Instructor: McRae Amoss                                                    Office hours:
Office: Grainger 302                                                             M 2:00-2:50
Office telephone: 395-2177                                                  W 10:00-10:50
                                                                                             R 10:50-11:40
amossbm@longwood.edu                                                 and by appointment
 

Course Description: A study of French civilization and culture with emphasis on social institutions of the current century. Prerequisite: French 202. 3 credits.

Texts:
Edmiston, William F. and Annie Duménil. La France contemporaine. 4th ed. Boston: Heinle Cengage, 2010.

La France contemporaine textbook website

Steele, Ross et al. La civilisation française en évolution I: Institutions et culture avant la Ve République. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1996.

 Useful French Web sites

The on-line editions of  Libération, Le Monde, and Le Figaro.

Course objectives:
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge:
1. Identify the principle rivers, cities, provinces, mountain ranges, and borders of France.  
2. Describe and discuss the political, social, and cultural institutions of contemporary France, making comparisons between these and parallel American institutions.  
3. Understand and employ the lexical items, including acronyms, that are in current use in discussions of these institutions.  
4. Describe the political, social, and intellectual developments that inform French history and civilization and identify the associated artistic and literary achievements.  
5. Explain the ideas that form the basis for the "cultural baggage" that affects young, educated French people's attitudes towards the historical events and figures and cultural movements of their country.  
Skills:
6. Present information on and analysis of French culture and civilization through formal writing, written and oral exposés, and web site or PowerPoint construction.  
Dispositions:
7. Appreciate the tensions and historical conflicts among different social, religious, political and racial groups in French history and their various understandings of social justice.  

Final exam:  Tuesday, May 1, 11:30-2:00

Course Requirements:
Comptes rendus et fiches de lecture
Exams
Presence and participation
Final exam
Exposés oraux
Mémoire

Grading: The final grade will be based on comptes rendus and fiches de lecture (10%), mid-term exams (20%), presence and participation (10%), a final comprehensive exam (20%), oral presentations and a mémoire (40)%. Grading will follow a 10-point scale (such that, for example, 80-82=B-, 83-87=B, 88-89=B+).

Drop/Add Period and Withdrawal Period: Students may make schedule adjustments (adds and/or drops) until 5:00 p.m. on the sixth day of classes for fall and spring full term courses.  Students may withdraw from individual classes with a grade of “W” (not computed in the GPA) through 5:00 p.m. on the 35th day of regularly scheduled classes.

Comptes-rendus de films
Pendant le Festival de film français, chaque étudiant assistera à au moins une séance.

Au cours du semestre, chaque étudiant visionnera trois films (un de chaque groupe), qui ont été choisis pour représenter les différentes périodes historiques en France:

Groupe 1:Le Retour de Martin Guerre (PN1995.9.F67 R469 1982 DVD and VHS); La reine Margot; Molière (PQ1857.9 .M65 1993 VHS);  Tous les matins du monde PN1995.9.F67 T69 2006)

Groupe 2: Danton (PN1997 .D36x  VHS); La Duchesse de Langeais (PN1995.9.F67 D834 2008); Les Enfants du paradis (PN1995.9.F67 E53 VHS); Germinal (PQ2528 .E54 1998 VHS); Camille Claudel (PN1997 .C3563 1989 VHS)

Groupe 3: La Grande Illusion (PN1997 .G69 VHS); Au revoir les enfants (PN1997 .A86 1986 VHS); Le Chambon: la colline aux mille enfants (PN1995.9.F67 C45 1994 VHS); Indochine (PN1995.9.F67 I53 1992 DVD and VHS); La bataille d'Alger (PN1995.9.F67 B379 2004 DVD); Des Dieux et des hommes; Le chagrin et la pitié (D802.F82 C623 1969 DVD); La Haine

Par la suite, vous ferez un compte rendu critique du film.  En écrivant deux ou trois paragraphes (250 mots) bien organisés vous répondrez aux questions suivantes:

• De quelle période historique s'agit-il dans le film?
• Quels sont les institutions françaises ou les événements historiques ou les aspects culturels représentés?
• Pourquoi ces événements ou ces thèmes étaient-ils significatifs à ce moment-là?
• Donnez votre appréciation du film: mise-en-scène, décors, jeu des acteurs, etc.

Exposés oraux
The exposés will be based on your investigation of aspects of French culture: régionalisme, politique, la famille, travail et temps libre, protection sociale, religion, immigration, éducation, économie, etc.  You may construct a web page or Powerpoint presentation that presents your information on and analysis of this aspect of French culture.  (The intended audience for your web site will be young French speakers from elsewhere who intend to settle in France.)  Your written and oral exposé will consist of an explanation of the problem that interests you, the questions you asked yourself about this problem, how you went about finding answers to the questions (including the resources you consulted and/or the links you established in the web site), and the significance of the problem in France today.  To avoid duplication, you must consult the instructor and receive approval for your subject.  Here is the form the instructor will use to evaluate your exposés.

Mémoire and exposé oral
The mémoire will be a research paper on a subject important in French history.  Once you have chosen the subject that interests you and developed an annotated bibliography, you must formulate a thesis that your paper will develop.  In class, we will discuss the different stages in the process of developing your paper. See the timeline and assignment sheet. 

Attendance Policy: The attendance policy for this course is the same as the college policy in the college catalogue and the student handbook.

Honor Code: Students are expected to live by the Longwood College Honor Code. All work done for the class must be pledged.

Quizzes and Exams: Quizzes and Exams must be taken at the scheduled time except in the case of an excused absence from class (illness, participation in a college-sponsored activity, or recognizable emergency).

Bibliography:
References required of all students:

Edmiston, William F. and Annie Duménil. La France contemporaine. 3rd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005.

Steele, Ross et al. La civilisation française en évolution I: Institutions et culture avant la Ve République. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1996.

Recommended references:
Carroll, Raymonde.  Evidences invisibles.  Cultural Misunderstandings: the French-American Experience.  Trans. Carol Volk.  Chicago, U of Chicago P, 1988.
Darnton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. New York: Basic Books, 1984.
Duby, Georges. France in the Middle Ages 987-1460. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991.
Gildea, Robert.  Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799-1914.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2008.
Jones, Colin. Cambridge Illustrated History of France. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994.
Kritzman, Lawrence D.  Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought.  New York, Columbia  UP, 2006.
Nora, Pierre, ed.   Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past.  New York: Columbia UP, 1996.
Weber, Eugen Joseph. My France: Politics, Culture, Myth. Cambridge [MA]: Belknap, 1991.
Winock, Michel.  Parlez-moi de la France.  Paris: Seuil--Points, 1997.