Prof. Nancy Mellerski
Fall 2000
Bosler 205

e-mail: mellersk@dickinson.edu
Ext. 1248
Office hours:  MWF 10-11

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the culture and society of France through the study of a number of different aspects of French life.  Printed and video "texts" for the course will acquaint you with the major social, political, economic, and cultural forces that structure life in France today.  Our approach will be a thematic, not a historical one, although whenever necessary we will open a "window on history" to seek to explain how the French past has inevitably shaped the present.  We will draw on a variety of disciplines (history, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science) and their interrelations in order to acquire a certain familiarity with the nature of French "identities" today and the forces that are challenging those identities. We will cover such topics as French political life, France's place in Europe, issues of immigration and education, regionalism, and the media.  Course readings and videos will also provide insight into differences among the French themselves with respect to such factors as gender, socioeconomic level, political affiliation, geographical location, and so on.

Many of you are planning to study in France next year or the year after; this course is intended both to expand your horizons through a look at a culture other than your own and to prepare you for a rewarding experience abroad.  I would like to encourage you to reflect upon a variety of cultural forms and perspectives and to make thoughtful comparisons with American culture wherever they seem relevant.  Studying contemporary French society now will, I hope, make you better informed observers and participants when your plane touches down on French soil.

Texts
 

In addition to selections from the above texts, we will read together a number of photocopied materials from various sources, including French newspapers and periodicals, and the Web. These will be distributed regularly or accessed throughout the semester. Our discussions will frequently be supplemented as well by video materials, both documents and feature films.   Many of the video materials have been uploaded to our Blackboard site, and can be found under the "Course Documents" rubric there.  In addition, I consider your familiarity with current events in France to be a crucial part of your preparation for living abroad.  While they are useful, the texts that I have assigned for class discussion consist in many cases primarily of background information that you will need in order understand issues currently being debated in French and European societies in general.  Please try to keep informed through the various Web sources on contemporary French culture and through the periodicals we receive (newspapers, journals) in the Library, or through viewing the French nightly news at 7:00 p.m. on TV-5, available through the cable in your room.

Methods and Evaluation

As you see below,  your grade in this course will be affected positively or negatively by your class participation.   I expect you  to contribute regularly and intelligently to our conversations.  To this end, I'll ask you to participate in Blackboard  exchanges, either directed (through a specific question you're asked) or undirected (simply posting your reflections on our readings or class discussions).  In addition, I regularly ask students to be responsible for summarizing our readings or videos and for leading class discussion à tour de rôle.

This course will probably be very different from others you have had in the French Department because it will require you to carry out a number of electronic tasks.   I will expect you to prepare readings and videos actively rather than passively, and to communicate your questions and notes through Blackboard with the rest of the class. Class discussion will be a lot livelier if we already know what the issues are before we begin to reflect on them! Your first job, then, will be to familiarize yourself with our Blackboard site, accessible by clicking the link highlighted in this paragraph.  Your second task  will be to learn how to use Hyperstudio, a multimedia software program, which you can experiment with in the Bosler Microlab at any point during the semester. Hyperstudio will be the medium in which you create your final project.  What I have in mind is a cooperative class venture using as a primary subject the sinking of the oil-tanker Erika off the Atlantic coast of France last December.  (Have a look at the following websites for more information: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3941265,00.html and
http://infos.tf1.fr/info/dossiers/dossiers.cfm?id_contenu=6522&id_contenu_fils=6539
Each student will choose an aspect of the  affair to explore (political, social, environmental, cultural...) and as a whole the class will produce a collective, cooperative study of the history, actuality and consequences of the disaster.   You may decide on your contribution as a result of reading something fascinating in the newspaper or on the Web, or as a consequence of class discussion.  Or you can ask me for suggestions.   The rule of thumb here is to choose a topic that responds to your curiosity and your interests;  you will then define it carefully and cogently, research it efficiently, and create an interesting and stimulating presentation of your work and contribution to the class project.  Our final goal is to produce a Hyperstudio CD on the Erika.  The deadline for choice of topics is September 18.

Here's how your grade will be determined:

Four short exam papers (750-1000 words)......................................... 60%
Final project (includes bibliography and class presentation) ...........30%
Blackboard Journal......................................................................................10%

Absence from class will adversely affect your final grade.  I reserve the right to impose sanctions for excessive absences.  Students must complete all assignments in order to pass the course.

The course syllabus can and may be modified at any time according to the needs of the class.

Finally, DON'T PLAGIARIZE.  Familiarize yourself with the Proscriptions on Conduct to which I adhere.  To that end, please read the following Departmental Policy Statement:

"It is French and Italian Department policy that students in classes in the Department are permitted to consult tutors, more experienced peers, the foreign assistants, and other faculty members on ungraded assignments only.  With their instructor's permission, outside help is permitted if students wish to go over ungraded homework assignments, practice their pronunciation, engage in informal conversation, work on improving vocabulary or control of grammatical structures, do listening and reading comprehension activities, or hone their writing.  They may not seek outside help from any other person in the preparation of written or oral work (including early drafts thereof) submitted under their name for a grade.  If they have any questions about this policy or their interpretation of it in a given situation, they should consult with the course instructor."

Click here to go to the course schedule