Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Prerequisites
One intermediate subject in French.
Course Description
Childhood is a source of fascination in most Western cultures. It is both a major inspiration for artistic creation and a political ideal, which aims at protecting future generations. Which role does it play in French society and in other Francophone areas? Why is the French national anthem (“La Marseillaise”) addressed to its “children?”
This course will study the transformation of childhood since the 18th century and the development of sentimentality within the family. We will examine various representations of childhood in literature (e.g. Proust, Sarraute, Laye, Despleschin, Forest), movies (e.g. Truffaut, Sciamma, Dhont), and songs (e.g. Barbara, Biolay).
This course is taught in French.
Grading policy
Sessions will be divided between
- students’ presentations
- class discussion to engage with the main readings and movies
- other activities: creative writing, document analysis, etc.
Final grade will be determined from three types of required exercises:
- One grade will be based on short-answer papers (30%.) It will consist of a one-page maximum argument (double spaced) in order to prepare each session.
- One grade will be based on one oral presentation (20%), limited to 10 minutes.
- Two grades will be based on a creative video project about a piece of art related to childhood (by a Francophone artist). Students will select and present a piece (one-page paper, 10%.) They will then invent a story based on their selected work of art and will narrate and/or perform this story on a video (five minutes maximum, 30%.) The video will be submitted four weeks before the end of classes.
- One grade will be based on class participation (10%): the evaluation will be based on attendance, the demonstration that the students have done the “readings” (documents, book excerpts, films), and the quality of their oral output. To help prepare the discussion, questions on the readings and their most topical aspects will be suggested every week.
