FRENCH 304 A: Issues and Perspectives in French and Francophone Studies

What are “French and Francophone Studies?” What are the objects of this field (e.g., literature, cinema, and the arts, but also food, environmental attitudes, media [old and new], politics, etc.)? What, in fact, do we mean when we use the terms “France” (the nation, including its overseas departments and territories), “French” (the language, the people), and “francophone” (literally, French-speaking, but often implying people “from outside of France,” France and Belgium’s former colonies, and sometimes even racial/religious difference)? What are the forms of knowledge and the types of skills that a student majoring or minoring in French can expect to acquire? This course aims to provide answers to those questions by giving students an opportunity to begin to acquire that knowledge and apply the skills in question. Taught in French.