instructor
Eric MatheisCourse Number
FREN2101W003Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Fr 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
003/14457Enrollment
3 of 18Instructor
Eric MatheisCourse Number
FREN2101W004Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:10-12:00Tu 11:10-12:00We 11:10-12:00Th 11:10-12:00Section/Call Number
004/14510Enrollment
7 of 18Instructor
Pascale Hubert-LeiblerCourse Number
FREN2102W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 08:40-09:55We 08:40-09:55Th 08:40-09:55Section/Call Number
001/14458Enrollment
18 of 18Course Number
FREN2102W002Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-11:25Th 10:10-11:25Fr 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
002/14459Enrollment
7 of 18Instructor
Nicolas MouzetCourse Number
FREN2102W003Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 11:40-12:55Th 11:40-12:55Fr 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
003/14460Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Brooke HabitCourse Number
FREN2102W004Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Fr 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
004/14461Enrollment
17 of 18Instructor
Heidi Holst-KnudsenCourse Number
FREN2102W005Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Fr 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
005/14462Enrollment
8 of 18Instructor
Laurence MarieCourse Number
FREN2102W006Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 16:10-17:25Th 16:10-17:25Fr 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
006/14463Enrollment
10 of 18Instructor
Carlos Malache SilvaCourse Number
FREN2102W007Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 18:10-19:25We 18:10-19:25Th 18:10-19:25Section/Call Number
007/14464Enrollment
18 of 18Instructor
Anna LangewiescheCourse Number
FREN2106W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Th 16:10-17:25Tu 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
001/14450Enrollment
3 of 18Instructor
RJ McIntyreCourse Number
FREN2121W001Format
In-PersonPoints
2 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/14448Enrollment
7 of 15Course Number
FREN2122W001Format
In-PersonPoints
2 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:25We 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/14444Enrollment
6 of 15Course Number
FREN2122W002Format
In-PersonPoints
2 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
002/14511Enrollment
6 of 15Instructor
Nicolas MouzetCourse Number
FREN3006X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:40-12:55We 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
001/00116Enrollment
12 of 12Instructor
Karen Santos da SilvaCourse Number
FREN3016X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-17:25We 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
001/00117Enrollment
12 of 12Instructor
Karen Santos da SilvaCourse Number
FREN3022X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/00118Enrollment
16 of 25Instructor
Brian O'KeeffeDans 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.
Course Number
FREN3036X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 13:10-14:25We 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/00119Enrollment
6 of 20Instructor
Caroline WeberDans 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.
Course Number
FREN3036X002Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsThis 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.
Course Number
FREN3065X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/00120Enrollment
13 of 20Instructor
Caroline WeberFrench majors will write their senior thesis under the supervision of the instructor.
Course Number
FREN3091X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 18:10-20:00Section/Call Number
001/00122Enrollment
4 of 5Instructor
Brian O'KeeffeA 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.
Course Number
FREN3106X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:25We 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/00123Enrollment
16 of 16Instructor
Laurie PostlewateCourse Number
FREN3110X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/00124Enrollment
16 of 16Instructor
Anne BoymanPrerequisites: completion of the language requirement in French or the equivalent. Conversation on contemporary French subjects based on readings in current popular French periodicals.
Course Number
FREN3132W001Format
In-PersonPoints
2 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 11:40-12:55Th 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
001/14512Enrollment
8 of 15Instructor
Alexandra BorerPrerequisites: completion of the language requirement in French or the equivalent. Conversation on contemporary French subjects based on readings in current popular French periodicals.
Course Number
FREN3132W002Format
In-PersonPoints
2 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
002/14513Enrollment
5 of 15Instructor
Alexandra BorerCourse Number
FREN3200W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/14440Enrollment
5 of 18Instructor
Sophie QueunietCourse Number
FREN3240W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/13641Enrollment
15 of 15Instructor
Heidi Holst-KnudsenThe 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.
Course Number
FREN3241W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 11:40-12:55We 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
001/13645Enrollment
10 of 18Instructor
Pascale CreponUN3405 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.
Course Number
FREN3405W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Th 10:10-11:25Tu 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/14438Enrollment
15 of 15Instructor
Alexandra BorerUN3405 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.
Course Number
FREN3405W002Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Th 10:10-11:25Tu 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
002/18237Enrollment
0 of 15
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.
Course Number
FREN3409W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 11:40-12:55Th 11:40-12:55Section/Call Number
001/13648Enrollment
11 of 20Instructor
Zachary Desjardins-MooneyThis 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.
Course Number
FREN3410W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:25We 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/13654Enrollment
14 of 20Instructor
Eponine SenayThis 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).
Course Number
FREN3412W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/17533Enrollment
15 of 15Instructor
Laurence MarieCourse Number
FREN3421W001Points
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 13:10-14:25We 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/00125Enrollment
4 of 16Instructor
Hadley SuterCourse Number
FREN3431H001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18167Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Samantha CsengeCourse Number
FREN3432H001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18171Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Samantha CsengeCourse Number
FREN3447H001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18172Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Samantha CsengeCourse Number
FREN3447H002Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
002/18173Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Samantha CsengeThis 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.
Course Number
FREN3721W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/17512Enrollment
7 of 15Instructor
Nadrah MohammedBased 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.).
Course Number
FREN3724H001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18174Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Andrew WellsCourse Number
FREN3995W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Tu 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/13662Enrollment
5 of 15Instructor
Joanna StalnakerCourse Number
FREN3996C001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/17654Enrollment
1 of 10Instructor
Aubrey GabelCourse Number
FREN3997H001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2025
Section/Call Number
001/18175Enrollment
0 of 20Instructor
Samantha Csenge“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.
Course Number
FREN4082W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2025
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/13671Enrollment
15 of 15Instructor
Emmanuel KattanIn 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.