Elementary French I

FRIT F100

Introduction to French language and selected aspects of French civilization and culture.

Accelerated Elementary French

FRIT F115
MTWR 11:15A - 12:05P

An accelerated treatment of material covered in both F100 and F150 designed for superior students and students with previous training in another foreign language.

Elementary French II: Language and Culture

FRIT F150

Basic structures of the French language and selected topics of French civilization and culture.

Second-Year French I: Language and Culture

FRIT F200

Grammar, composition, conversation coordinated with the study of cultural texts.

Topics in French Culture: Scenes from the South of France

FRIT F225 — A&H GCC
MW 1:10P - 2:25P

This course explores the rich cultural life and history of the south of France, with particular focus on Provence. Provence is a land known for its arid climate and rocky terrain, as well as its many rivers, natural springs, and the enviable views of the French Riviera.

How Objects Make Us Feel: French Material Culture and the History of Emotions

FRIT F226 — S&H
TR 1:10P - 2:25P

In this course on material culture and emotions, we will use physical artefacts from early modern France as a case study to explore a history of emotions — specifically anger, anxiety, compassion, disgust, laughter, grief, love, and tears.

Second-Year French II: Language and Culture

FRIT F250

Grammar, composition, conversation coordinated with the study of cultural texts.

Accelerated Second-Year French

FRIT F265
MTWR 12:30 - 1:20

An accelerated treatment of material covered in both F200 and F250. Grammar, composition, and conversation coordinated with readings of short texts.

Intro to French/Francophone Studies: Histoires étranges et cruelles

FRIT F300 — A&H
TR 9:25A - 10:40A

Introduction à l’étude de textes littéraires français.

Intro to French/Francophone Studies: The Heart and its Reasons

FRIT F300 — A&H
TR 11:30A - 12:45P

An introduction to French literature, this course has three goals: a) to provide further exposure to a variety of literary genres in French, including poetry, theatre, the novel and the short story b) to develop and sharpen reading skills through practice in close reading and techniques of literary analysis c) to foster student progress in practical skills such as aural and written comprehension, as well as oral and written expression.

Intro to French/Francophone Studies: Dangerous Women

FRIT F300 — A&H
MW 3:15P - 4:30P

This course proposes an introduction to French and Francophone studies through the figure of the femme fatale. 

Intro to French/Francophone Studies: Francophone Identities

FRIT F300 — A&H
TR 9:25 -10:40A

Our discussions and analyses of our reading and viewing list each week (authors we will read include Montaigne, Reza, Anouilh, Mouawad, Shaheman, Laclos, Baudelaire, NDiaye, Molière, and Rimbaud) will focus on how protagonists and narrators question, search for, celebrate, or sometimes mask their origins as they struggle with their allegiances to categories of class, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, family, and race.

Fiction and Poetry: Exile and Exoticism

FRIT F306 — A&H
TR 1:10P - 2:25P

The fascination for the unknown place has always played a prominent role in literature. At least since Ulysses’ peregrinations in his attempt to go back to Ithaca, as they are recounted by Homer in the Odyssey, the remote place has never ceased to provide writers with themes to unfold in their works.

Francophone Culture: Black Paris

FRIT F310 — A&H GCC
TR 11:30A - 12:45P

Explore the lives and work of African American visual artists, writers, and musicians who made Paris their home in the 20^th century, and themes of diaspora, exile, négritude, race and the performance of identity.

20th Century European Cinema

FRIT F311 — A&H GCC
R 1:10P - 2:40P

Taking a comparative, transnational approach, this course offers an overview of European cinema as an evolving art and as a means of tracing the evolution of European society, politics, and identity during the twentieth century, using representative films from Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Soviet Union.

Advanced Grammar

FRIT F313
MWF 1:45P - 2:35P

Comprehensive grammar review with in depth study of the most complex features of written French. Four tests including final. Texts are Harper's Grammar of French and the workbook, both available as ClassPaks.

Advanced Grammar

FRIT F313
MWF 10:00A - 10:50A

F313 builds students' understanding of advanced aspects of French grammar and their facility in applying this understanding to written and oral expression. We will supplement the text Contrastes (Rochat) with exercises (online and others) and compositions based on various materials from French and francophone everyday society, including e.g. cross-cultural studies, journalism, and film.

Conversational Practice

FRIT F316

Recent and classic award-winning feature-length French films (comedies, dramas, thrillers) provide the basis for vocabulary expansion, in-class discussion and debates, and an increased understanding of various French cultural and historical issues, including immigration, WWII, regional differences, and religious conflict.

French in the Business World

FRIT F317 — S&H
TR 11:30A - 12:45P

Introduction to the language of business activities in France and to the structure and functioning of various aspects of contemporary French economic life. Awareness of the general cultural context within which business activities take place in France will also be an important dimension of the course.

Contemporary France

FRIT F364
TR 9:25A - 10:40A

This new course offers a critical introduction to twentieth‑ and twenty-first century France in a global and comparative perspective, with special attention given to France and the United States.

Thèmes Littéraires et Culturels: Orientalism in Literature

FRIT F375 — A&H GCC
TR 3:15P - 4:30P

Dans ce cours nous lirons et analyserons plusieurs œuvres, appartenant à des genres et à des époques différentes, et comprenant, en plus des textes mentionnés, une traduction de quelques contes des Mille et Une Nuits, un choix de poèmes des Orientales de Victor Hugo, et le roman de L’Étranger de Camus. L’objectif principal du cours est d’étudier le thème de l’orientalisme dans la littérature afin d’examiner l’imaginaire qu’il nourrit ainsi que les préjugés qu’il véhicule.

Reading for Honors

FRIT F399
ARR

For students preparing an honors project to receive a degree with departmental honors in French.

Structure and Development of French

FRIT F401 — S&H
TR 11:30A - 12:45P

This course provides an overview of the structure of present day French, a perspective on its historical development, and an analysis of some of the current language-related issues in the French-speaking world.

The French Renaissance

FRIT F413 — A&H
MW 4:55P - 6:10P

This course explores the literary achievements of sixteenth-century France, the Renaissance.

La France Contemporaine: Cinema et Culture

FRIT F461 — GCC
TR 1:10P - 2:25P

We will approach film not only as a form of art linked to painting, literature, and theater, but as an expression of evolving French national identity, an economic commodity, and a tool of sociopolitical discourse.

Reading French for Graduate Students

FRIT-F492
TR 6:45P - 8:15P

Reading for Honors

FRIT F499
ARR

For students preparing an honors project to receive a degree with departmental honors in French.

Individual Readings in French

FRIT X490
ARR

Independent study on a specific topic not taught in one of this semester's regular courses.

Elementary Italian I

FRIT M100

Introduction to contemporary Italian language, geography, and culture. Involves a broad variety of assignments and activities that develop grammatical competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Accelerated Elementary Italian

FRIT-M115
MTWR 11:15A - 12:05

This intensive beginning course covers the material of two semesters in one (M100 and M150). The course meets four times a week and also involves independent work by students. During the semester students are involved in a variety of tasks practicing speaking, writing, listening and reading in a cultural context.

Elementary Italian II

FRIT M150

Continued introduction to contemporary Italian language, geography, and culture. Involves a broad variety of assignments and activities that build grammatical competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Intermediate Italian I

FRIT M200

This course is a continuation of Elementary Italian II.

Accelerated Second-Year Italian

FRIT M215
MTWR 1:45P - 2:35P

The course builds upon the first three semesters of beginning Italian (or equivalent) adding the unique feature of short films as the first stimulus for learning intermediate-level vocabulary, grammar, and cultural concepts.

Tales in a Time of Plague

FRIT-M222 — A&H GCC
TR 11:30A - 12:45P

This course will center around Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, a collection of stories written in the wake of the plague that devastated Florence in 1348. We’ll consider the connection between storytelling and survival, whether in the wake of devastating disease or political crisis, as we move across the medieval world through Indian, Persian, and Arab traditions of storytelling

The Birth of the Italian Cool

FRIT-M222 — A&H GCC
MW 1:10 - 2:50P, 2nd 8 weeks

Italian style, in various aspects of worldwide culture, art and even products of manufacturing industries and urban historical centers, has often been regarded as a leading example of quality, aesthetic value, allure, beauty and fascination. In this course, we will analyze this phenomenon, and identify the historical roots of these peculiarities of Italian culture and society, especially focusing on the post-WWII period.

Intermediate Italian II

FRIT M250

This second-year Italian course meets three times a week and builds upon the first three semesters of beginning and intermediate Italian (or equivalent).

Italian Reading and Expression

FRIT M301
MTWR 10:00A - 10:50A

Masterpieces of Italian Literature II

FRIT M308 — A&H GCC
TR 1:10P - 2:25P

This course examines Italian texts of various genres by men and women, authors and artists, across from the 1800s through our current decade.

The Good Mothers: Women in the Mafia and Antimafia

FRIT M311 — A&H GCC
TR 3:15P - 4:30P

This course explores how gender and sexuality have been constructed and used in films about Italian organized crime, both in Italian and Italian American contexts.  In particular, students will study women’s roles and representations in mafia stories in real-life and on screen, from the time of the Italian Unification to the present.

New Italian Identities in Contemporary Pop Culture

FRIT M463 — A&H
TR 9:25A - 10:40A

This course will explore the questions of identity and assimilation of first- and second-generation immigrants into Italy who contribute to the transformation and richness of the Italian culture.We will face topics such as colonization, racism, religion, laws, and the difficulties and the beauty of being Italian.

Individual Readings in Italian Literature

FRIT X493
ARR

Independent study on a specific topic not taught in one of this semester's regular courses.

Reading for Honors

FRIT M499
ARR

For students preparing an honors project to receive a degree with departmental honors in Italian.

A Question of Love

COLL-C 103 — A&H
TR 3:00P - 3:50P plus discussion section of your choice

In this class we will explore love as phenomenon and as representation from multiple perspectives, taking advantage of the tools of cultural analysis, artistic and literary interpretation, and scientific research to answer questions such as: What is love in 2020? What was it in the past? What would we be without it?

Cloak and Dagger

COLL C103 — A&H
TR 11:15A - 12:05P plus discussion section of your choice

The primary focus of this course will be to teach students how to understand the conventions and traditions that govern any literary genre, with specific reference to the "thriller" as exemplified by selected detective and spy stories in both literature and film.

Humor and Wit in the Italian Renaissance

COLL-C 103 — A&H
TR 1:45P - 3:45P plus discussion section of your choice

This course will examine the comic literature of the Italian Renaissance. We will explore the nature and various expressions of comedy in genres such as the short story, the facetia (‘witty anecdote’), the apologue, the comic play, the epic and satiric poem and the treatise.

Decolonizing Science Fiction

COLL-X 101
ARR

Introduces the history of anti-black racism in the US and then covers a selection of sci-fi texts and movies that either exemplify the systemic racism of their time, or expose it and question it, as in the case of Afrofuturism. Science Fiction is a particularly apt genre for this kind of investigation because its reliance on invented storyworlds allows it to create allegories for the present, and to imagine different kinds of possible societies.

Race, Immigration and the Pandemic: French Perspectives

HON-H 234
TR 3:15P - 4:30P

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus social, economic, and political concerns shared worldwide around systemic racism, class inequality, and ecological devastation. In this course, readings and discussions of literary and non-literary works dealing with the legacy of colonialism and racism, immigration laws and behaviors, and public health policies in the French-speaking world vs. the US and other countries will allow us to understand differences in mentalities, perceptions, and forms of governance a imagine meaningful solutions to these crises.

History of Modern Board Games

MSCH-V 334
TR 9:25A - 10:40A

In this class we will explore the dramatic changes in analog game design and culture of the last decades. We will consider the changes in audience, production methods, and publishing policies that have made this change possible.