French (FREN-UA)
FREN-UA 1 Elemen French Level I (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Open to students with no previous training in French and to others on assignment by placement test. Not equivalent to FREN-UA 10. Only by combining FREN-UA 1 with FREN-UA 2 can a student complete the equivalent of FREN-UA 10 and then continue on to the intermediate level. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 2 Elem French Level II (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Continuation of FREN-UA 1. In order to continue on to the intermediate level, a student must complete both FREN-UA 1 and FREN-UA 2. This sequence is equivalent to FREN-UA 10. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 10 Intens Elementary French (6 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Open to students with no previous training in French and to others on assignment by placement test. Completes the equivalent of a year's elementary level in one semester. Offered every semester. 6 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 11 Intermediate French I (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Not equivalent to FREN-UA 20. Only by combining FREN-UA 11 with FREN-UA 12 can a student complete the equivalent of FREN-UA 20 and then continue on to the post-intermediate level. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 12 Intermediate French II (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Continuation of FREN-UA 11. In order to fulfill the MAP requirement and continue on to the post-intermediate level, a student must complete both FREN-UA 11 and FREN-UA 12. This sequence is equivalent to FREN-UA 20. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 20 Intens Intermed French (6 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Completes the equivalent of a year's intermediate level in one semester. Offered every semester. 6 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 26 Louisiana Immersion Program (2 Credits)
In this French immersion course you will have the opportunity to work on
improving your spoken French as we explore together the linguistic,
historical, and cultural contexts of French-speaking Louisiana with a focus
on Louisiana (Cajun) French. This course combines eight class meetings in
New York with a week-long linguistic and cultural immersion program in New
Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Arnaudville, Louisiana. This program is being
run in partnership with NYU's Alternative Spring Break Program, and as such
it will include a service learning component. In addition to a number of
scholarly articles on a variety of both historical and modern-day aspects
of francophone Louisiana, readings for this course will include a selection
of Louisiana poetry and short stories as well as a novel.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 12 OR FREN-UA 20 OR French Language Placement Score >= 46).
FREN-UA 27 Living in French in North America: An Immersion Program in New England and Quebec (2 Credits)
This course offers a unique combination of classroom study in New York and a study and service week (in coordination with the Alternative Spring Break program) in locations in the United States and Canada: Lowell, MA; Orono, ME; Quebec City; Victoriaville; and Montreal. The course introduces students to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the francophone presence in North America, promoting the discussion of Francophone cultures and issues of migration, integration, and cultural diversity in relation to the United States. Readings include scholarly materials (in English and French) as well as texts by Franco-Americans (including Jack Kerouac) and novels, short stories, and poems by Québécois authors.. The work done during the trip will include academic community service (recording for an oral history project) and more traditional community service (volunteering in Quebec). Through this course, participants will gain a greater understanding of the diversity of Francophone America as well as a sharpened awareness of issues of multiculturalism and migration. Application required, contact the Department of French for more information.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 12 OR FREN-UA 20 OR French Language Placement Score >= 46).
FREN-UA 30 French Grammar and Composition. (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Systematizes and reinforces the language skills presented in earlier-level
courses through an intensive review of grammar, written exercises, an
introduction to composition, lexical enrichment, and literary analysis.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 101 Spoken Contemp French I (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Helps the student to develop vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and learn new idiomatic expressions. Introduction to corrective phonetics and emphasis on understanding contemporary French through a study of such authentic documents as radio and television interviews, advertisements, and spontaneous oral productions.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030).
FREN-UA 102 Advanced French Conversation (4 Credits)
Develops the skills presented in V45.0101 through an in-depth study of French phonetics (corrective and theoretical) and analysis of the modes of oral discourse in French. Emphasis on understanding spoken French (modes of argument, persuasion, and emotion) through analysis of authentic documents; development of student discourse in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101).
FREN-UA 103 French Phonetics (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Provides advanced French language students with the opportunity to improve their pronunciation through a detailed analysis of the sound systems of both French and English.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030).
FREN-UA 105 Written Contemporary French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Designed to improve the student's written French and to provide advanced training in French and comparative grammar. Students are trained to express themselves in a variety of writing situations (for example, diaries, transcriptions, narrations, letters). Focuses on the distinction between spoken and written styles and the problem of contrastive grammar. Emphasis on accuracy and fluency of usage in the written language.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030).
FREN-UA 107 French Translation (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Practice of translation through French and English texts taken from a variety of sources to present a range of contrasting grammatical and stylistic problems. Also stresses acquisition of vocabulary.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 108 French: Advanced Techniques of Translation (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course is designed for students who want to further explore the richness of the French language and culture through a wide range of activities, topics and materials. This upper level course provides students with a unique opportunity to reflect upon the challenges that any translation work involves, primarily by making assessments and decisions. You will work on engaging pieces of literature and philosophy, journalistic essays, comics, cinema and subtitling, music, poetry and more.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 107.
FREN-UA 109 Acting French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Use of dramatic situations and readings to help students overcome inhibitions in their oral use of language. The graduated series of exercises and activities is designed to improve pronunciation, intonation, expression, and body language. These include phonetic practice, poetry recitation, skits, improvisation, and memorization of dramatic texts. Reading, discussion, and performance of scenes from plays by renowned dramatists. Extensive use of audio and video material.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105 OR FREN-UA 106 OR FREN-UA 9106 OR French Language Placement Score >= 710 OR Advanced Placement Examination French Literature >= 4).
FREN-UA 110 Business French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Designed for students who wish to learn the specialized language used in French business. Emphasis on oral and written communication and the acquisition of a business and commercial vocabulary dealing with the varied activities of a commercial firm (e.g., advertising, transportation, banking). Stresses group work in simulated business situations and exposure to authentic spoken materials.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-SHU 30 OR FREN-UA 9105 OR FREN-UA 105).
FREN-UA 111 Creative Writing in French (4 Credits)
In this course, students with a solid grasp of French have the opportunity
to continue refining their knowledge of the language by a variety of
workshop-based creative-writing activities. Time will be split between
reading and discussing short texts in a variety of genres (as models,
points of inspiration, etc.) and creative writing proper. Students will
write a variety of texts throughout the semester, ranging from
autobiographical to experimental.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 105.
FREN-UA 113 French for International Relations (4 Credits)
Students will gain a greater appreciation of the role that French plays in international relations through an exploration of the use of French in diplomacy with Francophone countries, international organizations, supranational entities, etc. Students will acquire vocabulary and pragmatic skills relevant to the world of international relations and will develop specific reading, writing, and presentational skills related to the sphere of international relations.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 115 Approaches to French Language (4 Credits)
Approaches the French language as it is used both in and outside of France
through an exploration of some of the principal domains of linguistic
study: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, the external history of
French, and sociolinguistic and regional variation. Emphasizes the internal
workings of the French language as well as the place and roles of French
throughout the Francophone world.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 124 Introduction to France in Europe (4 Credits)
This course is an introduction to France on the basis of several topics including history, economics, foreign policy and business practices. Key problematics include: what is the role of France in the European Union? How does French culture impact politics and business? What are the specifics of France when it comes to business habits and legal frameworks? Is France a good platform for investments in neighboring regions such as Africa and the Middle East? Students will acquire knowledge of France and the European Union’s recent history, economy and institutions, understand business practices in France and Europe, and have a better understanding of France’s key industries, including in the fashion, food, wine and luxury-goods sectors.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 140 Approaches to French Literature (4 Credits)
This course offers an introduction to central works in French literature, while presenting students with a toolkit for literary analysis. Eschewing a strictly chronological approach, we will explore some of the key lines of thought animating French literary production from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century. Students will have the opportunity to refine their skills in reading
and writing through in-class workshops devoted to techniques for close reading, developing a thesis from textual evidence, and identifying arguments in critical texts. Our objectives will be both to understand the diverse functions of literature as a cultural practice and to prepare students to take Discovery courses and other advanced seminars in literature.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 143 Approaches to French and Francophone Performing Arts (4 Credits)
This course, which is entirely conducted in French, is an introduction to French and
Francophone Performing Arts from the early modern period to the present day. The
emphasis is placed on the relationship between the performers and the viewers through theatrical illusion, speech, and the body in the theater, operas, ballets and poetry readings. Students will discuss the significance of social issues in French and Francophone performing arts on a global scale. The main sources are read and
discussed in French. They include landmark texts and recordings of works by writers and performers including: Molière, Corneille, Hugo, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Cocteau, Mnouchkine, Delcuvellerie.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 145 French: Approaches to Francophone Literature (4 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Offered every year. 4 points. Examines literature from a network of French-speaking countries that form a Francophone space. Addresses the colonial past as well as the anticolonial and postcolonial situations in which French colonialism is replaced by more complex relationships and ideologies. Special attention is paid to language and the role of the writer in elaborating a postcolonial national identity. Writers studied may include Edouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau of Martinique, Jacques Roumain of Haiti, Ahmadou Kourouma of the Ivory Coast, and Assia Djebar of Algeria.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30).
FREN-UA 150 Versailles; Life as Art (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
When conducted in English, numbered V45.0850 and also open to French majors who read the works in the original aWhen conducted in English, numbered V45.0850 and also open to French majors who read the works in the original and do their written work in French. Offered every other year. 4 points. Fabulous Versailles, the synthesis of baroque and classical aesthetics and the cult of kingship, serves as an introduction to the study of major aspects of 17th- and 18th-century culture and French influence on European civilization. This course views the intellectual, artistic, and social complexities of the period through the works of contemporary philosophers, dramatists, artists, memorialists, and historians from Descartes to Voltaire. Films, field trips, and multimedia presentations of music and art.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-SHU 30 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 105).
FREN-UA 163 Approaches to French History (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Offered in the fall. 4 points. Retrospective and introspective view of French civilization from the early period to 1900 through the interrelation of history, literature, fine arts, music, and philosophy. Study of major historical forces, ideas, and tensions; the formation of collective identities (territorial, religious, political, and so on); France's diversity and formative conflicts; the Republican model; France and the outer world; and the relationship between state, nation, and citizenry. Primary sOffered in the fall. 4 points. Retrospective and introspective view of French civilization from the early period to 1900 through the interrelation of history, literature, fine arts, music, and philosophy. Study of major historical forces, ideas, and tensions; the formation of collective identities (territorial, religious, political, and so on); France's diversity and formative conflicts; the Republican model; France and the outer world; and the relationship between state, nation, and citizenry. Primary sources and documents such as chroniques, m?moires, journaux, revues, and correspondances.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 164 French Contemporary France (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
The concept of ?French civilization? in both its mythical and real aspects. Gives the student considerable knowledge about the economic and social features of contemporary France. Uses the comparative approach between French and American culture.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 190 Race in France: Literature, Film, Theory (4 Credits)
In recent years, France’s complex relationship with race has been the object of intense debates. Traditionally, France has relied on a universalist ideal of color-blindness that does not recognize the existence of race and rejects its use in public discourse and political action. Today, however, a growing number of activists and intellectuals contend that the traditional republican ban on
race has not only failed to prevent racism but makes it impossible to fully measure racist discriminations. This course investigates how French and francophone writers, intellectuals, artists and filmmakers, have engaged with these questions. While exploring the historical and political context of these debates, we will ask ourselves how artistic and literary practices can challenge established concepts of identity. In addition to introducing you to important intellectual and artistic debates in contemporary France, this course will also offer you the opportunity to rethink some of the categories that structure U.S. debates on these questions by confronting them to a different cultural context.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 532 The 18th Century French Novel (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The novel comes into its own during the 18th century. It fought for recognition as a ?worthy genre.? The development of the novel as an aesthetic form and the social and moral preoccupations it reveals are studied in a variety of authors such as Marivaux, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Laclos, and Sade.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030).
FREN-UA 562 French Thought from Montaigne to Sartre (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Deals with the various currents of ideas and the transformations in values, taste, and feeling that constitute the Enlightenment in France. Particular attention to the personality, writings, and influence of the following authors: Montaigne, Descartes, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and Sartre. Significant works by these thinkers and others are closely read and interpreted.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 563 French Thought from Existentialism to Political Ecology (in French) (4 Credits)
What is the meaning of existence, and of life in society? This is the question the principal thinkers of “French Theory” attempted to answer in the second half of the 20th century. This important moment of intellectual life continues to influence thinkers today around the world. The principal questions and intellectual movements studied in this course include: existentialism (Sartre), structuralism (Levi-Strauss), deconstruction (Derrida), the intersection of power and sexuality (Foucault), sociology of culture (Bourdieu), feminism (Beauvoir, Cixous), postcolonial identities (Glissant), animalism, political ecology (Serres).
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 564 French Thought from Existentialism to Political Ecology (In English) (4 Credits)
What is the meaning of existence, and of life in society? This is the question the principal thinkers of “French Theory” attempted to answer in the second half of the 20th century. This important moment of intellectual life continues to influence thinkers today around the world. The principal questions and intellectual movements studied in this course include: existentialism (Sartre), structuralism (Levi-Strauss), deconstruction (Derrida), the intersection of power and sexuality (Foucault), sociology of culture (Bourdieu), feminism (Beauvoir, Cixous), postcolonial identities (Glissant), animalism, political ecology (Serres).
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 632 French Novel and Society: The 19th Century (4 Credits)
Study of Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, and Zola as a means of identifying the individual?s changing relationship to the environment and the social, political, and intellectual contexts of his or her epoch. Problems of 19th-century novel, narrative structure, point of view, invention, and observation.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 731 French Novel: The 20th Century (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The major French novelists of the 20th century have moved the novel away from the traditional 19th-century concept. Proust and Gide developed a first-person-singular narrative in which the reader is participant. Breton uses the novel for a surrealist exploration. With Celine and Malraux, the novel of violent action becomes a mirror of man's situation in a chaotic time and leads to the work of Sartre and Camus, encompassing the existentialist viewpoint. Covers Beckett's sparse, complex narratives and Robbe-Grillet's "new" novels. Novels are studied with respect to structure, technique, themes, language, and significant passages.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 767 French Thought: Existentialism and the Absurd (4 Credits)
Main expressions of existential thought in Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus. Attention to the French existentialists? concern for commitment in political and social affairs of the times. Examines absurdist literature since the 1950?s in the ?theatre of the absurd,? in fiction, and in critical work of other contemporary French writers. Covers Ionesco, Beckett, Genet, Robbe-Grillet, and Barthes; precursors of the absurd such as Kafka and C?line; and practictioners of the absurd outside of France (e.g., Pinter, Albee, Barthelme).
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 771 The French Canon: Proust (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
"Reading of *In Search of Lost Time*. Major topics include the novel as confession, the unconscious and creation, perception and language, sexuality, decadence, the artistic climate in Europe and France from the end of the 19th century through World War I, and the hero as artist."
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105) AND FREN-UA 9105.
FREN-UA 802 French Fashion, Taste and Style (in English) (4 Credits)
Clothing is a text to be read, and artists and authors from Baudelaire to RuPaul mobilize its power in striking ways. This course will be concerned with theories of dress and with French “taste” and “style” more broadly—concepts that we will explore from aesthetic, sociological, and historical points of view. We will examine an exciting array of literary and visual works, from an 18th-century erotic novella about the seductive power of interior décor to a contemporary film about the coolness of the woman gangster. Students will gain a critical vocabulary for discussing literary and cinematic style, paying special attention to the implications of fashion for the production and rescripting of gender norms. We will investigate how taste is learned and incorporated, whether the fashion system subverts or consolidates social norms, and what it means to become the artist of one’s own life.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 825 How to Doubt Everything – Montaigne’s Essais (4 Credits)
Why is it important to doubt? How do we doubt? And if we doubt what we think and what we should ‘do,’ then how can we know ourselves? How much can/should we doubt and when (if at all) should we stop? These are (some of) the questions central to this course, to be explored by careful reading, analysis, and discussion of a significant number of the chapters that make up Montaigne’s unique book, the Essais (1580-92)—whose English title should really be The Trials. In this work, which the author continued to expand and modify with each new edition, Montaigne fashions a new style of writing that functions not to communicate knowledge, but to constantly question and confound what we think we know—and, doing so, he creates a new kind of self-portrait and understanding of individual and collective identity.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 829 Theatre in The French Tradition (4 Credits)
Study of the theatrical genre in France including the Golden Age playwrights (Corneille, Racine, and Moli?re); 18th-century irony and sentiment; and the 19th-century theatrical revolution. Topics: theories of comedy and tragedy, development of stagecraft, romanticism and realism, the theatre as a public genre, its relationship to taste and fashion, and its sociopolitical function.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 833 Haiti-History,Society and Culture (4 Credits)
No prerequisites. Taught in English.
The past two hundred years have taken Haiti from pariah state to failed state. Haiti is loved or despised because it is seen as absolutely different. Haiti is indeed different but its difference is historical and not inherent. Its revolutionary origins so challenged the prejudices of its time that Haiti has been conspicuously consigned to the margins of modern history. This course is an introduction to key issues in Haitian society, history and culture and provides an overview of the political changes that have made a relatively isolated, national culture increasingly diasporic and transnational.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 850 Versailles: The Making of a World Heritage Site (4 Credits)
Fabulous Versailles, the synthesis of baroque and classical aesthetics and the cult of kingship, introduces study of major aspects of 17th- and 18th-century culture and French influence on European civilization. Views the intellectual, artistic, and social complexities of the period through the works of contemporary philosophers, dramatists, artists, memorialists, and historians from Descartes to Voltaire. Films, field trips, and multimedia presentations of music and art.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 865 Topics in French and Francophone Literature and Culture (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Courses on subjects of special interest by either a regular or visiting faculty member. For specific courses, please consult the class schedule. Recent topics include Paris in history, art, and literature; La Belle ?poque; Paris and the birth of modernism.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
FREN-UA 867 Existentialism & The Absurd (4 Credits)
Main expressions of existential thought in Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus. Attention to the French existentialists? concern for commitment in political and social affairs of the times. Examines absurdist literature since the 1950?s in the ?theatre of the absurd,? in fiction, and in critical work of other contemporary French writers. Covers Ionesco, Beckett, Genet, Robbe-Grillet, and Barthes; precursors of the absurd such as Kafka and C?line; and practictioners of the absurd outside of France (e.g., Pinter, Albee, Barthelme).
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 868 Topics in French Lit (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
The department offers occasional courses on subjects of special interest to either a regular or visiting faculty member. For specific courses, please consult the class schedule.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
FREN-UA 869 Topics in French and Francophone Literature and Culture (4 Credits)
Topics vary by semester
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
FREN-UA 878 History of French Filmmaking from its Origins to the New Wave (in English) (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
"This course is an introduction to the history of French cinema from its origins to the New Wave through the lens of art and French civilization (history, literature, class, gender, ethnicity). The movements and directors we will be studying include : early cinema (Lumière brothers, Méliès), Surrealism and the Avant-Garde (Bunuel, Dreyer), Poetic Realism (Renoir, Carné), the « New Wave » (Godard, Truffaut, Varda, Demy).
"
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 879 History of French and Francophone Filmmaking since the New Wave (in English (4 Credits)
Globalization has generated new challenges and identities in France and in Francophonie that are reflected by contemporary French and Francophone cinemas. This course offers an introduction to the history of French and Francophone auteur cinema since the New Wave from two angles: (1) the director’s artistic signature and (2) the contextualization of films in the political and cultural history of the French speaking world.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 904 French News in Conversation (2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
In this course, students gather once a week for “French news, with coffee.” Before each workshop, students read articles in online French news sources (Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique, Le Figaro, etc.), research new vocabulary, and consign the most important ideas and their personal reactions in a “news journal.” During the discussion-based workshop, students (in French) will discuss the news, review vocabulary, and generally utilize and improve their fluency and cultural competency. Particular emphasis will be placed on news items relating to diversity and ecology within France and the French-speaking world.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 905 Machines à écrire (2 Credits)
Students not only read the work of, but also meet and discuss their reading
with, contemporary French writers who speak at the Maison Française as part
of the interview series “French Literature in the Making” organized by
celebrated French journalist Olivier Barrot.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 920 History of the French Language (4 Credits)
Conducted in French/English
How did French develop from a regional dialect of Vulgar Latin lacking in
prestige into a major international language of diplomacy, literature, and
commerce spoken on every continent? That is the question we will explore
together in this course on the history of the French language. We will
trace the development of French from its origins in Vulgar Latin up until
the beginning of the modern era through an examination of the internal
history of the language (phonological, morphological, syntactic and
semantic changes) as well as its external history (social, demographical,
and political changes). Along the way we will focus on a variety of both
primary and secondary sources. While we will be discussing linguistic and
sociolinguistic developments in French, this course does not require any
prior knowledge of linguistics
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 925 How to Doubt Everything – Montaigne’s Essais (4 Credits)
Why is it important to doubt? How do we doubt? And if we doubt what we think and what we should ‘do,’ then how can we know ourselves? How much can/should we doubt and when (if at all) should we stop? These are (some of) the questions central to this course, to be explored by careful reading, analysis, and discussion of a significant number of the chapters that make up Montaigne’s unique book, the Essais (1580-92)—whose English title should really be The Trials. In this work, which the author continued to expand and modify with each new edition, Montaigne fashions a new style of writing that functions not to communicate knowledge, but to constantly question and confound what we think we know—and, doing so, he creates a new kind of self-portrait and understanding of individual and collective identity.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 929 Theatre in The French Tradition (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Study of the theatrical genre in France, including the golden age playwrights (Corneille, Racine, Moli?re); 18th-century irony and sentiment; and the 19th-century theatrical revolution. Topics include theories of comedy and tragedy; development of stagecraft; romanticism and realism; and the theatre as a public genre, its relationship to taste and fashion, and its sociopolitical function.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30).
FREN-UA 935 French and Francophone Women Writers (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The rich and diverse literary works by women express their individuality and their important social and cultural role in France from the 12th century to the present. The course studies both the changing sociohistorical context of these writers and the common problems and themes that constitute a female tradition. Writers include Marie de France, Christine de Pisan, Marguerite de Navarre, Mme. de S?vign?, Germaine de Sta?l, George Sand, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, and Marguerite Duras.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 9030 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 9101 OR FREN-UA 105 OR FREN-UA 9105).
FREN-UA 965 Topics in French and Francophone Literature and Culture (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Courses on subjects of special interest by either a regular or visiting faculty member. For specific courses, please consult the class schedule. Recent topics include Paris in history, art, and literature; La Belle ?poque; Paris and the birth of modernism.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 30 OR FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 105).
FREN-UA 980 Internship (2-8 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Prerequisite: permission of the department. Offered every semester. 2 or 4 points per term. Offers upper-level students the opportunity to apply their studies to the "outside world." Working closely with a sponsor and a faculty adviser, students pursue internships in such diverse areas as international trade, banking, publishing, and law. Interested students should apply to the department early in the semester before they wish to begin their internship.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 115 OR FREN-UA 163) AND Restriction: Academic Program Visiting/Special StudentNYU PrecollegeWriters in NYHyperlocal JournalismCultural CapitalTisch High School Program.
FREN-UA 981 Internship in French (2-4 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Students have the opportunity to complete internships for credit either in New York City or at NYU Paris. In New York, students must identify their own internships. Students must obtain permission from their departmental advisor for an internship. In conjunction with the internship, students must enroll in an independent study under the directorship of a departmental instructor. Students are responsible for finding an instructor and coordinating with them.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 115 OR FREN-UA 163).
FREN-UA 991 Senior Seminar (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Prerequisite: permission of the department. 4 points.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 992 Senior Seminar (4 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Two Senior Seminars are regularly offered each semester. The Senior Seminar provides French majors in their final year of study the chance to delve deep into the exploration of a specific topic (most often a specialty of the faculty member designing and teaching the course) and do their own original research.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 995 Honors Thesis (2-4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
The French Honors Program is open to all students majoring in French with an overall grade point average of 3.65 and an average of 3.65 in the major. Students admitted to the Honors Program will complete a 6-credit sequence (in addition to the credits for their major) during their senior year, which includes the writing of an honors thesis, an original work of scholarship in the field of French and/or Francophone literature or culture.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
Prerequisites: FREN-UA 991.
FREN-UA 997 Independent Study (1-4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Summer terms
An Independent Study is an opportunity for students to work closely with a faculty advisor on a subject or interest related to their area of study. After securing approval from a faculty member in writing, the student should see the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) in order to register for an Independent Study course. Independent Study courses may be taken for 2 or 4 credits. The faculty adviser and the student will together determine the course content and graded assignments of the Independent Study. An Independent Study can be applied towards the major and/or minor.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 115 OR FREN-UA 163).
FREN-UA 998 Independent Study (1-4 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
An Independent Study is an opportunity for students to work closely with a faculty advisor on a subject or interest related to their area of study. After securing approval from a faculty member in writing, the student should see the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) in order to register for an Independent Study course. Independent Study courses may be taken for 2 or 4 credits. The faculty adviser and the student will together determine the course content and graded assignments of the Independent Study. An Independent Study can be applied towards the major and/or minor.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 115 OR FREN-UA 163).
FREN-UA 9001 Elem French I (in French) (4 Credits)
Open to students with no previous training in French. Not equivalent to FREN-UA 9010. Only by following FREN-UA9001 with FREN-UA9002 can a student complete the equivalent of FREN-UA9010 and then continue on to the intermediate level.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9002 Elem French II (4 Credits)
Continuation of FREN-UA 9001. To continue on to the intermediate level, a student must complete both FREN-UA9001 and FREN-UA 9002. This two-semester sequence is equivalent to FREN-UA 9010.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 1 OR FREN-UA 9001 OR FRENL-UH 1101).
FREN-UA 9010 Intensive Elem French (6 Credits)
Presentation and systematic practice of basic structures and vocabulary of oral French through dialogues, pattern drills, and exercises. Correct pronunciation, sound placement, and intonation are stressed. For students with little or no command of French. Completes the equivalent of one year's elementary course. Textbook: Alors? Conducted in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9011 Intermediate French I (4 Credits)
Open to students who have completed the equivalent of a year's elementary level and to others on assignment by placement test. Not equivalent to FREN-UA9020. Only by following FREN-UA9011 with FREN-UA9012 can a student complete the equivalent of FREN-UA9020 and then continue on to the post-intermediate level.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 2 OR FREN-UA 9002 OR FREN-UA 10 OR FREN-UA 9010 OR FRENL-UH 1102 OR FREN-SHU 10).
FREN-UA 9012 Intermediate French II (4 Credits)
Continuation of FREN-UA9011. To fulfill the Core requirement and continue on to the post-intermediate level, a student must complete both FREN-UA9011 and FREN-UA9012. This two-semester sequence is equivalent to FREN-UA9020.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 11 OR FREN-UA 9011 OR FREN-UA 9005 OR FRENL-UH 2001).
FREN-UA 9020 Intensive Intermediate French (in French) (6 Credits)
A continuation of FREN-UA 10, this course is designed to provide students that have already studied one year of French (or the equivalent thereof) with the remainder of the fundamentals of the French language and to give those students that have mastered the basics of French vocabulary, culture, pronunciation, and grammar the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the French language and the cultures for which it is a vehicle.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 2 OR FREN-UA 9002 OR FREN-UA 10 OR FREN-UA 9010 OR FRENL-UH 1102 OR FREN-SHU 10).
FREN-UA 9030 French Grammar and Composition. (4 Credits)
This course is designed to give those of you who have already begun to deepen your understanding of the French language and French and francophone cultures the opportunity to complete your fifth semester of French by mastering a fuller range of vocabulary, structures, pronunciation, and cultural information. This class will thus prepare you to tackle the classes at the advanced level and eventually to delve into more specialized literature and civilization courses.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 12 OR FREN-UA 9012 OR FREN-UA 20 OR FREN-UA 9020 OR FRENL-UH 2002 OR FREN-SHU 20 OR FRENL-UH 3000 OR FRENL-UH 3002).
FREN-UA 9101 Spoken Contemporary French (4 Credits)
This course is designed to help students to develop vocabulary, learn new idiomatic expressions, and improve fluency and pronunciation. The emphasis is on the understanding and production of contemporary spoken French through a study of authentic documents such as radio and television interviews, advertisements, and spontaneous oral productions.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9102 Advanced Conversation (4 Credits)
For students with relative fluency in French who wish to strengthen their pronunciation and command of spoken French; Develops the skills presented in Spoken Contemporary French through an in-depth study of phonetics (corrective and theoretical), and analysis of the modes of oral discourses in French. Emphasis is on understanding spoken French (modes of argument, persuasion, emotion, etc.) through analysis of authentic documents and development of student discourse in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9103 French Phonetics (4 Credits)
Prerequisite: FREN-UA 30/9030 or assignment by placement test. This course provides advanced French language students the opportunity to improve their pronunciation through a detailed analysis of the sound systems of both French and English.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9105 Written Contemporary French (4 Credits)
This course is designed to help students to develop their vocabulary, further their mastery of grammar, and improve their ability to write informally and, more importantly, formally in French. There will be an emphasis on the understanding and production of sophisticated written French through a study of authentic documents such as newspaper articles and excerpts of longer works. There will also be considerable work on learning how best to proofread, edit, and rewrite written work.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9109 Acting French (in French) (4 Credits)
Use of drama and theatre techniques to help students overcome inhibitions in their oral use of language. Exercises and activities are designed to improve pronunciation, intonation, expression, and body language. Students work in collaboration with the professor, trained in the experimental methods of the French director Jacques Lecocq. This semester's focus will be to analyze and reenact excerpts from Molière’s plays. Conducted in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9110 Business French (in French) (4 Credits)
Designed for students who wish to become familiar with the specialized language used in French business. Emphasis on oral and written communication and the acquisition of a business and commercial vocabulary dealing with the varied activities of a commercial firm: advertising, transportation, banking, etc. Group work in simulated business situations and exposure to "authentic" spoken materials is stressed. Qualified students will have the option of taking the Exam of the Chamber of French Commerce at the end of the course. Conducted in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9112 Topics: Advanced Contemporary French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Helps students to strengthen and refine their abilities to express
themselves with accuracy and fluency in both spoken and written French.
Emphasis on debate, presentation, and argumentation in different settings
(academic and non-academic).
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (FREN-UA 101 OR FREN-UA 105).
FREN-UA 9122 France and The European Union (in French) (4 Credits)
Prerequisite: FREN-UA 30/9030. Focuses on the historical and institutional bases of European integration in order to provide students an understanding of the European Union and how it works, its impact on everyday policies of the member states as well as the life of European citizens, and the kind of world actor the EU is or might become. Focuses as well on current-day concerns and in particular the on-going sense of crisis that has rocked the Union for the past several years.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9124 Introduction to France in Europe (4 Credits)
This course is an introduction to France on the basis of several topics including history, economics, foreign policy and business practices. Key problematics include: what is the role of France in the European Union? How does French culture impact politics and business? What are the specifics of France when it comes to business habits and legal frameworks? Is France a good platform for investments in neighboring regions such as Africa and the Middle East? Students will acquire knowledge of France and the European Union’s recent history, economy and institutions, understand business practices in France and Europe, and have a better understanding of France’s key industries, including in the fashion, food, wine and luxury-goods sectors.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9140 Approaches to French Literature in French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course offers an introduction to central works in French literature,
while presenting students with a toolkit for literary analysis. Eschewing a
strictly chronological approach, we will explore some of the key lines of
thought animating French literary production from the Middle Ages through
the twentieth century. Students will have the opportunity to refine their
skills in reading and writing through in-class workshops devoted to
techniques for close reading, developing a thesis from textual evidence,
and identifying arguments in critical texts. Our objectives will be both to
understand the diverse functions of literature as a cultural practice and
to prepare students to take Discovery courses and other advanced seminars
in literature.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9150 Versailles - Life as Art in the Age of Grandeur (in French) (4 Credits)
Prerequisite: FREN-UA 30/9030. Fabulous Versailles, the synthesis of baroque and classical aesthetics and the cult of kingship, serves as an introduction to the study of major aspects of 17th- and 18th-century culture and French influence on European civilization. Approaches the intellectual, artistic, and social complexities of the period through the works of contemporary philosophers, dramatists, artists, memoirists, and field trips, and multimedia presentations of music and art.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9163 French Civilization in the Making: From the Gauls to the Revolution (in French) (4 Credits)
The aim of this course is to give the students a broad view of french history since the end of Middle-Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. We will explain the main political events as well as the main cultural, artistic, and intellectual events. This course will be based on readings and on visiting museums and exhibitions.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9272 The Structure of French in French (4 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course provides a linguistic introduction to the French language.
Students will learn how to analyze the underlying structures of the
language by using formal tools developed in linguistic theory. We will
focus on the following core areas of grammar: phonetics and phonology
(sound system), morphology (word formation), syntax (phrase and sentence
structure) and semantics (meaning). This course should be of interest to
those who wish to strengthen their knowledge of French and to develop their
formal linguistic tools on the analysis of the grammatical structure of the
language. Conducted in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: (LING-UA 1 OR LING-UA 3 OR LING-UA 11 OR LING-UA 13) AND FREN-UA 30.
FREN-UA 9781 French Culture & French Cinema (in French) (4 Credits)
On December 28th, 1895, cinema was given its official characteristics by the Lumière brothers in Paris. If for over a century, the “Seventh Art” has been an essential element and a vehicle for French culture, the city of Paris has epitomized the evolution and contradictions of the French cinema industry. Focusing on the main tendencies in contemporary French cinema, we will ask the following questions: How do the French filmmakers depict the city of Lights, the City of Love, the City of Horror? How decisive a representation of Paris and its suburbs can be? Why do the images of Paris illustrate the history of French cinema? What do they show about French culture?
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9806 France and Islam (4 Credits)
Islam is the second most important religion in France (after Roman
Catholicism) and France has the highest Muslim population in Europe. Complex
events from the mid-20th century forward have led to continuous heated
debate and controversy about the place of Muslim citizens within the
secular Republic. France's interwoven history with Islam dates back,
however, to the first Umayyad conquests of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th
century and then to the period of the Crusades. Through the use of primary
sources, literary and filmic texts, and critical readings (notably in
history, sociology and cultural studies), this course traces the complexity
and heterogeneity of French perceptions of Islam within a broad historical
perspective beginning with these early encounters and continuing up to the
present day.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9807 Experimental Theatre Workshop (2 Credits)
This course allows students to study and perform “Theater of the absurd”, a theoretical and practical approach to theater born of the historical, literary, and philosophical context of the Second World War. We will analyze the characteristics of this type of theater which continues to influence avant-garde themes and esthetics. Students perform excerpts from selected works with a focus on destructuring language, and corporal expression. The approach of the course is intellectual, physical
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9808 Lost and Found: Expatriate Writers in Paris (4 Credits)
This course explores the connections between major French and American expatriate writings of the Modernist period and beyond. As the site of unprecedented cosmopolitanism and creativity, early 20th-century Paris saw the emergence of artistic and intellectual movements that were to have a considerable impact on Western culture to this day. Though a variety of texts (novels, short stories, memoirs, poems, and essays) we explore the questions of inner and outer exile inherent in the modern condition, of living and writing on the margins, of otherness and estrangement in relation to class, gender, sexuality, language, and to Paris as a specific urban environment. Includes texts by, among others, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, Colette, Apollinaire, Proust, Aragon, Céline and Camus.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9809 Protest Movements in France (in English) (4 Credits)
In this course we consider the controversies, ideals, and social conflicts that have motivated protest movements in France from the Revolution of 1789 to the present day. Taking as an approach the history of ideas, the course examines the intense debates over social justice and political representation that have moved people to action, from the idealistic Communards in the late 19th century, to the youth movements of the 1960s, or the "yellow vest" (gilets jaunes) and Black Lives Matter protests of a few years ago. Through a study of literary and philosophical texts,
historical tracts, political posters, films and protest songs, we will deepen our understanding of these events and the passions they inspire. Includes visits in and around Paris. Conducted in English.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9833 Studies in Prose Genres: Postcolonial Readings of Classic Texts (4 Credits)
In this course we focus on four contemporary novels in which the world of the character, the narrator, or the author, is read through the lens of a literary classic. In each case, the reading and rewriting of the primary text involves temporal and spatial displacements (from the 18th to the 20th century, from Europe to the Caribbean and to the South Pacific) that generate shifting perspectives and a constant reshuffling of center and periphery. Between a reverential affiliation to the past and a creative misreading and rewriting of it, these intertextual encounters with « great » Western literary works insistently raise the questions of identity, originality, and “writing back”. Exploring these questions will therefore also involve drawing on comparative, translation, and postcolonial studies.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9865 Topics (2-4 Credits)
The course description for this Topics course varies depending on the topic
taught. Taught in English. Please view the course descriptions in the
course notes section below.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
FREN-UA 9902 German Occupation in French Literature and Cinema (in French) (4 Credits)
The course explores how literature and cinema from 1945 to the present have
covered the topic of the "Années noires" ("the Dark years"), or the period
of German occupation in France. Figured against the backdrop of the events
of World War II and the Occupation, the course examines the complexity of
questions of identity, memory, and narrative in relation to this complex
moment in French history. Includes texts by Sartre, Vercors, Modiano,
Perec, Duras. Films include *Les Jeux Interdits (*René Clément), *Lacombe
Lucien *(Louis Malle), *Night & Fog *(Alain Resnais). In addition students
participate in an overnight trip to visit the D-day beaches and other World
War II sites in Normandy. In French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9903 France: Gender, Class, Race (in French) (4 Credits)
Aiming to enlarge our understanding of the profound transformations of
contemporary France, this course focuses first on the redeployment of
identities: sex and gender, age and generation, social affiliation,
ethnicity, before examining some of the profound shifts in social,
economic, cultural, political and demographic factors that have transpired
as a result. We will examine the way these changes have been constructed
through various ideological and cultural representations, in order to
deepen such notions as the crisis of the model of integration, the aging of
the population, the decline in the emancipation of women, the breakdown of
social mobility, the break-up of elites, and so on -- all points of entry
for understanding the crisis of a "French model" in full mutation. In
French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9904 French News in Conversation (2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
In this course, students gather once a week for “French news, with coffee.”
Before each workshop, students read articles in online French news sources
(Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique, Le Figaro, etc.), research new
vocabulary, and consign the most important ideas and their personal
reactions in a “news journal.” During the discussion-based workshop,
students (in French) will discuss the news, review vocabulary, and
generally utilize and improve their fluency and cultural competency.
Particular emphasis will be placed on news items relating to diversity and
ecology within France and the French-speaking world.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9906 French Phonetics Workshop (2 Credits)
This workshop aims to highlight the specificities of French language pronunciation in order to correct the most frequent errors and to provide students a phonetic correction necessary for a good acquisition of French as a foreign language. We will study the characteristics of French, the specific sounds of French as well as the main difficulties encountered by English speakers. The course will provide both a theoretical as well as practical approach to ensure the acquisition of good aural and oral skills in French. Students will work on listening skills as well as oral production via in-class presentations and exercises to do at home. Through the study of poetry we will work on the relationship between sounds and the spelling of words, rhymes and intonation. In addition, students will learn the international phonetic alphabet as a means to grasping the difference between written and spoken language.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9909 The French Contemporary Art World (in French) (4 Credits)
Explores the contemporary arts in France in their historic and social context. Beginning with current trends, attempts to situate what's new within a longer tradition of artistic production. Themes include the nature of the object, the monochrome, the body, the idea of nature, personal mythologies, the importance of light. The course includes visits to contemporary galleries and museums. Taught in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9911 French-African Relations (in French) (4 Credits)
A historical and political inquiry into the French system of
relations with Francophone Africa from the 'race to Empire' in the 19th
century to the current day. The main goals of the course are: to describe
the historical development of French-African relations from the colonial to
the post-independence era; to investigate the political, economic and
cultural mechanisms of French influence in contemporary Francophone Africa;
to understand the consequences for France of complex developments
subsequent to colonialism, such as African immigration in France. Conducted
in French.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9936 Gender and Sexuality in France (in French) (4 Credits)
Description:This course introduces students to the history, sociology, and
anthropology of women, feminism, and of gender and sexuality in
contemporary France from the 19th century to the present.
Interdisciplinary in approach, the course draws on feminist theory and
empirical studies to address a range of political, economic, social, and
cultural questions and the way they have played out through time.
Specifically the course addresses the following issues: the history of the
relationship between the condition of women, gender roles, and feminism
from the Revolution to the present day; the importance of gender to such
contemporary debates as parity, sexual identities, prostitution and
sex-work, hetero-centrism and homosexuality, gay marriage, sexual
harassment and so on; and finally the intersection of questions of gender
and post-colonialism as a means to understanding contemporary polemics, the
question of the Islamic veil in particular.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
FREN-UA 9968 Topics in Lit (2-4 Credits)
Topics and prerequisites vary by semester.
Grading: CAS Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes