ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• Instructor: Pascale Crepon
  CULPA: 10 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• Instructor: Eric T Matheis
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• Instructor: Samuel Skippon
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• Instructor: Samuel Skippon
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• Instructor: Samuel Skippon
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• Instructor: Pascale Crepon
  CULPA: 10 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures.

• Instructor: Alexandra Borer
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures.

• Instructor: Heidi Holst-Knudsen
  CULPA: 20 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures.

• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures.

• 4 points

RAPID READING AND TRANSLATION

The course focuses on reading comprehension and translation into English and includes a grammar and vocabulary overview. It also addresses the differences between English and French syntax and raises questions of idiomatic versus literal translations.

• Instructor: Eric T Matheis
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

INTERMED CONVERSATN FRENCH II

We will be working on pronunciation, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral expression. Activities will include listening comprehension exercises, skits, debates, and oral presentations, as well as discussions of films, songs, short films, news, articles, short stories or other short written documents. Although grammar will not be the focus of the course, some exercises will occasionally aim at reviewing particular points.

• 2 points

THIRD-YEAR CONVERSATION FR I

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

• Instructor: Laurence Marie
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 2 points

THIRD-YEAR CONVERSATION FR I

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

• Instructor: Laurence Marie
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 2 points

Arts in Action

The course is an introduction to the visual arts and art professions in the context of French and

francophone arts and cultural institutions. Students will experience arts through class discussions of artistic production and a familiarization with art history and art criticism in French, presentations, workshops, discussions with art professionals, guest lectures, and visits to art museums and

galleries. Students who take the class can apply for paid internships in an art institution in the

spring following the class. In these internships, students will use some of the French language

skills they have acquired in class.

• Instructor: Pascale Crepon
  CULPA: 10 Info
• 3 points

Read, Think, Write in French

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

• Instructor: Laurence Marie
  CULPA: 3 Info
• Instructor: Alexandra Borer
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO FRENCH & FRANCOPHONE HISTORY

INTRO FREN FRANCOPHONE HI

Who were the Gauls and when was Paris the "capital of modernity"? What caused the French and Haitian Revolutions? Why do the French care so much about religion, nation, empire or, for that matter, food and fashion? This class surveys the history of France and the Francophone world from the Middle Ages to the present. It provides an introduction to major events and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions of people in France and across the world, in its former colonies. From feudalism and absolutism to imperialism, capitalism, and republicanism, we explore how questions of identity and difference play out in politics, culture and society. The class is based in lecture and discussion and relies on close readings of primary sources. The course is taught entirely in French and is one of two core courses for the major and minor in French. Students are encouraged to take FREN 3405 prior to this course.

• 3 points

Intro French & Francophone Literature

Intro French Francophone

This class offers students an introduction to major works that have marked the history of literature in French from the Middle Ages to the present. Our focus will be on close reading and discussion, but works will also be placed in historical context. We will look at a variety of literary genres (sonnet, short story, comedy, autobiography, narrative poetry, novel), and our readings will be complemented by visual materials such as paintings and films. The course is taught entirely in French and is one of two core courses for the major and minor in French. Students are encouraged to take FREN 3405 prior to this course.

• Instructor: Joanna R Stalnaker
  CULPA: 18 Info
• 3 points

French in the World: A Linguistic Survey

French: Linguistic Survey

This course examines French from a linguistic perspective: the historical development of the language, as well as important phonetic, phonological, and sociolinguistic aspects of varieties of French from around the world. The course is intended for undergraduates in French, as well as students in linguistics, and is open to students across the Columbia community.

• Instructor: Eric T Matheis
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

Global Francophone Cinema

In this course, we will consider French-language cinema as an inherently global
phenomenon, which stems both from the transnational nature of the medium itself, and the
legacy of the former French empire. From the very beginning, the Lumière brothers sent
cameramen and projectionists to faraway locations—from India to Indochina, or from Mexico to
Morocco. If early French ethnographic and narrative cinema functioned as a form of soft power,
by the mid-20 th -century, filmmakers were on the frontlines of anti-colonial militantism,
documenting, for instance, the horrors of the Algerian War. In the wake of decolonization, great
African directors tackled the challenges of emergent nations, as well as the complex neocolonial
networks that kept them tied to European metropoles. Today, filmmakers from around the
world—from Iran to Cambodia—turn to live-action film and animation in French—despite their
complicated relationships to both the language and France’s former empire. This course will
include units on: ethnography and docufiction; colonial and anticolonial cinema; historical
violence and memory; banlieue, beur, and Black identities; and emergent queer filmmakers.
Taught in English, with films in French (and other languages) with English subtitles. Required
readings will be available in English, with some optional readings in French for French majors
and minors. Satisfies the Global Core requirement. Students may receive credit for the French
major / minor if they submit their papers in French.

• Instructor: Aubrey A Gabel
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Asylum/ Asile: Theory and Practice of As

Asylum/Asile
is an experiential learning class conducted in collaboration with Project Rousseau, a holistic non-profit organization that helps young people in communities with the greatest need.  

Since migrant youth and families began arriving in New York by bus from the southern border, Project Rousseau has been on the frontlines serving them. A large proportion of these migrants are Francophone asylum seekers who need support with their application. This class will teach the theory and practice of asylum law, the specific sociohistorical, cultural, and political contexts that motivates Francophone asylum seekers, especially in the case of Mauritania and Guinea, and the ways in which translation is critical to this process. The class will culminate in students assisting Project Rousseau’s Francophone clients with their asylum applications. 

The class is offered in the Fall. Interested students will be able to apply for internships with Project Rousseau in the Spring Semester.

• 3 points

THEORY OF LITERATURE I

• Instructor: Aubrey A Gabel
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Rebel Literature: Politics and the Novel

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

• Instructor: Emmanuel Kattan
  Info
• 3 points

Literature and Prostitution

French literature has been preoccupied with prostitutes and prostitution for centuries. This course proposes to examine the some of the various depictions of women and men who make their living via sexual activity, from the 18th century through our own era. We will trace the different varieties of “loose women”, identifying an extensive taxonomy of
courtisanes
,
lorettes
,
grisettes
,
filles de joie
etc., in male-authored works from
Manon Lescaut
(1731) through the apogee of literary obsession with “fallen women” in the 19th-century. Over the course of the century the romantic “whore with a heart of gold” trope (Dumas’s
Dame aux camélias
) coexisted with Mérimée’s fatal gypsy
Carmen
, Flaubert and Baudelaire’s insistence on prostitution as metaphor, Maupassant’s analyses of bourgeois hypocrisy in this regard, and, finally, Zola’s irresistible and destructive
Nana
. The 20th century saw more nuanced depictions of both female and male prostitution from such authors as Colette and Jean Genet. We will conclude with 21st-century first-person accounts of sex work by Nelly Arcan (
Putain
, 2001) and Virginie Despentes (
King Kong théorie
, 2006).

• Instructor: Elisabeth A Ladenson
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 3 points

Rousseau s Woman Problem

Rousseau, Women and Gende

The problem of women lies at the heart of everything Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote. He posited a basic equality between the sexes in the state of nature, while prescribing a radically restrictive view of women’s education. He founded his political thought on models of virility, while writing a best-selling novel featuring a powerful heroine who governs an ideal society. He upheld rigid gender binaries, while fashioning himself as a woman in his autobiographical writings. The goal of this seminar will be to tease out these and other tensions and contradictions in Rousseau’s work and to explore how they have shaped modern views of women and gender. We will read Rousseau in dialogue with the many women who responded to his work, whether by emulating his style, seeking his counsel or subjecting his ideas to virulent critique.

The seminar will be taught in French and fulfills the pre-1800 requirement for the French major and the MA and PhD in French. Undergraduates with an advanced level of French are welcome to enroll.

• Instructor: Joanna R Stalnaker
  CULPA: 18 Info
• 3 points

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY AND LITERATURE

INTRO TO HILI

An exploration of the interconnections and intersections between history and literature, both as categories of cultural production and as scholarly disciplines.  In the past thirty years the boundaries between history and literature have become usefully blurred, as literary scholars pursued the historical aspects of their texts and historians recognized the literary aspects of their narratives.  The result is a propitious intellectual moment, which enables scholars to address new methodological horizons that combine close reading of texts with expansive attention to historical context.

 

The course treats the subject in terms of both theory and practice. Theoretical readings address the relations between history and literature, with a focus on texts relevant to scholars working in the field today.  Exemplary recent works of English-language scholarship highlight the kind of creative blending of literary and historical approaches that the students might pursue in their M.A. essays.

• Instructor: Thomas Dodman
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Annie Ernaux: Writing as a Knife

This course offers a deep dive into French contemporary novelist Annie Ernaux’s auto-sociobiographical fiction. It does so through close readings of some of her major works, organized
thematically and across Ernaux’s oeuvre. Close readings of texts will be paired with recent film/theatre adaptations, sociological and theoretical work that has inspired Ernaux, her work’s
growing critical reception (amplified by her Nobel prize last year), as well as other writers that have been inspired by hers. Themes covered include: writing impersonally in the first person;
what is auto-socio-biography; exploring women’s desire and sexuality; Ernaux’s feminism and other kinds of militancy; ethnographies of contemporary France and the baby-boomer
generation. Throughout, we will consider what kind of genre Ernaux’s writing is, and what writing as a knife can do.

• Instructor: Thomas Dodman
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

M.A. ESSAY

• Instructor: Keithley Woolward
  Info
• 3 points

French Lecture Series

Graduate students attend and lead a series of lectures open to all members of the French department, including graduate students, faculty and undergraduate majors/concentrators. These lectures are planned in conjunction with graduate seminars occurring that year, and graduate students are expected to introduce the guest speakers and lead the discussion.

 

The lecture series exposes graduate students to new work in the field, including new methodologies and emerging areas of research and teaching, while enriching the cultural and intellectual life of the department. Students benefit from meeting important faculty in the field and from observing the different possible formats and styles of academic talks. By helping to prepare events, write speaker introductions and moderate Q&A sessions, they also develop important professional skills.

• 1-2 points

M.A. ESSAY DIRECTION

• 6 points

DISSERTATION WORKSHOP

• 3 points