Paris Fall Seminar - Courses and Credits

Program participants enroll in a total of four courses: a beginning (or low-intermediate) French language course, a course on French culture, society, or history related to the seminar topic, and two additional seminar courses that are taught by the Seminar Director. The Seminar Director's courses focus on topics in his/her own academic discipline. There is no French language requirement for the Paris Fall Seminar -- all courses, except the French language course, are taught in English.

Academic Program - 2012

The 2012 Fall Seminar program, Cross-Cultural Media Studies in Paris, is made up of the following courses for a total of 15 credits:

JPFL 363 Special Topics in French (4 credits)
Graphic Novels/Bandes Dessinées

The course Graphic Novels/Bandes Dessinées proposes a rich media-communications emphasis for the apprehension of cultural specificity and difference. Capitalizing on the recent intense interest in the graphic novel (in for example, NY Times Sunday Magazine, NY Review of Books, McSweeney’s, Lire, Le Magazine littéraire),  the class will explore the multiple ways in which French and American comic strips have participated in a cross-cultural, artistic hybridization: each national form has been strengthened and invigorated by contact with the other. Offering the course in France, and approaching the materials from a French perspective, will emphasize the importance of considering the foreign culture as co-equal. Study will include a brief history of the emergence of comic strips in France and the USA from earlier forms of broadsides, sequential narrative art and protest media; the importance of the imperial superhero in American comics, especially in the period from WWII to Viet Nam; idiomatic French and francophone cultural myths/characterizations (Asterix, Tintin); and the transition between a popular literature for children and serious literature for adults in the coming, then the boom of the graphic novel (Jacques Tardi on the First World War, Marian Satrapi’s Persepolis). We will start with the American comic and move to the French BD, a trajectory that reflects the history accurately and enables a more striking set of comparisons to emerge.Taught in English by Seminar Director, Prof. John B. Anzalone.

This course will allow students to acquire the basic elements of spoken and written French. Students will learn how to express themselves in everyday life situations through a functional and communicative approach based on acquiring vocabulary, acquiring basics in grammar, and working on pronunciation. The ability to communicate and interact will be the major focus of this course. Rigorous weekly homework and active participation in class are expected from all students. Assignments will consist of studying and practicing dialogues, learning vocabulary, grammar and verbs, preparing oral and written activities, and reading documents. This course is designed for students who have no or very little knowledge in French.

* There is no language requirement for this program. Students with little or no French language experience are encouraged to apply.