Study Abroad in Paris with CIEE | Critical & Francophone Studies

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Study Abroad in Paris

Program Overview

Come to Paris for an experience that challenges, enlightens, and inspires.

The CIEE Critical and Francophone Studies program, works to open a critical space in which you can consider movements in French, European and international thought, art, society, and culture. You’ll integrate into renowned Parisian institutions, and to enjoy an engaging approach to Paris, and the dynamism of French, European, and global intellectual and artistic culture.

Study abroad in Paris and you will:

Take courses in critical studies focusing on French theory in cinema, the arts, writing, and critical thought and Francophone Studies in contemporary French society and culture
Study entirely in French, with a strong emphasis on the French intellectual tradition and emergent global thought
Direct enrollment in the Université de Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle or the Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7), allowing direct engagement in Parisian university life
Visit exhibits, film festivals, and lectures, and take day excursions to places near and in Paris and academically-structured weekend excursions to other cities

The CIEE Difference

Coursework

In Paris you’ll find a unique two-track study abroad program which helps to concentrate your studies. The Critical Studies track offers you a range of courses in the fields of cinema and visual studies, text and language, intellectual history and critique. The Francophone studies track allows you to achieve a clear understanding of the political, social, and cultural complexity that characterizes contemporary France.

All courses are conducted exclusively in French and are aimed at developing your ability not just to write and speak, but to think in French.

Excursions

CIEE resident staff organize regular local outings to cultural activities in Paris, such as special exhibits, film festivals, and lectures. Day trips to sites close to Paris such as Chartres and its cathedral, the chateau in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Reims, or Monet’s home and garden in Giverny, are also organized for all CIEE students. Weekend trips have taken students to the Drôme, Normandy, Burgundy, Brittany, Bordeaux, and Alsace.

Volunteer and community service opportunities, particularly in the field of education, can be arranged by CIEE staff.

Dates, Deadlines & Fees

We want to make sure you get the most out of your experience when you study abroad with CIEE, which is why we offer the most inclusions in our fees.

Tuition and housing
Pre-departure advising and optional on-site airport meet and greet
Full-time program leadership and support
Field trips and cultural activities
CIEE iNext travel card which provides insurance and other travel benefits

Please note, program dates are subject to change. Please contact your CIEE Study Abroad Advisor before purchasing airfare. Click the

button to view more detailed information about dates and fees.

Program

Application Due

Start Date

End Date

Costs

Fall 2013 (15 wks)

Extended to: 05/01/2013

09/06/2013

12/21/2013

$17,650

Program Fees

In addition to the items outlined below, the CIEE program fee includes an optional on-site airport meet and greet, full-time leadership and support, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, pre-departure advising, and a CIEE iNext travel card which provides insurance and other travel benefits.

Participation Confirmation *

$300

Educational Costs **

$12,748

Housing ***

$4,500

Insurance

$102

This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.

Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.

* non-refundable

** direct cost of education charged uniformly to all students

*** Breakfast and one meal per week is included for students who choose to live with a French host. No weekly meals are included for students staying in studio apartments.

Estimated Additional Costs

Meals not included in program fee *

$2,600

International Airfare **

$1,550

Local Transportation

$475

Books & Supplies

$200

Visa Fees ***

$165

Potential travel to consulate for visa

$500

Personal expenses

$3,000

The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.

* for students in studio apartments. Students living with a French host should budget $1,800 for meals not included in the program fee.

** round-trip based on U.S. East Coast departure

*** average cost, including Campus France fees

Spring 2013 (18 wks)

11/15/2012

01/09/2013

05/18/2013

$18,850

Program Fees

In addition to the items outlined below, the CIEE program fee includes an optional on-site airport meet and greet, full-time leadership and support, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, pre-departure advising, and a CIEE iNext travel card which provides insurance and other travel benefits.

Participation Confirmation *

$300

Educational Costs **

$13,948

Housing ***

$4,500

Insurance

$102

This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.

Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.

* non-refundable

** direct cost of education charged uniformly to all students

*** Breakfast and one meal per week is included for students who choose to live with a French host. No weekly meals are included for students staying in studio apartments.

Estimated Additional Costs

Meals not included in program fee *

$2,600

International Airfare **

$1,550

Local Transportation

$475

Books & Supplies

$200

Visa Fees ***

$165

Potential travel to consulate for visa

$500

Personal expenses

$3,000

The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.

* for students in studio apartments. Students living with a French host should budget $1,800 for meals not included in the program fee.

** round-trip based on U.S. East Coast departure

*** average cost, including Campus France fees

Spring 2014

11/01/2013

to be announced

Program Fees

This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.

Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.

Estimated Additional Costs

The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.

Academic year 2013-2014

Extended to: 05/01/2013

09/06/2013

to be announced

$34,700

Program Fees

In addition to the items outlined below, the CIEE program fee includes an optional on-site airport meet and greet, full-time leadership and support, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, pre-departure advising, and a CIEE iNext travel card which provides insurance and other travel benefits.

Participation Confirmation *

$300

Educational Costs **

$25,298

Housing ***

$9,000

Insurance

$102

This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.

Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.

* non-refundable

** direct cost of education charged uniformly to all students

*** Breakfast and one meal per week is included for students who choose to live with a French host. No weekly meals are included for students staying in studio apartments.

Estimated Additional Costs

Meals not included in program fee *

$5,200

International Airfare **

$1,550

Local Transportation

$950

Books & Supplies

$400

Visa Fees ***

$165

Potential travel to consulate for visa

$500

Personal expenses

$6,000

The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.

* for students in studio apartments. Students living with a French host should budget $1,800 for meals not included in the program fee.

** round-trip based on U.S. East Coast departure

*** average cost, including Campus France fees

3.0 Overall GPA

Eligibility

Overall GPA 3.0
5 semesters of college-level French or equivalent
Demonstrated interest in critical theory and coursework in one or more of the following areas: philosophy, semiotics, film studies, visual studies, gender studies, cultural studies, French, or comparative literature

Recommended Credit

Total recommended credit for the fall semester is 16 semester/24 quarter hours; 15 semester/22.5 quarter hours for the spring semester; and 31 semester/46.5 quarter hours for the academic year.

Contact hours for all CIEE courses are 45 hours and recommended credit is 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours per course, unless otherwise indicated.

Recommended credit for most Université de Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle courses is 31 hours and 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours per course.

Recommended credit for most Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7) classes is 45 hours and 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours per course.

Program Requirements

During the academic pre-session, all study abroad students take the intensive French writing and research program. Each student also meets with the professor once a week for a half-hour private tutorial.

During the remainder of the semester, participants are required to take a minimum of four courses: the two required CIEE courses, and two electives, one of which must be a Université de Paris course. Students are highly encouraged to take both of their elective classes at the Université de Paris.

Academic year students must take a minimum of five courses in the spring semester. All-year students in the Paris Critical and Francophone Studies program are highly encouraged to take all of their classes at the Université de Paris during their second semester.

About The City

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Paris remains a stage upon which cultural life is played. Its landscape is beaded by such sites of learning as the Sorbonne, Collège de France, and Collège International de Philosophie. Its famous museums and galleries display a vast wealth of artifacts that continue to both inspire and challenge artists and observers. Against the backdrop of its millennia of history, cut through by the river Seine, spring hundreds of cinemas, a multitude of book shops, historical and current graffiti, cultural cafés, and concert halls.

Meet The Staff

Brent Keever

Dr. Brent Keever received his B.A. in English and Literary Criticism from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in English and Modern Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has taught and lectured all over the U.S. and France, on such topics as satire and humor, the literary and cinematic representations of sound, mysticism, and technology, and ethics in cartoons. His research interests include the history of critical theory and criticism, film studies, musicology, and modernist poetry and prose. An avid translator and film sub-titler, he has worked with the French children’s literature group, l’école des loisirs, as well as with French politicians. He is currently working on a project that throws into question certain theories about listening and sharing.

Lucie Laureillard

Lucie Laureillard, Student Well-Being and Housing Coordinator for the CIEE Paris center, has a Master’s in French Language Teaching and is a doctoral candidate in linguistics at the Université de Paris VIII, working on theater and language learning. She is a professor of French in the CFS program, and is the Director of the Paris Gap Year Abroad program.

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Jean-Philippe Primout

Jean-Philippe Primout, Center Coordinator, has an M.A. in Foreign Language Instruction and a second Master’s in European Studies. Jean-Philippe is a professor of French in the CFS program and teaches the Seminar on Living and Learning. He is responsible for excursions and overall coordination of the center. He is also Director of CIEE Paris' Summer Language and Culture program.

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Where You'll Study

The CIEE Study Center in Paris, known as the Paris Center for Critical Studies, is on the rue du Sentier in the lively, central Sentier neighborhood, in the 2nd arrondissement. The Center is less than a minute away from the Grands Boulevards, a 10-minute walk to the Palais Royal, and a 15-minute walk to the Louvre. Courses taught by CIEE-hired faculty take place in the Center. All Paris Critical Studies students must take at least one course at either the Université de Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, a 30-minute bus-ride away, or Paris Rive Gauche campus of the Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7), or through the Collège International de Philosophie, many of whose seminars take place at the Paris Center for Critical Studies.

Housing & Meals

Housing is included in the study abroad program fee. CIEE provides detailed information on site about the student’s housing placement, whether it be in a small furnished studio or a furnished room where the student will share kitchen, bath, and living areas with a French host. The host option is highly recommended because living with the French is an excellent cultural and linguistic experience. Both housing options require flexibility and willingness to adapt to the French lifestyle, and ongoing communication with the CIEE resident staff about expectations and needs.

Breakfast and some other meals, including a welcome dinner and other group meals, are provided during the orientation period. If students choose the French host option, breakfast each day and one additional meal a week is provided during their stay. No meals are provided in the studio option.

Orientations

You'll begin your study abroad experience in Paris even before leaving home by participating in a CIEE online pre-departure orientation. Meeting with students online, the resident director shares information about the program and site, highlighting issues that alumni have said are important, and giving you time to ask questions. The online orientation allows you to connect with others in the group, reflect on what you want to get out of the program, and learn what others in the group would like to accomplish. CIEE’s aim for the pre-departure orientation is simple—to help you understand more about the program, and identify your objectives so that you arrive well-informed and return home having made significant progress towards your goals.

A three-day mandatory on-site orientation program is devoted to safety and security, academics, practical matters, finances, housing, and cultural differences. Walking tours will orient you to different neighborhoods in Paris. Cultural activities, such as museum visits, are also planned. Group meetings are held throughout the semester and staff is always available for one-on-one consultation.

Internet

You are strongly encouraged to bring a wireless-enabled laptop. Wireless internet access is available at the CIEE Study Center for your use.

Academics

The Critical and Francophone Studies offers students with five or more semesters of college-level French two tracks:

The Critical Studies track offers study abroad students a range of courses in the fields of cinema and visual studies, text and language, and intellectual history and critique. All courses are conducted exclusively in French and devoted to widening a student’s ability not just to write and speak, but to think in French. By mastering the rhetorical twists and turns of this foreign language, students gain a finer understanding of the texts, films, discourses, and ideas that they encounter both in the classroom and in the hive of debate and creation that is Paris. Students are directed toward courses that focus on the important role signs and representations play in how thought and meaning are created, on the place of fiction in fact, and on the place of force and fantasy in philosophy.

This study abroad program should be seen as a springboard, helping students define their own theoretical project and offering the critical tools needed to succeed in Université de Paris courses. The perspective we strive to offer has helped former students better define their own academic life, with a number of them continuing their studies in critical theory, cinema and visual studies, comparative literature, and French on a graduate level, both in the U.S. and France.

The Francophone studies track allows students to achieve a clear understanding of the political, social, and cultural complexity that characterizes contemporary France. This includes diversity, multiculturalism, cultural mixing (métissage), and "national identity," as well as religious diversity and secularism (laicité). Students will analyze culture—art, architecture, literature, popular culture, film—in a social context in order to characterize their own experience in cultural terms. Students will communicate with peers about cultural differences and come to understand the French educational system.

Both tracks require students to take a least one university course at the Université de Paris Diderot or Sorbonne Nouvelle.

Academic Culture

French language study begins with an intensive language program. The regular semester French language classes meet twice a week. Language classes have a maximum of 12 students. Tutoring and speech therapy sessions are available for students with demonstrated need. Language instruction uses a variety of materials (newspapers, magazines, films, and videos), and classes are taught entirely in French.

Content courses typically meet twice a week.

Université de Paris course hours vary from two to three hours a week. Students also spend three to four hours a week reading and doing independent research outside of class. Film courses generally require an additional two-hour film screening to prepare for class discussions and lectures. Program courses also integrate mandatory outings to museums, exhibitions, conferences, and other cultural events.

Fall semester CIEE courses begin in late August and end in mid-December. Spring semester CIEE courses start in mid-January and end in late May, with a two-week spring break at Easter.

Université de Paris fall classes begin in late September and end in mid-December. In the spring, classes begin in mid-January and end in early May.

There are striking differences between higher education in France and the U.S. Most lower-level French university courses traditionally consist of lectures by the professor and note-taking by students, with little discussion and participation. Formal oral presentations are a standard feature in many courses. The teaching approach tends to be more formal, and professors in France are less likely to interact with students. Consequently, great importance is attached to strong French writing skills and the ability to articulate one’s ideas, present solid arguments, and convince a reader of a particular viewpoint.

Professors in France expect students to assume greater responsibility for their learning, determine their own study and reading schedules, and work independently. This implies motivation, self-discipline, organizational skills, and a willingness to adapt to a less structured environment and different educational philosophy. The experience contributes to the development of critical thinking and research skills, and we at the Paris Center for Critical Studies are always there to answer questions and guide students through this academic adventure.

Nature of Classes

CIEE classes are with study abroad participants only. Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7) and Université de Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle courses are with French and other international students.

CIEE Community Language Commitment

Students take part in the CIEE Community Language Commitment by speaking French at all times (except in emergencies). This fosters a learning community that contributes to both French language proficiency and understanding of French society.

Grading System

All CIEE courses are taught in French, and study abroad students must write research papers, give oral presentations, and take written exams in French. Most courses also assume background knowledge of major trends, movements, or figures, and familiarity with key theoretical concepts within that field. Final course grades are based on a combination of mid-term and final examinations, research papers, and oral presentations. Professors use the French grading scale of zero to 20. French grades are converted by the resident director into U.S. letter grades.

Language of Instruction

French

Faculty

All Critical and Francophone Studies professors are from such renowned institutions as the Université de Paris 3, Paris 7, Paris 8, and the Collège International de Philosophie. Active researchers and figures in the fields of cinema, visual arts, textual analysis, and critical theory, these professors offer Critical Studies students the tools and methods necessary to engage in the intellectual and academic life of Paris.

Course Description

All Courses

Note: This course listing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a contract between CIEE and any applicant, student, institution, or other party. The courses, as described, may be subject to change as a result of ongoing curricular revisions, assignment of lecturers and teaching staff, and program development. Courses may be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment.

CIEE Study Center Syllabi

To view the most recent syllabi for courses taught by CIEE at our Study Centers, visit our syllabi site.

Required CIEE Academic Pre-Session Course

FREN 3503 PCCS

Intensive French Writing and Research Program
The Intensive French Writing and Research Program is designed to improve students’ French writing, research, and argumentative skills by providing key linguistic tools and opportunities for hands-on practice. Goals include improving pronunciation, expanding vocabulary, learning to discuss more fluently, accurately, and effectively, structuring and researching oral presentations, and successfully writing papers according to French norms. The program also prepares Critical Studies students for their semester by integrating the discovery of a landmark Parisian neighborhood (Montmartre and/or Montparnasse) into the class. Contact hours: 40 hours over 2 weeks plus tutorials. Recommended credit: 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours.Instructors: Marie- Christine Ricci and Dominique Bendelian

Required CIEE Courses—Fall and Spring

FREN 3001 PCCS

Writing Workshop
(Required course except for academic year students in the spring semester)
This course focuses on French rhetoric, expository prose, argumentative and stylistic elements, and complex grammatical structures in order to enable students to express their ideas more accurately and effectively when writing and researching academic work. Emphasis is placed on syntactic complexity, lexical nuances, and stylistic variations. Raw material for writing and research is furnished by a structured exploration of the history and culture of the St. Germain des Près neighborhood, known for its jazz, existentialism, and theater. Instructor: Marie-Christine Ricci

FRST 3001 PCCS

Theory and Method in Critical Studies
(Required course for Critical Studies track except for academic year students in the spring semester)
This course explores the disciplines that make up Critical Studies. Its goal is to give students a grounding in the major theories that have enriched French thought in the late 20th century. Through active participation in theory workshops, the close reading of selected texts, weekly structured outings to critical sites in Paris, and lectures given by leading figures in French theory today, students gain an understanding of the influences that structuralism, existentialism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, feminism, and postcolonial theory hold on the French critical imagination. The course provides a structure through which students make connections between their other courses in the Center and at the Université de Paris, and end up with a critical theory “toolbox” for further studies. This course if for Critical Studies track students only. Instructor: Brent Keever, CIEE Resident Director

CIEE Elective Course—Fall and Spring

CLST 3001 PCCS

Seminar on Living and Learning in Paris
The CIEE Seminar on Living and Learning in Paris, taught in French, is designed to improve students’ intercultural communication and competence while studying abroad by considering how the French are different from, and similar to, themselves and others. The course offers opportunities, both in and outside the classroom, to develop insights and the skills necessary to interact effectively and appropriately, and to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the cultural richness of France. Contact hours: 25. Recommended credit: 2 semester/3 quarter hours.

FREN 3002 PCFS

French Phonetics
This course is a systematic study of sound in the French language. Emphasis is on proper pronunciation, as well as the classification and transcription of French vowels and consonants. It also includes a comparative analysis with English phonetics. Instructor: Anne-Marie Ollier

Collège International de Philosophie
Le Collège international de philosophie est un lieu où s'engagent et se croisent des pratiques philosophiques inédites. Le travail s'y organise autour de trois axes : la recherche, la formation à la recherche et l'ouverture au public. Le concept principal de son dispositif théorique est celui d'intersection, qui structure le rapport de la philosophie aux autres champs disciplinaires.

The Collège International de Philosophie was founded in 1983 by Jacques Derrida, François Châtelet, Dominique Lecourt, and J-P Faye and has since gathered thinkers and scholars from all over the world who experiment with new, hitherto-unheard-of ways of exploring society, art, philosophy, politics, and education with leading French, European, and international intellectuals. Critical Studies track students with a precise research project may choose to enroll in the following course:

PHIL 4001 PCCS

Structured Seminars in Philosophy
Students with an advanced level of French are encouraged to participate in seminars and conferences at the Collège International de Philosophie, an autonomous academic institution administered by the Ministry of Culture that offers a variety of specialized seminars with leading French intellectuals. Students may propose a course project that articulates several seminars around a guiding research project. This course is for Critical Studies track students only.Contact hours: 36. Recommended credit: 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours.

Previous Critical Studies projects with the Collège have included such subjects as: Applied Epistemology and Education, Enlightenment Formalism and Machine Forms, French Cultural and Philosophical Intersections, Hélène Cixous, Human, Plant, Machine Consciousness, Identity and Trauma, The Base and Future and National Identity, The Ends of Man and the Other, The Limits of Subjectivization, The Physics of Contemporary Creation, The Subject of the Signifier, The Aesthetics of Appropriation, Exile, Language and the Limits of Colonization, Mysticism and Technology, The Philosophy of Violence, Feminine Subjectivities and Identities, Justice and the Critique of the Enlightenment, and Human Rights and Revolution in the “Arab Spring.”

To learn more about the CIPh, visit www.ciph.org. To learn more about University of Paris classes: Paris 3 and Paris Diderot.

Elective CIEE Courses—Fall

AHIS 3002 PCCS

Aesthetics/Visual Arts
The French Avant-Garde in the 20th Century: From Realism to Surrealism From the 19th century scandals of the paintings of Courbet to the experiments of the Surrealists who would dare organize the meeting of “a sewing machine and an umbrella upon the dissecting table,” Paris has witnessed a succession of avant-garde artistic movements. This course considers the question of modernism and modernity at the heart of those movements that throw into question the Beautiful, Realism, and Surrealism. Instructor: Nicolas Baudouin

AHIS 3003 PCCS

From Aesthetics to Art Criticism
This course examines philosophical and literary texts related to changing definitions of beauty and standards of aesthetic taste over time, as well as the emergence of aesthetics as a structured discipline in the humanities and its evolution in contemporary literature around art, art criticism, and artistic technique. Works studied may include texts by Baudelaire, Benjamin, Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Didi-Huberman, Agamben, and Rancière. Instructor: Anne Bourse

Gender Studies

GEND 3002 PCCS

Paris Travesti
This course explores how transplanted, translated, transitory, and transgressive sexual identities have and do fuel avant-garde artistic expression and theoretical debate in modern and contemporary French culture. A study of the works of such creators as Irigaray, Butler, Genet, Cixous, and Lacan help students understand the historical, critical context within which gender and sexuality are done and undone within the French and Francophone context. Instructor: Anaïs Frantz de Spot

Independent Research

INDR 3003 PCCS

Directed Independent Research
CIEE supports qualified students who wish to pursue an academically rigorous independent research project while in Paris. Interested students must submit a research proposal including a clearly defined research topic, explanation of research plans, description of preparation in the planned area of study, list of resources, tentative outline of a final paper, and suggested schedule of progress. Students complete a total of 135 hours of research and meet regularly with an academic advisor to complete an academically rigorous, ethically sound, and culturally appropriate research project and final paper. Approval for participation in Directed Independent Research must be obtained from the resident director and the student’s home institution prior to arrival on the program.

Literature

LITT 3009 PCCS

Francophone Writers and the Question of Identity: North African and Sub-Saharan Literature
This course examines the origins of the concept of being francophone as well as themes evoked in the works of French-speaking African writers: alienation and exile, the effects of colonialism, the search for identity, and the role of language. Authors studied include Aime Cesaire, Leopold Senghor, Abdelkebir Khatibi, Assia Djebar, and Calixthe Beyala. Instructor: Arafat Sadallah

Philosophy

PHIL 4001 PCCS

Structured Seminars in Philosophy
Students with an advanced level of French are encouraged to participate in seminars and conferences at the Collège International de Philosophie, an autonomous academic institution administered by the Ministry of Culture that offers a variety of specialized seminars with leading French intellectuals. Students may propose a course project that articulates several seminars around a guiding research project. This course is only open to students in the Critical Studies track. Contact hours: 36. Recommended credit: 3 semester/ 4.5 quarter hours.

Elective CIEE Courses —Spring

Aesthetics/Visual Arts

AHIS 3006 PCCS

Histories of Cinema and Images: Godard & Co.
Starting from a study of Histoire(s) Du Cinema by Jean-Luc Godard, this course explores the varying aspects of the notion of the fixed and moving image to question boundaries that separate artistic disciplines. The cinematic presentation of such creators as Goya, Picasso, Renoir, and Passolini, and the works of such thinkers as Benjamin, Blanchot, Deleuze, Barthes, Stiegler, and Rancière are studied. Instructor: Anne Bourse

AHIS 3007 PCCS

20th and 21st Century Art: What’s So French About Contemporary French Art?
After World War II, Paris loses its status as the capital of modern art to the city of New York. Numerous artists, nevertheless, have continued to work in Paris, nourishing its dynamic and diverse artistic scene and giving rise to a certain contemporary French art. This course considers the actors on this artistic scene from the 1950s to today and attempts to understand the “French cultural exception” in the theory and practice of contemporary art. Instructor: Nicolas Baudouin

Film Studies

LITT 3004 PCFS

From Page to Screen: Classic French Novels as Films
(spring only)
This class examines five classic texts that have been adapted for the screen. The two forms of the work are compared in the context of a discussion on genre and the process of adaptation itself. Authors to be studied include Jules Verne, Balzac, Zola, Pagnol, Gide, and Houellebecq. Instructor: Claire de Obaldia

French

FREN 3002 PCCS

Advanced Writing Workshop
(An elective course for academic year students who have completed FREN 3001 PCCS)
This course deepens students’ understanding of some of the more complex rhetorical and stylistic aspects of French argument and writing. Through a thorough analysis of traditional and experimental French literary forms (from La Fontaine to the Oulipoand Barthes to Deleuze’s Abécédaire, for example), students gain insight into some of the finer lexical and syntactic nuances of the French language, perfecting their control of such difficult French forms as the subjunctive, passé simple, and plus-que-parfait du subjonctif through the writing of polemics, critiques, and tales. Instructor: Marie-Christine Ricci

Gender Studies

GEND 3001 PCCS

Gender and Difference
This course offers an investigation into the major theories of gender, sex, and sexuality that have been articulated in France over the last 30 years, and the ways in which these ideas have at times been appropriated in the U.S. Emphasis is given to the concept of sexual difference as it is employed by Freud and Lacan, and to the feminist criticism of Cixous, Irigaray, and Kristeva. Instructor: Diogo Sardinha

Literature and French Studies

FRST 3002 PCCS

Metaphors of Translation: Theory and Practice
This course explores past and current debates about the theory of translation, from Babel to Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin and beyond, as well as offers students the opportunity to hone skills in translating from French into English and English into French. Students discuss and translate literary and theoretical texts, and intermittently attend workshops with translators working in France. Instructor: Pascale Sardin

FRST 3004 PCCS/POLI 3002 PCCS

The Poetics and Politics of Postcolonial Identities
This interdisciplinary course explores the impact of colonization and the post-colonial on the construction of identities from the Enlightenment to today. By first focusing on the ambiguities of the colonial mission that would both dominate and welcome, educate and oppress, this course will then attempt to deconstruct the postcolonial relationship between language and bodies, the politics of decolonisation and postcolonisation, and link this analysis to the problem of gender. The works of Memmi, Khatibi, Duras, Genet, Derrida, Nancy, Denis, Djebar and Glissant will be studied. Instructors: Anaïs Frantz de Spot and Arafat Abdallah.

Philosophy

PHIL 3006 PCCS

Subjectivity on the Brink
This course examines the ways in which the notion of human subjectivity has gone through a radical sea of change in contemporary critical thought. Starting with a revision of Descartes’ cogito as a primary element of subjective knowledge and moral action, students explore the phenomenological challenges of y, Merleau-Ponty, the existentialist dynamics of Lévinas and Sartre, and the “limit subjectivity” explored by Derrida and Foucault. Instructor: Elena Bovo

PHIL 4001 PCCS

Structured Seminars in Philosophy
Students with an advanced level of French are encouraged to participate in seminars and conferences at the Collège International de Philosophie, an autonomous academic institution administered by the Ministry of Culture that offers a variety of specialized seminars with leading French intellectuals. Students may propose a course project that articulates several seminars around a guiding research project. This class is only open to students in the Critical Studies track. Contact hours: 36. Recommended credit: 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours.

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