The concentration in French and Francophone Studies is committed to the pursuit of an interdisciplinary, linguistically rigorous, and textually informed understanding of French and Francophone literatures and cultures. Concentrators engage actively through their coursework with a wide range of texts and critical perspectives, pertaining to multiple literary genres, media, and contexts. They have opportunities to study different periods of French history as well as Francophone cultures beyond France. By the time they graduate, concentrators will have learned to read with knowledge and nuance and produced a varied body of critical work in French.
The concentration in French and Francophone Studies is committed to the study of the language, literature, and cultural and critical traditions of the French-speaking world. Concentrators engage actively through their coursework with a wide range of texts and critical perspectives, and multiple literary genres and media (the novel; theater; poetry; cinema; critical theory; special topics in contemporary politics and culture). They have opportunities to study different periods of French literature and intellectual history (from the Renaissance to the present) as well as Francophone cultures beyond France (West Africa, the Maghreb and the Caribbean). Courses cover a wide diversity of topics, while placing a shared emphasis on language-specific study, critical writing skills, and the vital place of literature and art for intellectual inquiry.
The concentration program is designed to encourage and support language-specific study. Literary texts and cultural documents are read principally in the original. Likewise, in most courses, French is the language of class discussions, presentations and research/critical papers.
Concentrators in French and Francophone Studies are strongly encouraged to spend one or two semesters (usually in their junior year) in France or in a Francophone country to derive the richest benefits of linguistic and cultural immersion. Information on Brown in France and approved alternative programs in French-speaking countries is available from the Office of International Programs office and the OIP website. Other summer programs can be found on the French Embassy website.
Students who have an outstanding record in their concentration courses, have completed at least six concentration courses by the first semester of their senior year, and are highly recommended by two professors, are eligible to apply for admission to the Honors program.
Concentration Requirements
A minimum of 10 courses is required for the concentration in French and Francophone Studies. Concentrators must observe following guidelines when planning their concentration. It is recommended that course choices for each semester be discussed with the department’s concentration advisor.
Note: A maximum of four courses taken during a single semester (and a maximum of five courses from an entire year) in France or a Francophone country may count toward the concentration. Our concentrators are strongly encouraged to spend significant time in France or in a Francophone country to derive the richest benefits of linguistic and cultural immersion. Through the Brown-in-France program administered by OIP and departmental faculty, students can enroll directly in French institutions.
| Writing and Speaking French II (is accepted for concentration credit) | ||
| Required Courses | ||
| One (and no more than two) of the following 0720, 820, 1010 | 1 | |
| De l'Amour courtois au désir postmoderne | ||
| The French Novel Today | ||
| Identité et différence dans le monde francophone | ||
| Littérature et culture: Margins of Modernity | ||
| One of the following: | 1 | |
| Advanced Oral and Written French: Traduction | ||
| Advanced Written and Oral French: Regards sur la France actuelle | ||
| Advanced Oral and Written French: A table! | ||
| Advanced Oral and Written French: Photographie | ||
| The senior seminar (senior year spring) | 1 | |
| La France en guerre | ||
| Extrême droite en France | ||
| French-American (Dis)Connections: histoire, société, culture | ||
| Electives | 7 | |
At least two 1000-level courses offered in the Department of French Studies (excluding FREN 1510 and FREN 1900) are required | ||
Up to two 1000-level courses taught in English offered by French Studies or other departments at Brown are eligible for concentration credit. (Appropriate courses on French or Francophone topics from other departments must be approved by the concentration advisor. Departments in which electives are typically taken include Africana Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Comparative Literature, English, History, Linguistics, Modern Culture and Media) | ||
| At least one course must cover a pre-Revolutionary period 1 | ||
| Littérature et intertextualité: du Moyen-Age jusqu'à la fin du XVIIème s | ||
| Littérature et culture: Chevaliers, sorcières, philosophes, et poètes | ||
| L'univers de la Renaissance: XVe et XVIe siècles | ||
| The French Renaissance: The Birth of Modernity? | ||
| Civilite et litterature | ||
| Pouvoirs de la scène: le théâtre du XVIIe siècle | ||
| Le Grand Siècle à l'écran | ||
| Molière et son monde | ||
| "Family Values": Représentations littéraires de la famille au 18eme siècle | ||
| Fictions de l'individu | ||
| The Age of Voltaire: Culture, Pensée, Société | ||
| French Lovers: Séduction et libertinage sous l'Ancien Régime | ||
| Espace public; espace privé | ||
| Le corps des Lumières | ||
| The Age of Voltaire: Lumières et modernité | ||
| Contes et nouvelles du Moyen Age | ||
| Sorcellerie et Renaissance: le sort de la sorcière | ||
| At least one course a post-Revolutionary period 1 | ||
| Paradigms of Difference in the 19th-Century French Novel and Short Story | ||
| Le Poétique et le quotidien | ||
| Décadence | ||
| Gender and the Novel | ||
| L'Orient littéraire | ||
| Genre, sexualité, et le roman du XIXe siècle | ||
| Paris: Capital of the 19th Century | ||
| Avant-Gardes | ||
| Emergent literature: Postcolonial Nations and Cultural Identity | ||
| Figures du roman français au XX siècle | ||
| Littérature, appartenance et identité | ||
| Clichés. L’écriture à l’épreuve de la photographie | ||
| Fairy Tales and Culture | ||
| French Women Writers | ||
| Transatlantic Surrealisms | ||
| L'identité française | ||
| Images d’une guerre sans nom: The Algerian War in Literature and Film | ||
| Gender Theory and Politics in France | ||
| Advanced Written French: Atelier d'écriture | ||
| Total Credits | 10 | |
| 1 | Or another appropriate course as agreed to by concentration advisor |
Honors
Students who have received all "A's" in their concentration courses, have completed at least six concentration courses by the first semester of their senior year, and are highly recommended by two professors are eligible to apply for admission to the honors program. For more information, consult the requirements on the Department’s website: http://www.brown.edu/academics/french-studies/undergraduate/honors-program