French Studies

FRN 101 Accelerated Beginning French I (5 Credits)

This elementary French course is designed to give students with no previous experience in French the opportunity to acquire the fundamentals of the French language and Francophone culture. It emphasizes communicative proficiency, the development of oral and listening skills, self-expression and cultural insights. Classroom activities incorporate authentic French material and are focused on acquiring competency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students must complete both FRN 101 and FRN 103 to fulfill the Latin honors distribution requirement for a foreign language. Enrollment limited to 25.

Fall, Spring, Annually

FRN 103 Accelerated Beginning French II (5 Credits)

This second-semester French course allows students to acquire the basic elements of spoken and written French. They learn how to express themselves on a variety of topics and in everyday life situations as they connect to the Francophone world through authentic cultural material and multimedia activities. Students completing the course normally enter FRN 220. Prerequisite: FRN 101 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 18. {F}

Spring

FRN 120 Intermediate French (4 Credits)

An intermediate language course designed for students with two or three years of high school French. Its main objective is to develop cultural awareness and the ability to speak and write in French through exposure to a variety of media (literary texts, newspaper articles, ads, clips, films, videos). Students completing the course normally enter FRN 220. Enrollment limited to 18. {F}

Fall

FRN 220 High Intermediate French (4 Credits)

Review of communicative skills through writing and class discussion. Materials include two movies, a comic book and two novels. Prerequisite: Three years of high school French, FRN 103, or FRN 120, or equivalent. Students completing the course normally enter FRN 230. Enrollment limited to 18. {F}

Fall, Spring

FRN 230bl Colloquium: Topics in French Studies- Banlieue Lit (4 Credits)

In this course, students study fiction, memoir, slam poetry and hip-hop authored by residents of France’s multi-ethnic suburbs and housing projects, also known as the "banlieues" and "cités". The class examines the question of whether "banlieue" authors can escape various pressures: to become native informants; to write realistic rather than fantastical novels; to leave the “ghetto”; to denounce the sometimes difficult traditions, religions, neighborhoods and family members that have challenged but also molded them. Often seen as spaces of regression and decay, the "banlieues" nevertheless produce vibrant cultural expressions that beg the question: Is the "banlieue" a mere suburb of French cultural life or more like one of its centers? Basis for the major. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 220 or equivalent. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230cc Colloquium: Topics in French Studies- Culture Clash (4 Credits)

To what degree is being French synonymous with membership in a particular socio-economic, cultural or ethnic category? Can marginalized populations (immigrants, peasants, workers, youth, etc.) acquire the necessary tools for social inclusion? What determines the meaning of French identity and who is excluded from the realm of Frenchness? By whom and for what reasons? The course explores the tensions that arise in the development and transmission of French cultural attitudes, tastes and values. Class readings include children’s literature, fiction and memoir. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. Course taught in French. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

FRN 230cw Colloquium: Topics in French Studies-French Calligraphies: Contemporary Chinese Women's Writing (4 Credits)

France is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in Western Europe. This course looks at how Francophone women writers and artists of Chinese origin critique and celebrate French culture in their work. Focusing on contemporary fiction, film and graphic art, students consider the role of canonical French literature during the Cultural Revolution, portrayals of Sinophone cultures in France and the relationship between language and stereotype. Through the lens of gendered and multigenerational immigration narratives, students also study such topics as translation, food, sexuality and exile. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 220 or equivalent. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230en Colloquium: Topics in French Studies- Encountering Nature in the Early Modern World: Flora, Fauna, Empire (4 Credits)

This course examines how writers from the 16th-18th centuries experienced their natural settings. These settings varied widely, encompassing both Europe and the Americas during early phases of colonization. The great variety of flora and fauna in these different locales prompted questions about what nature signified and for whom. How did such factors as gender, religion, ethnicity and social class combine with political influences in each century to cause shifting understandings and representations of the natural world? To explore this question, the class analyzes literary texts in multiple genres alongside illustrations, maps, paintings, historical documents and audiovisual materials. Course taught in French. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230ll Colloquium: Topics in French Studies-French Literary Landscapes (4 Credits)

Through texts by authors from Louis XIV to Colette, this class discusses questions about literary uses of landscape: Why do people flee or search for a landscape? What makes people cherish or fear a particular place? What do landscapes tell readers that the narrator or characters cannot or does not tell? Other authors may include Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Chateaubriand, Maupassant, Apollinaire, Robbe-Grillet and James Sacré. Basis for the major. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 220. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230mc Colloquium: Topics in French Studies-Paris, A Multilayered City (4 Credits)

This course explores why Paris emerged as the “Capital of Modernity” and how that identity continues to shape the city today. Focusing on the 19th through the 21st centuries, students analyze literary texts, maps, and visual documents to examine the cultural and urban transformation of Paris across time and space, and explore the relationship between literature, urban form, and cultural memory. Using an interactive mapping platform with layered historical maps, students reconstruct both real and imagined urban spaces and investigate how writers and artists have represented Paris as an ever-changing modern metropolis shaped by the persistent traces of its past. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 220 or equivalent. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230ww Colloquium: Topics in French Studies-Women Writers of Africa and the Caribbean (4 Credits)

An introduction to works by contemporary women writers from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean. Topics studied include colonialism, exile, motherhood and intersections between class and gender. The study of these works and of the French language is informed by attention to the historical, political and cultural circumstances of writing as a woman in a former French colony. Texts include works by Mariama Bâ, Maryse Condé, Yamina Benguigui and Marie-Célie Agnant. Basis for the major. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 220 or equivalent. Restrictions: FRN 230 may not be repeated. Enrollment limited to 18. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 235 Speaking (Like the) French: Conversing, Discussing, Debating, Arguing (4 Credits)

A total immersion course in French oral expression using authentic cultural materials: French films and series, songs, video clips, internet resources, news reporting, televised versions of round-table discussions, intellectual exchanges, and documentary reporting. Students learn how the French agree and disagree with one another, converse, argue, and attempt to persuade each other. Interactive multimedia exercises, games, role playing, discussions, and debates, presenting formal exposés and improving pronunciation. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 230, or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {F}

Interterm

FRN 250 Zooming With the French: Cross-Cultural Connections (4 Credits)

Through conversations in real-time with an advanced English class in a French grande école (Télécom Paris), students develop an understanding of certain abstract aspects of French culture and of fundamental cultural differences between Americans and the French. Cultural attitudes and beliefs, cultural behaviors, and social values are discovered using a diversity of sources: zoom discussions, forum chats, shared activities and projects, readings, and class conversations. The intercultural conversations form the basis for the students’ exploration of student life in France and in America, and French youth culture, as well as an understanding of socio-political institutions, such as schools, childhood, family, government, religion, and immigration. Readings include, a novel, textbook, contemporary cultural essays and newspaper articles, surveys, and films. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 15. {F}{S}

Spring

FRN 251fi Topics in French Media, Now and Then-French Islam and French Muslims (4 Credits)

Through a survey of the contemporary flashpoints in the debate surrounding the place of Islam in French society, this course maps out the field of politicians, activists, youth movements, imams, artists, musicians and other cultural actors that have defined the discourse on the issue. With an emphasis on new media, students analyze a wide variety of documents including internet resources, journalistic articles and blogs, music videos, films, legal texts, political pamphlets, slam poetry, rap songs, as well as photo and video art. Course taught in French. {F}{H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 251po Topics in the French Media, Now and Then-The French Press Online (4 Credits)

A study of contemporary French social, economic, political and cultural issues through daily readings of French magazines and newspapers online such as Le Monde, Le Figaro and Libération. Course taught in French. {F}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 252cl Topics in French Cinema-Cities of Light: Urban Spaces in Francophone Film (4 Credits)

From Paris to Fort-de-France, Montreal to Dakar, this class studies how various filmmakers from the Francophone world present urban spaces as sites of conflict, solidarity, alienation and self-discovery. How do these portraits confirm or challenge the distinction between urban and non-urban? How does the image of the city shift for “insiders” and “outsiders”? Other topics to be discussed include immigration, colonialism and globalization. Works by Sembène Ousmane, Denys Arcand, Mweze Ngangura and Euzhan Palcy. Course taught in French. Restrictions: FRN 252 may be repeated once with a different topic. {A}{F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 252ps Topics in French Cinema-Paris on Screen (4 Credits)

Paris is often portrayed by filmmakers as the quintessential romantic setting. Starting with the French New Wave, this course examines films that look at France's capital city differently, as a place where various urban, cosmopolitan or diasporic subcultures live side by side, often unbeknownst to one another. Films by directors such as Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Sautet, Rohmer, Denis, Assayas, and Klapisch. Course taught in French. Restrictions: FRN 252 may be repeated once with a different topic. {A}{F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 268 The French Classroom on Screen (4 Credits)

The classroom can function as a microcosm of French society, illuminating tensions along racial, socioeconomic, and cultural lines that mark the nation and its colonial history. Through the study of documentary and narrative films, critical essays, and literary texts, this course considers what pedagogy can reveal about childhood, national identity, political resistance, and humanity. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One topic of FRN 230, or equivalent. {A}{F}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 270 Language and Identity (4 Credits)

A course in advanced composition for students who wish to improve their mastery of some of the more difficult points of French grammar, syntax and usage, as they reflect on local and global movements calling for social justice in France from the 18th century to the present day. Readings and discussions on topics such as humanism, revolution, the "social question," feminism, antiracism and inclusive writing. Counts toward the pre-1900 requirement. Prerequisite: One course beyond FRN 230, or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

FRN 272 Words into Action: Activism, Resistance, and Social Justice (4 Credits)

<span style="color:#000000">This course examines how writers and activists in France and the Francophonie have shaped public debate and driven social change, and investigates how the social category of the “public intellectual” has been constructed by asking who gets to speak in the public sphere. Through a wide range of texts and media, students analyze debates on intolerance, colonial violence, racism, feminism, and political resistance, and consider how these debates challenge the boundaries of what counts as “French” thought. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One topic of FRN 230, or equivalent. {F}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

FRN 275/ SWG 275 Queer Nightlife and Dance Music (4 Credits)

This course emerges from a series of interrogations: Why have so many queer subcultures emerged with an electronic dance music soundtrack? Why dance music, rather than more mainstream genres? What is the relationship between electronic music, the future, and the fate of queer lives? In what ways have the multiethnic origins of dance music and queer subcultures been erased, and how does this relate to the commodification of these cultural life-forms? What are the roles of nightclubs in psychological, sexual, and emotional exploration? What is their role in the formation of queer subjectivities, friendships, support groups, and chosen families? Must be taken with FRN 275L to count for FRN. {A}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 275L La French Touch (1 Credit)

This course is a French language discussion section for FRN 275 and SWG 275. FRN 275/ SWG 275 and FRN 275L can together be counted as one 5 credit course for the FRN major. Students learn how a group of French artists – Daft Punk, Justice, the Ed Banger Records crew, and more – took over the music world with their specific style of electronic music known as La French Touch. Documents include a graphic novel on the international history of house music, a catalog from a national exposition on Electro, films featuring nightlife subcultures, and articles documenting the rise of electronic music in France. Corequisite: FRN 275/ SWG 275. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or above. {F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 286 Invisible Minority: Chinese Culture in France (4 Credits)

A reference to the French phrase minorité visible, this course’s title highlights the recurrent critique from East Asians in France that theirs is a forgotten minority group. To understand this critique, the class traces the history of exoticized representations of Chinese culture in France from the 17th century to the present. The class then turns to recent literary works by Chinese diasporic writers to consider how they represent their native cultures for a French audience amidst China’s shift in status on the global stage. Finally, the class examines images of Asian culture in contemporary French media and popular culture. Course taught in French. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

FRN 290 Colloquium: Research in Francophone Studies (2 Credits)

This course offers an introduction to research methods in contemporary Francophone studies, with an emphasis on the analysis of race, representation, and political activism in France. Students develop independent research projects on relevant topics and present weekly findings in a collaborative setting. Course taught in French. S/U only. Prerequisite: One topic of FRN 230, or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 16. Instructor permission required. {F}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 292X The French Adventure: Classic Tales and their Bande Dessinée Adaptations (4 Credits)

Offered as FRN 292X and FRN 302X. Slightly more advanced students should register for FRN 302X. This course examines famous French adventure tales and compares them with their graphic novel and musical adaptations. The course thus explores the question of adapting a story from one medium to another and introduces students to bande dessinée analysis. Students study Notre Dame de Paris, Les Trois Mousquetaires, and Voyage au centre de la terre alongside historical context on the 15th-19th centuries. Students conclude the semester by proposing a BD reworking of one of the stories read, modernizing the storyline and creating a page of illustrations to accompany their persuasive and analytical writing. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One course beyond FRN 230. Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken FRN 302X. {F}{L}

Fall, Variable

FRN 295 French Translation in Practice (2 Credits)

Practicum in French; must be taken concurrently with WLT 150. Students read short texts in translation theory, study translation techniques and strategies, compare versions of translated texts and produce their own translations of French texts. Readings and discussions conducted in French. Course taught in French. This course does not count as preparation for the Smith Programs Abroad in Paris and Geneva. Corequisite: WLT 150. Prerequisite: Two courses beyond FRN 230, or equivalent. {F}{L}

Spring

FRN 298X Global Cities of the French-Speaking World: Culture, Identity, Justice (4 Credits)

Offered as FRN 298X and FRN 308X. Slightly more advanced students should take FRN 308X. In the 21st century, the term “global city” connotes integration into international financial and communication networks. Yet cities have long been sites with global horizons, as histories of migration and conquest attest. This course studies French-speaking cities that became actors on the world stage or exist because of settler-colonial processes. Students examine how cities harness cultural institutions (festivals, museums, monuments, public artwork, etc.) to transform global-level histories into sources of local identities while creating the potential to redress historical injustices. Assignments include research on another French-speaking global city of a student’s choosing, culminating in a video project. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One course beyond FRN 230. Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken FRN 308X. (E) {F}{L}

Fall, Variable

FRN 299/ ITL 299/ POR 299/ SPN 299 Teaching Romance Languages: Theories and Techniques on Second Language Acquisition (4 Credits)

Offered as FRN 299, ITL 299, POR 299 and SPN 299. The course explores the issues in world language instruction and research that are essential to the teaching of Romance languages. Special focus is on understanding local, national and international multilingual communities as well as theories, methods, bilingualism and heritage language studies. Discussions include the history of Romance languages, how to teach grammar and vocabulary, the role of instructors and feedback techniques. The critical framing provided helps students look at schools as cultural sites, centers of immigration and globalization. Class observations and scholarly readings help students understand the importance of research in the shaping of the pedagogical practice of world languages. Prerequisite: Four semesters (or placement to equivalent level) of a Romance language taught at Smith (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or French). Enrollment limited to 25. {F}{S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

FRN 302X The French Adventure: Classic Tales and their Bande Dessinée Adaptations (4 Credits)

Offered as FRN 292X and FRN 302X. Slightly less advanced students should register for FRN 292X. This course examines famous French adventure tales and compares them with their graphic novel and musical adaptations. The course thus explores the question of adapting a story from one medium to another and introduces students to bande dessinée analysis. Students study Notre Dame de Paris, Les Trois Mousquetaires, and Voyage au centre de la terre alongside historical context on the 15th-19th centuries. Students conclude the semester by proposing a BD reworking of one of the stories read, modernizing the storyline and creating a page of illustrations to accompany their persuasive and analytical writing. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One course beyond FRN 230. Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken FRN 292X. {F}{L}

Fall, Variable

FRN 308X Global Cities of the French-Speaking World: Culture, Identity, Justice (4 Credits)

Offered as FRN 298X and FRN 308X. Slightly less advanced students should take FRN 298X. In the 21st century, the term “global city” connotes integration into international financial and communication networks. Yet cities have long been sites with global horizons, as histories of migration and conquest attest. This course studies French-speaking cities that became actors on the world stage or exist because of settler-colonial processes. Students examine how cities harness cultural institutions (festivals, museums, monuments, public artwork, etc.) to transform global-level histories into sources of local identities while creating the potential to redress historical injustices. Assignments include research on another French-speaking global city of a student’s choosing, culminating in a video project. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One course beyond FRN 230. Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken FRN 298X. (E) {F}{L}

Fall, Variable

FRN 330 Scientific Selves: Medicine, Technology and Identity in Early Modern France (4 Credits)

From the 16th-18th centuries, the Scientific Revolution led to breakthroughs in biology, medicine and technology. This course examines how such breakthroughs informed attitudes toward various aspects of human identity in the French context. How did scientific discourse depict those who did not fit into paradigms of gender, sexuality, ability, ethnicity, belief and culture? What parallels identify with modern-day activism? To explore these questions, students analyze literary texts, visual representations, medical treatises and scientific diagrams. Students also collaborate with the Botanic Garden to study medicinal plants, interrogate modern day health concerns and create our own wellness tea blends. Prerequisites: Two courses beyond FRN 230, or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

FRN 365ca Topics in Francophone Literature and Culture-Food, Hunger, Memory: Literature of the Caribbean (4 Credits)

Food and its absence are persistent themes in Caribbean literature. Cooking and culinary practices serve as a means of preserving cultural identities, yet can also reinforce colonial visions of the Caribbean as an exoticized space. Hunger figures as an indictment of that colonial history and of contemporary global inequities. Through studies of folktales, short stories, poetry and novels, this course offers an introduction to the literature and major theoretical movements of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti, with a focus on how cultural memory is inscribed in metaphors of consumption. Course taught in French. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 365wm Topics in Francophone Literature and Culture: Spin--Francophone Writers and the Media (4 Credits)

How much control does or should a writer have over his or her public image? Should artists be held responsible for the political or social consequences of their work? How do such questions as censorship and plagiarism play out when racial, religious, or gender difference is at stake? This course examines literary texts, films, and essays by some of the more controversial names in contemporary Francophone literature, to be studied alongside interviews, social media, and critical and popular reviews. Students conduct independent research projects examining a prominent Francophone writer and their relationship to the media. Course taught in French. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 376 Francophone African Women Writers (4 Credits)

This course explores how Francophone African women writers from the 20th and 21st centuries address identity, gender, race, migration, female body, and sociocultural norms. Through texts set in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, students examine female protagonists navigating gender roles, exclusion, sexuality, and otherness across shifting cultural and social contexts in their pursuit of identity. How are female protagonists portrayed as navigating identity shifts in response to migration, racial dynamics, gender roles, and sociocultural expectations in Francophone African female narratives? (E) {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 380af Topics in French Cultural Studies-Les Annees Folles (4 Credits)

This class enters "les années folles" in Paris in this advanced culture class, taught in French. During the Roaring Twenties, jazz sizzled, Montmartre shimmied and Joséphine Baker’s Danse sauvage mesmerized crowds at the Music-Hall des Champs Elysées. Song, literature, dance, poetry, painting and the arts aligned to form an (in)coherent, (inter)national cultural proclamation. How might people interpret this riveting period today? The class discusses the roles of women, writers, soldiers, African Americans and others in “modern” French society at the end of the Great War. Restrictions: FRN 380 may be repeated once with a different topic. {F}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 380fa Topics in French Cultural Studies-France in America (4 Credits)

What is French America? What is the nature of the French-American relationship, historically and today? During recent Franco-American culture wars, France and the United States seemed to be polar opposites. Yet at one time, people in New England and Louisiana spoke French, lived and laughed in French, cried and died in French. Must French now be translated in America? Through what cultural mechanisms is Frenchness expressed by Americans? In what language(s) does one write French America today? This class answers such questions in the exploration of the French experience of North America from the 16th to the 21st century. Restrictions: ​FRN 380 may be repeated once with a different topic. {F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 380is Topics in French Cultural Studies-Immigration and Sexuality (4 Credits)

This course explains how gender and sexuality have been politicized in immigration debates in France, from the 1920s to the present. Students examine both cultural productions and social science texts: memoirs, psychoanalytical literature, activist statements, sociological studies, feature films, fashion, performance art, blogs and news reports. France has historically been the leading European host country for immigrants, a multiplicity of origins reflected in its current demographic make-up. Topics include: the hyper-sexualization of black and brown bodies, France as a Mediterranean culture, immigrant loneliness in Europe, intermarriage and demographic change, the veil and niqab, as well as sexual nationalism and homo-nationalism. Course taught in French. Restrictions: ​FRN 380 may be repeated once with a different topic. {F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 380tw Topics in French Cultural Studies- Travel Writing and Self-Discovery (4 Credits)

A survey of Francophone travel writing from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Students are exposed to a literary form that achieved popularity and cultural prestige early on, was then significantly challenged and diversified, and is presently enjoying a resurgence. The class considers fictional and nonfictional accounts reflecting different geographies of travel and migration. While early voyagers tended to assert the relative superiority of French culture, subsequent generations of travelers abandoned discovery for self-discovery and critiqued colonialism instead of indigenous cultures. Countries and regions surveyed include Palestine, Turkey, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Central and West Africa, the United States, Iran, France, Indonesia and Thailand. Course taught in French. Restrictions: ​FRN 380 may be repeated once with a different topic. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 385bt Advanced Topics in Language-Global French: The Language of Business and International Trade (4 Credits)

An overview of commercial and financial terminology against the backdrop of contemporary French business culture, using case studies, French television and newspapers, and the internet. Emphasis on essential technical vocabulary, reading and writing business documents, and oral communication in a business setting. Prerequisite: One 300-level French course, a solid foundation in grammar, and excellent command of everyday vocabulary, or equivalent. {F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 390 Seminar: Advanced Research in Francophone Studies (4 Credits)

Students conduct semester-long independent research projects in a collaborative setting. The course introduces research methods and design in the context of contemporary Francophone studies. Students create and develop independent projects while studying race, representation, and political activism in France. Working with students in FRN 290 Research in Francophone Studies, they develop collaborative and leadership skills. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: One course at the FRN 300 level or equivalent. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only; French majors and minors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {F}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 392sc Seminar: Topics in Culture-Stereotypes in French Cinema (4 Credits)

In this seminar, students look at films that make a deliberate and often caricatural use of stereotypes in order to make a statement, whether it is to provoke, examine, question, or simply illustrate some aspects of French culture or national consciousness. The stereotypes students consider include cinematic genres (comedies), as well as themes or topics (tradition versus modernity, ‘Frenchness’, racial and class differences). In doing so, students pay particular attention to the way these stereotypes are staged, what their modes of inquiry are, and what conversations, if any, they promote. Films by Renoir, Tati, Buñuel, Jeunet, Ozon, and Sciamma among others. Weekly or bi-weekly film viewings.  Readings in film criticism and relevant fields. In French. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}{F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 404 Special Studies (4 Credits)

Normally for junior and senior majors and for qualified juniors and seniors from other departments. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring

FRN 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

This yearlong course totals 8 credits, 4 credits for each semester. Department permission required.

Fall, Spring

FRN 431 Honors Project (8 Credits)

Department permission required.

Fall, Spring