Schedule

 


Week 1: Introduction to the Course and to France
Wednesday
August 23

Introduction to the Course

IN CLASS:

  • Welcome, introductions, why study French history, revolution, war, empire

quick ASSIGNMENTs after class:

  • Make sure that you can log in to Moodle and find our course Moodle page. This is where you will upload weekly assignments.
  • Make sure that you can find the Course Schedule on our course web site. Make sure you can log in to our password-protected Additional Course Readings page. The password is on the printed syllabus.
Friday
August 25

Introduction to France: Geography and Historical Inheritances 

Read/Watch before class:

  • Stovall, Transnational France, Introduction, 1-11
  • “The Animated History of France” – yes, it’s kind of a joke, but might help you find France on a map – at https://youtu.be/ZNk2QOn9oGE
  • We’ll cover much of this ground in class. (But it does include some distracting cliches). “Geography Now! France” at https://youtu.be/g0QrBphsioM

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • Where is France? What are some central features of its geography?
  • What are the most important historical inheritances of France at the beginning of our period?
  • What is transnationalism? What is universalism? What does Stovall mean when he says that France is a universal nation?

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

  • First, complete the following exercise. Using Google Maps – http://maps.google.com/ touch down in ten places in France and its territories. Take some notes on what you see. Browse street view images. You can go anywhere you like, really, but try to touch down in places that look different from one another. If you are at a loss, you might look to:
    • Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
    • the Old Port of Marseilles
    • industrial cities such as Lille or Clermont-Ferrand
    • historic cities such as Orléans
    • major cities such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg
    • villages in central France, the Alps, western France
    • part of the DOM-TOM (Overseas Departments and Territories) such as Guadeloupe or Réunion.
    • Or some places that are going to come up in the course: Versailles, Verdun, Cherbourg, Vichy
  • Write a short writing assignment to reflect on what you’ve seen. This is a very open-ended assignment. No research is expected. You might: describe the variety of what you see, ask some questions about urban planning/architecture/landscape/ways people live, draw some tentative conclusions. Ideally, you’d like to address the question: What do these sights tell us about French history? Write 300-500 words in clear, organized prose. If you use a quotation, a paraphrase, or ideas you’ve found elsewhere, you may cite with a simple parenthetical citation (author and page number) for now. I provide a Sample Short Paper that includes more details on format for future writing assignments.
  • Due Friday at 1pm before class meets. Submit electronically and bring a printed copy to class. Submit electronically to Moodle as a docx or pdf. Print a hard copy to bring to class. Print double sided if possible. Staple all pages if there are more than one.

IN CLASS:

      • Discuss what we saw on our virtual tours
      • An introduction to the geography of France
      • An introduction to the historical inheritance of early modern France



 

Week 2: The French Revolution and Napoleon

Monday
August 28

The Old Regime in Crisis to the Liberal Revolution

READING:

  • Stovall, pp. 13-30
  • Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen – see Moodle readings folder – here
  • Listen to – and read the English lyrics to – “The Marseillaise” (1792) – on Moodle here

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What was so foundational about the French Revolution?
  • Why does Stovall describe it as a world revolution?
  • What was France’s place in Europe in 1789?
  • What was the Enlightenment – and what does it have to do with the Revolution?
  • Why was the French monarchy in crisis before 1789?
  • What were the defining features of the “Liberal Revolution”
  • What do you make of the “Declaration of Rights of Man and CiItizen”? Radical? Reasonable?
  • What do you make of the lyrics of “The Marseillaise”?

CLASS:

Wednesday

August 30

Revolution and Terror

READING:

  • Stovall, pp. 30-52
  • “Popular Movements Beyond the Convention,” documents from The French Revolution – Document Collection – see Moodle readings folder – here

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What was the radical revolution?
  • What are some keywords of this revolution? (for example, citizen)
  • Why did the revolution turn?
  • How was the revolution viewed from afar? From Britain? From Saint-Domingue (Haiti)?
  • Who were the sans-culottes?
  • Who was Robespierre?
  • What was “Thermidor”?
  • Who was this Napoleon?

IN CLASS:
Friday
September 1

Napoleon & The Revolutionary Tradition

READING:

  • Robert Darnton, “What Was Revolutionary About the French Revolution,” New York Review of Books, Jan. 1989 – see Moodle readings folder – here
  • Visit webpage: “The Legacy of Jacques-Louis David” (at The Met)
    • read/skim front page text
    • view carefully – and read about – “The Death of Socrates”
  • Visit webpage: “Important Art By Jacques-Louis David” (at The Art Story)
    • read about and take a good look at: Bonaparte Crossing the St Bernard Pass (1800) and The Coronation of the Emperor and Empress (1805-07)

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What does “the Revolution” stand for? For Darnton? For others? For you?
  • What images and symbols did the Revolution generate?
  • What is its historical legacy?
  • What was Jacques-Louis David’s place in the Revolution?
  • How did he portray Napoleon in his art?
  • What does art tell us about the past, anyway?

IN CLASS:

Week 3: The World of Les Misérables!
Monday
September 4

Les Misérables I

I’ll be out on Monday and Wednesday, but come to class at the usual time to watch the first part of the 2012 production of Les Misérables and to think about nineteenth-century France. I ask you to do some textbook reading on Monday and a bit of background and commentary on Wednesday. On both of these days, I want you to stop the film with 10-12 minutes left in class so you can discuss the study questions and the film. I’ll be back to talk about all of this with you on Friday.

READ BEFORE CLASS:

  • Stovall, pp. 55-59, 69-84

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • When do the events described in the film (and the novel before it) take place?
  • How does Stovall describe the changes in France between 1815 and 1852? (55ff)
  • In brief, what happened in Paris in July 1830? Some key names, words: Charles X, “three glorious days,” Louis Philippe. (69ff)
  • What was the impact of the industrial revolution in France in the 1830s and 40s? (71ff)
  • What was it like to be rich or poor in the July monarchy? (75ff)
  • What were the threats to the regime of the July Monarchy? And how did it respond?
  • What was socialism, feminism, bohemianism in early 19th c. France?

IN CLASS:

  • Watch Les Misérables (2012), first 40 mins.
  • Stop with 10-12 minutes left. Discuss study questions and film
Wednesday
September 6

Les Misérables II

Read BEFORE CLASS:

  • Read some reviews of the film and some encyclopedia entries on Victor Hugo, his 1862 novel, or the 1832 revolt at the heart of the book – see Les Mis Readings Folder on Moodle for a few of these. You can use others online

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • Who was Victor Hugo?
  • When was Les Misérables written?
  • What is the message of the film?

IN CLASS:

  • Watch Les Mis (2012), next 40 mins.
  • Discuss film and study questions
Friday
September 8

Les Misérables III

READ BEFORE CLASS:

  • Charles Walton, “The Missing Half of Les Mis,” Foreign Affairs (2013) – in Les Mis Readings Folder on Moodle 
  • And don’t forget to prepare for the Map Quiz

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • According to Walton, what is missing from the film?
  • What do you make of the film (so far)?

IN CLASS:

Week 4: 1848, The Second Empire and the Making of Modern Paris
Monday
September 11

1848!

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 2, “Restoration, Revolution, and Empire: France 1815-1852” selections (on 1848, Napoleon III), pp. 84-92, 93-97.
  • Karl Marx, excerpts from “The Class Struggle in France” (1850) and “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon” (1852). Read editor’s introduction carefully and try to make sense of Marx’s arguments, without worrying about references you might not understand.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What happened in the spring and summer of 1848? Why?
  • What does Marx describe as the difference between the revolutions of February and June?
  • What does Marx say about Napoleon’s coup?
  • And about history?
Wednesday
September 13

Napoleon III

REAd Before class:

  • Stovall, ch. 3, “Imperial Democracy? France Under the Second Empire, 1852-1870” selections (on Europe and the world, the Authoritarian Empire, etc.). Read pp. 99-118, skim pp. 119-124.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What did Napoleon III’s rule look like?
  • What was France’s role in the world?
  • What did empire look like in these years?
Friday
September 15

Paris of the Second Empire

Read Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 4, “Paris: The Making of a World Capital” selections (Haussmanization, cultures of modernity), pp. 125-137.
  • Sample some of the art of Haussmannized Paris:
    • “Modern Paris” at the National Gallery of Art. Online here.
    • Take a close look at Edouard Manet, “The Railway” (1873). Online here.
    • Take a close look at Claude Monet, “Boulevard des Capucines” (1873). Online here.
  • Charles Baudelaire, “The Swan” (1857) from Flowers of Evil (on additional readings page and Moodle readings folder) 

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

      • On the theme of revolution. We’ve seen political revolutions and social revolutions in the history we have studied, from 1789 to the 1860s. We’ve thought about it from the point of view of Robespierre, the sans culottes, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, and the working poor of Paris (among others). Write a couple pages on revolution in French history. A simple prompt that can be addressed in one hundred ways: why is French history of the long nineteenth century marked by recurrent revolution? Use concrete examples to explain your answer.
      • Write 300-500 words in clear, organized prose. If you use a quotation, a paraphrase, or ideas you’ve found elsewhere, you need to cite your sources. See the Sample Short Paper for citation details. (On the course resources page)
      • Due Friday at 1pm before class meets. Submit electronically and bring a printed copy to class. Submit electronically to Moodle as a docx or pdf. Print a hard copy to bring to class. Print double sided if possible. Staple all pages if there are more than one.

Week 5: From the Paris Commune to the Eiffel Tower and More
Monday
September 18

Paris in Revolution and Its Aftermath

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 4, “Paris: The Making of a World Capital” selections (Paris Commune, Montmartre). Read pp. 137-161.
  • Reread Baudelaire, “The Swan” and bring to class

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • How did Parisians react to the Franco-Prussian war – and to the Prussian siege?
  • Who was Adolphe Thiers?
  • What were the forces that created the Paris Commune?
  • And what forces worked to crush it?
  • What was the impact of consumer culture upon Paris in the early Third Republic?
  • Where was Montmartre? And what culture thrived there? By the way, what was the Sacré Coeur of Montmartre?
  • How did Paris display itself to the world?
Wednesday
September 20

The Early Third Republic – in Triumph and Crisis

Read before class:

  • Stovall, ch. 5, “The Universal Republic” selections (second industrial revolution, the Republic, the Dreyfus Affair). Read pp. 165-171, skim pp 171-188, read 188-202.
  • Emile Zola, “J’Accuse” (1898) (on additional readings page and Moodle readings folder) 

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What’s so special about the Third Republic?
  • How was it firmly established in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune?
  • What were some important turning points in this process?
  • What were some achievements of the early Third Republic?
  • What were some challenges?
  • Who was Alfred Dreyfus? And what was the Dreyfus Affair?
  • What is the significance of 1905 (acc. to Stovall)

In Class:

  • List of French Regimes
  • Study guide for Exam #1
  • Films of the Lumière Brothers – (1895 and beyond) – examples
  • Introduce – and begin Germinal (1993)
Thursday September 21

 

Evening Film

Film at 7pm

Germinal, dir. Claude Berri, France (1993) in Lean Lecture Hall, starting promptly at 7pm.

Choices

    • Germinal, dir. Claude Berri, France (1993) – trailer
    • Gervaise, dir René Clément, France (1956) – details
    • Films of the Lumière Brothers (1895 and beyond) – examples (go to 2:16 for the first film)
    • Georges Meliès – magician turned filmmaker in fin de siècle France – The Dreyfus Affair (1899) – online here
    • Moulin Rouge!, dir. Baz Luhrmann, USA (2001) – trailer
Friday
September 22

Discuss Germinal and Prepare for First Exam

READ Before Class:

  • No required reading. Think about Germinal, which we will discuss, and read through the Exam #1 Study Guide to prepare for Monday’s exam
  • Recommended for those who want to think more about the fin de siècle: Eugen Weber, France Fin de Siècle (on additional readings page and Moodle readings folder) 

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

      • On Germinal. It is a contemporary film, but also – indirectly – a document that sheds some light on late nineteenth century France. Choose any element of the film: a scene, a character, a theme, a setting, and analyse it in light of the history we have been studying.
      • Write 300-500 words in clear, organized prose. If you use a quotation, a paraphrase, or ideas you’ve found elsewhere, you need to cite your sources. See the Sample Short Paper for citation details. (On the course resources page)
      • Due Friday at 1pm before class meets. Submit electronically and bring a printed copy to class. Submit electronically to Moodle as a docx or pdf. Print a hard copy to bring to class. Print double sided if possible. Staple all pages if there are more than one.

Week 6: Exam #1 & France Overseas and the Countryside

Monday
September 25

EXAM #1

  • Exam in class – usual time and place

Wednesday

September 27

The French Empire

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 6, “The Republican Empire,” pp. 205-230
  • Recommended for more:
    • Alice Conklin, “Colonialism and Human Rights, A Contradiction in Terms? The Case of France and West Africa, 1895-1914,” American Historical Review 103 (1998)

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What’s so funny about the idea of a “republican” empire?
  • What was new about imperialism in the late 19th c.?
  • Who was Jules Ferry and what was his role in French imperialism of the late 19th c.?
  • What was the scramble for Africa?
  • What were the old colonies? And the new?
  • What were the arguments in favor of empire in the late 19th c.?
Friday
September 29

The French Empire and the Countryside, c. 1900

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 6, “The Republican Empire,” pp. 230-240
  • Emilie Carles, A Life of Her Own, short selection

STUDY QUESTIONS:

    • What’s the difference between imperialism and colonialism?
    • How did French people experience the empire? Who participated in empire – and what did they do?
    • What was the impact of the empire upon France?
    • Where did Emilie Carles grow up?
    • What kind of life did she lead?
    • What does her story – as we’ve read it so far – tell us about France in 1900?
    • How would you compare the role of France in the colonies and France in the countryside?

In CLASS:

Week 7: The Great War
Monday
October 2

The Great War in Wide Perspective

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 7, “The Universal Nation in a World at War”
    • read intro, 243-245
    • skim 245-252 (world of 1900)
    • read 253-271 (road to war, the war, experience, empire)

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • The big questions to contemplate all week:
    • How did France find itself at war?
    • What was the impact of this war on France, on French men and women, on the French empire, and on the world?
  • What was the “belle epoque”?
  • Why did Europe go to war in 1914?
  • How did the French manage the demands of total war?
  • What was the nature of trench warfare?
  • What was Verdun?
  • What was the role of the empire in the war
  • Some key names and terms: Tour de France, Schlieffen Plan, union sacrée, Plan XVII, Joseph Joffre, miracle of the Marne, poilus, munitionnettes, bourrage de crâne, Christmas truce, Verdun, Douaumont, Volta-Bani war, tirailleurs sénégalais
Wednesday
October 4

The Experience of War & Its History

READ Before Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 7, “The Universal Nation in a World at War” finish)
    • read 271-279 (crisis, end of war)
  • Ann-Louise Shapiro, “The Fog of War: Writing the War Story Then and Now,” a review of 14-18: Understanding the Great War, by Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker, 2002. In History and Theory (2005)

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What were the crises of 1917?
  • Who was Pétain – and what was his role in the war?
  • Who was Clemenceau – and what was his role in the war?
  • How did the war end? What made the difference?
  • Some key names and terms: Chemin des Dames, Philippe Pétain, Henri Barbusse, Georges Clemenceau
  • Ann-Louise Shapiro provides an entryway into the historiography of WWI. How does she describe the way in which WWI was remembered in France?
  • This is a review article. What (does she suggest) is the major accomplishment of Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker?
Thursday October 5

Evening Film

Film at 7pm

Paths of Glory, dir. Stanley Kubrick, U.S. in English (1957) in Kauke 143, starting promptly at 7pm.

Choices

    • Grand Illusion, dir. Jean Renoir, in French with English subtitles (1937), one of the greatest films of cinematic history – trailer
    • Paths of Glory, dir. Stanley Kubrick, U.S. in English (1957), with Kirk Douglas – trailer
    • A Very Long Engagement, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, in French with English subtitles (2004), a romantic war film and a French film without Gérard Depardieu (though it does star Audrey Tautou) – trailer
    • Indicate your choices here
Friday
October 6

Outcome of the Great War

READING:

  • No additional reading. We’ll think about the textbook reading, the historiography of WWI, and the film.

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

  • On the French experience of the First World War. This war – the Great War – had a powerful impact upon France. Indeed, much of the history that follows will unfold under the shadow of this war. Drawing upon the textbook, our sources, and/or the evening film, explain this impact.
  • Write 300-500 words in clear, organized prose. If you use a quotation, a paraphrase, or ideas you’ve found elsewhere, you need to cite your sources. See the Sample Short Paper for citation details. (On the course resources page)
  • Due Friday at 1pm before class meets. Submit electronically and bring a printed copy to class. Submit electronically to Moodle as a docx or pdf. Print a hard copy to bring to class. Print double sided if possible. Staple all pages if there are more than one.

FALL BREAK

Week 8: The Hopes and Fears of the Interwar Years
Monday
October 16

The Aftermath of War

READ BEFORE Class:

  • Stovall, ch. 8, “From One War to Another, The Universal Nation in Crisis”
    • Read/skim the entire chapter. Be sure to read pp. 281-283 (intro), 288-293 (prosperity & anxiety), 301-315 (imperial France, depression, ), 306-31

study questions:

  • What reasons were there for worry in the aftermath of war in France?
  • Stovall describes the interwar years as a time of crisis. He also describes these years, in Paris, as “one of the most brilliant periods of its history.” Why?
  • How, acc. to Stovall, did France’s leaders define the country as a “white nation, off-limits to people of color”?
  • How did the French economy change in the 1920s?
  • What new political parties and political formations appeared in the 1920s?
  • What were some examples of cultural innovation in the 20s and 30s (in avant garde art, in popular culture)?
  • How was the French empire changing in the interwar period?
  • How did France weather the Depression?
  • What was the Popular Front? And who was Léon Blum?
Wednesday
October 18

Gender Crisis in Postwar France

READ BEFORE CLASS:

  • Mary Louise Roberts, Civilization Without Sexes (1994), introduction

study questions:

  • How have the 1920s commonly been understood?
  • What were some signs of cultural despair in this period?
  • What view of men and women – of gender – comes through these expressions of postwar despair?
  • What does Roberts aim to do in this book?
  • How have other historians approached this topic?
  • Why was gender so central to the thinking of French observers in the 1920s?
  • What different images of women dominated postwar thinking?
  • What are the sources that Roberts uses to analyze the “reconstruction” of gender identities in postwar France?
Thursday Night

Thursday Night Film

Film:

  • Thursday, Oct 19, at 7pm
  • Grand Illusion, dir. Jean Renoir, in French with English subtitles (1937)
  • location: Kauke 143

CHOICES:

  • Grand Illusion. Dir. Jean Renoir, France, 1937, 1h 57m
  • Liberty For Us! Dir. René Clair, France, 1931, 1h 44m
Friday
October 20

The Popular Front and Its Demise

BEFORE CLASS:

  • No additional reading. We’ll use our time to sum up the interwar years, to discuss the film as a primary source, and to discuss our ideas for the research paper.

Research Paper – ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 – OR BEtter, BRING TO CLASS ON FRIDAY:

  • ** Statement of Research Interest Due **
  • See Research Paper assignment
  • Submit via email to gshaya@wooster.edu

Week 9: The Dark Years: Collaboration and Resistance in the Second World War
Monday
October 23

Vichy in Power

READ BEFORE CLASS:

  • Stovall, ch. 9, “France in World War II: Defeat and Rebirth of the Universal Nation”
    • Read pp. 323-341 (intro, phony war, national revolution, Vichy and the Jews)
  • Recommended (but not required)
    • Robert Paxton, “The National Revolution,” in Vichy France: Old Guard, New Order, 136-185
    • Paul Claudel, “Words to the Marshal,” in J.S. McClelland, ed., The French Right.
    • Constitutional Law and Initial Vichy Acts, in Cogan, ed., Charles de Gaulle, A Brief Biography

Study Questions

  • Why did France go to war? And why did it fail so completely in the summer of 1940?
  • What followed military defeat? What was Vichy? What were the other responses to defeat?
  • What were the policies of Vichy? What was the “national revolution”? And where did this all come from?
  • How did Jews in France experience this moment?
Wednesday
October 25

Resistance

READ BEFORE CLASS:

  • Stovall, ch. 9, “France in World War II: Defeat and Rebirth of the Universal Nation”
    • Read pp. 341-360 (Vichy colonies, life, the resistance, liberation)
  • Degaulle speech at the liberation of Paris – text here – and for fun, in French, the video here

Study Questions

  • How did the war – and Vichy – play out in the colonies?
  • What were the forces or the Resistance? What held them together? What divided them?
  • What did liberation look like? How did it prepare the way for the future?
  • How did Degaulle describe the liberation of Paris?
Friday
October 27

The Dark Years

Before Class:

  • Read the wikipedia entry on “The Sorrow and the Pity” for some basic background.
  • Watch the end of the film, from The Sorrow and the Pity, Part 2, chapter 12 to the end – available streaming on our Moodle page here
  • Optional reading, for those who want to know more:
    • Stanley Hoffmann, “On ‘The Sorrow and the Pity‘” Commentary (1972). As you can see, it begins as a film review but turns into something more.
  • No additional reading. We’ll discuss the experience of the resistance and the liberation, together with the film and your research papers.

Research Paper –  ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28:

  • ** Full Research Paper Proposal Due **
  • Submit via email to gshaya@wooster.edu
  • See the Research Paper assignment for full details

Week 10: Constructing Modern France – France in the Forties and Fifties
Monday
October 30

Frenchmen Into Europeans

READING:

  • Stovall, ch. 10, “The Fourth Republic: New Challenges for the Transnational Nation” selections
    • Rd. intro, from liberation to the fourth republic, cold war and coca-colonization, building a new France, pp. 363-383.

IN CLASS:

  • Clip on Robert Schumann and European integration
Wednesday
November 1

The Algerian War

READING:

  • Stovall, ch. 10, “The Fourth Republic: New Challenges for the Transnational Nation” selections (on Indochina and Algeria)
    • Rd. the Revolt Against Empire, Algerian War and the End of the Fourth Republic, pp. 383-397

IN CLASS:

  • Clip on Dien Bien Phu
  • Clip on Suez Crisis
  • Clip from “Battle of Algiers”

Thursday Night Film:

  • Thursday night film, 7pm, Kauke 143
  • Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Dir. Jacques Demy, music by Michel Legrand, 1964. 1h 31min. A charming musical melodrama, starring Catherine Deneuve. If you liked La La Land… one of the best known songs from the film
  • Mon Oncle (My Uncle). Dir. Jacques Tatii, 1958, 1h 57min. Comedic tale of Mr. Hulot, who cannot adjust to modern France… clip from the film
  • Vote here.
Friday
November 3

French Modern

READ:

  • Kristin Ross, “Starting Afresh: Hygiene and Modernization in Postwar France,” October 67 (1994)
  • Don’t read word for word! This is a 45 minute assignment in “gutting” an article. You should be able to answer the following questions:
    • What is the question that she sets out to answer
    • What is her answer – her historical argument?

IN CLASS:

  • Discuss film
  • Discuss Kristin Ross
  • Clip from Battle of Algiers

Week 11: France in the Sixties
Monday
November 6

France in the Sixties – Degaulle in Power

READ:

  • Stovall, ch. 11, “The Fifth Republic: A New Era for France” (selections)
    • Rd. intro, building the fifth republic, francophone world, la gloire, pp. 401-413

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • How did decolonization change France’s role in the world?
  • What shall we make of the rule of De Gaulle?
Wednesday
November 8

France in the Sixties – May ’68

READ:

  • Stovall, ch. 11, “The Fifth Republic: A New Era for France” (selections)
    • Rd. prosperity & consumer society, revolution, pp. 413-429
  • A brief account of 1968 in France from Mark Kurlansky
    • Mark Kurlansky, “Monsieur You Are Rotten”
      • Feel free to skim, but read the passages on Daniel Cohn-Bendit, pp. 218ff

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What were the forces that unfolded in the summer of 1968 in Paris?
  • What was the outcome of this political and social crisis?
  • Who was Danny the Red? And what did he represent?

IN CLASS:
Friday
November 10

Research Papers

READ:

  • Read individually on your research papers!
  • Bring sources – excerpts of primary sources or secondary sources – to class with your notes. Be prepared to talk about these

Research Paper –  ON SATURDAY, November 11:

  • First pages due. 3-4 pp. Might include: historical context, narrative, presentation of primary source

Week 12: After 1968 & Exam #2
Monday
November 13

The Aftermath of 1968

READ:

  • Stovall, ch. 11, “The Fifth Republic: A New Era for France” (selections)
    • Rd. end of postwar prosperity, socialist, pp. 429-437
  • Additional reading from Simone de Beauvoir (selections)
    • or Michel Foucault (selections)

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What were the legacies of 1968?
Wednesday
November 15

Taking Stock of Where We’ve Been

READ Before Class:

  • No required reading. Read through the Exam #2 Study Guide to prepare for Friday’s exam
Friday
November 17

EXAM #2

  • Exam in class – usual time and place

Week 13: Workshop Research Papers
Monday
November 20

Paper Workshop

PREPARATION

  • No reading.
  • Bring two copies of your Project Notes (see Course Resources for model)
  • Bring two copies of your draft (whatever you’ve written)
  • We will spend class period workshopping our research papers
Thanksgiving Break

Week 14: Postcolonial France: The Challenges of Globalization and Integration
Monday
November 27

Postcolonial France: Globalization and Immigration

READ

  • Stovall, ch. 12, “Postcolonial France: A New Universal Nation?” (selections)
    • Rd. intro, globalism, rose revolution, immigration, memories pp. 439-457

WATCH

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What was the wider context of the 1980s?
  • What was the “rose revolution”?
  • What has been the impact of immigration on contemporary France?
  • How has French historical memory changed in the last decades?
Wednesday
November 29

Postcolonial France: Contemporary France

READ

  • Stovall, ch. 12, “Postcolonial France: A New Universal Nation?” (selections)
  • Rd. end of 20th, new millenium, new right, pp. 457-472

IN CLASS:

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • How has France faced the new millenium? What have been the challenges and opportunities of this time?
  • What is the new right in France today? What are the forces that have supported it?
  • All told, how is the Fifth Republic doing (now almost sixty years old)?

Thursday Night Film

  • Thursday night film, 7pm, Kauke 143
  • Hate / La Haine. Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995, 98 min. A gripping drama of the life of the banlieues. Watch trailer.
  • Le Havre. Dir. Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, 93 min. A sunny comedy tells the story of a young immigrant in the port city of Le Havre. Watch trailer.
  • Vote here.
Friday
December 1

French History in Broad Perspective

READ:

STUDY QUESTIONS:

  • What do you make of the film?
  • What does Stovall think this history adds up to?
  • How does that compare to popular images of France?

In Class:

  • Discuss film
  • Discuss French history – what we’ve learned!
  • Share guidelines for presentation
  • Final Exam Questions – what should one know about this history?

Week 15: Conclusions
Monday
December 4

Presentations & Discussion

PRESENTATIONS OF RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Cormac K. – Napoleon’s Marshals Among the Bourbons
  • Savanna H. – Bohemian Women
  • Scotty G. – Jewish Identity in the Age of Dreyfus
Wednesday
December 6

Presentations & Discussion

PRESENTATIONS OF RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Spencer G. – Verdun in Memory
  • Camryn R. – The Inspirations of Coco Chanel
  • Jeff H. – Women’s Soccer in the Twenties
Friday
December 8

Class Celebration

No READING

  • Bring laptops to class to complete course evaluations

In Class:

  • Questions? On research paper? final exam?
  • Celebration!
  • Course evaluations

Research Paper – ON SATURDAY, December 9:

  • ** Final Research Paper Due **

Finals Week
Thursday
December 14

Final Exam

Thursday, December 14, 2017 at 2:00pm