Instructor Interview
In the pages linked below, Prof. Bruno Perreau describes various aspects of how he taught 21G.346 North America through French Eyes in fall 2023.
OCW: Since the course is taught entirely in French, you require students to have taken at least one intermediate-level French course before enrolling. Does this level of prior experience with the language ensure enough proficiency that students can delve deeply into the topics under discussion? Or do the challenges of language learning interfere at times? Is increasing students’ fluency in French a primary or secondary goal of the course?
Bruno Perreau: Advanced courses taught in French are not, as such, language courses. Students must, therefore, arrive with a sufficient level of proficiency, i.e., above intermediate. However, advanced courses are essential because they enable students to go beyond a plateau. Once students master grammar and syntax and know enough vocabulary, the next step is to learn true fluency: to speak without hesitation, to improve their accent, mainly through mimicry, to understand vernacular concepts conveyed by the language, and to discover other languages—political, journalistic, literary—with their own rules, vocabulary, and even grammar. As a result, students make considerable progress in French without even realizing it.
This is a huge challenge for the decades to come: artificial intelligence will provide us with increasingly practical tools for transposing words from one language to another, as well as stylistic forms and cultural content. However, transposing is different from understanding. Students’ experience in advanced courses is self-transformation, confronting other ways of observing the world, thinking about it, criticizing it, or embellishing it. We create the conditions of possibility for new visions to emerge from unique individuals! This has nothing to do with generating statistically probable content or asserting stereotypical answers learned from a textbook.
OCW: How much attention do you give to French views of Quebec and Canada more broadly, as opposed to French views of the United States?
Bruno Perreau: In this course, I draw mainly on US resources. I do this deliberately: it allows students to build on more familiar elements before putting them into perspective. This is what we do when we work with texts or news items about Quebec or, more generally, Canada. I aim to show students the coexistence of different historical and geographical temporalities, at once separate, mirrored, and intertwined. This course questions the meaning of “flows” in a globalized world.
OCW: Among the assigned viewings for the course is the American TV series Emily in Paris, which would seem to be a reflection of France through North American eyes rather than North America through French eyes. What part does that viewing assignment play in the course?
Bruno Perreau: The course is gradually turning things around; the many ways in which North America is viewed in France must lead us to question North America’s cultural power, if not centrality, in today’s world. This is a fascinating exercise to undertake at MIT, where students often have personal connections with many of the world’s cultures. I rely heavily on their trajectories (regarding class, generation, etc.) to ensure that the learning we do in class is profound and lasting. Taking an entertainment phenomenon like Emily in Paris as an example is a way of breaking down social barriers. It’s also a breath of fresh air!
OCW: For the final creative paper assignment, you ask students to write a short story in two versions, both featuring the same characters and the same basic situation, but the first being set in France and the second in the U.S. What does this assignment, the largest single assignment in the course, reveal about students’ learning?
Bruno Perreau: I want students to have a complete intellectual experience in which they do not dissociate creation and reflection. This is the main objective of the final exercise. Its second objective is to show students, through the test of facts, that no knowledge is 100% stable and that its robustness lies in the fact that it can be reworked, discussed, refined, and clarified. Knowledge moves with the person, group of people, or institution that mobilizes it—what German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer called a “hermeneutic circle,” in which we produce knowledge that, in turn, defines us. This is not relativistic at all. Quite the contrary: the truth of facts results from knowledge being a flow, not an essence. That’s why, throughout the course, we draw on a great variety of materials: literary texts, pamphlets, series, films, legal texts, historical archives, socio-demographic surveys, and so on.
OCW: What would you like to share about teaching 21G.346 North America through French Eyes that we haven’t yet addressed?
Bruno Perreau: Reflecting on cultural flows is an intense experience, as it touches on certainties that have often been ingrained within the individual. But it’s also an experience in which we learn to play with stereotypes and, thus, with ourselves. It’s all very exhilarating!
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
One intermediate subject in French
Offered
Most semesters
Assessment
- Individual oral presentation: 20%
- Weekly short-answer papers: 30%
- Final creative paper: 40%
- Class participation: 10%
Student Information
Enrollment
10 students
Breakdown by Year
A range of undergraduate students, from first-years to seniors
Breakdown by Major
Some of the students were already minoring or majoring in French studies; others had not yet selected their major but came to the course with some prior background in French.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
In Class (3 hours)
Class sessions were divided between students’ presentations of the weekly theme, class discussion to engage with the main readings and movies screened, and a weekly analysis of topical issues on France and the United States.
Out of Class (9 hours)
Outside of class, students completed assigned readings and film viewings, wrote weekly short-answer papers and one longer creative paper, and prepared for presentations.
