French & Francophone Studies

French Beginner Intensive 

This unit aims to consolidate a general foundation in the language and culture in order to cope with a range of predictable, everyday communicative situations encountered when interacting at a elementary level, orally and in writing, with native speakers during, for instance, a brief visit abroad (CEF level A2+).

Understanding Modern France 

This core content module will introduce students to key aspects of France's history, society, politics and culture through the study of a range of important texts and media. It will focus on key historical events, the values and ideas that inform French and francophone society today, giving an historical overview of their development from Louise XIV to Emmanuel Macron. It will thus enable students to learn the interpretative methodologies specific to a range of cultural forms. It will provide them with a sound understanding of disciplinary studies, both within the language(s)/culture(s) they have chosen to study and, more broadly, within the discipline of Languages and Cultures today. It aims to facilitate the students' transition to University study, to complement the core language modules (which also cover some aspects of culture) studied at Level 1, in addition to serving as the solid foundation for more advanced study and specialisation at Level 2 and onwards. There will be opportunities for synoptic assessment in connection with the relevant language module.

French Advanced 

This unit aims to consolidate an initial preparation for a prolonged professional, academic or recreational stay in a country where the language is spoken and introduces the full range of linguistic and cultural skills required to engage in authentic and spontaneous interaction with native speakers (CEF level B2).

Understanding Modern France 

This core content module will introduce students to key aspects of France's history, society, politics and culture through the study of a range of important texts and media. It will focus on key historical events, the values and ideas that inform French and francophone society today, giving an historical overview of their development from Louise XIV to Emmanuel Macron. It will thus enable students to learn the interpretative methodologies specific to a range of cultural forms. It will provide them with a sound understanding of disciplinary studies, both within the language(s)/culture(s) they have chosen to study and, more broadly, within the discipline of Languages and Cultures today. It aims to facilitate the students' transition to University study, to complement the core language modules (which also cover some aspects of culture) studied at Level 1, in addition to serving as the solid foundation for more advanced study and specialisation at Level 2 and onwards. There will be opportunities for synoptic assessment in connection with the relevant language module.

French Intermediate Intensive

This unit aims to consolidate the linguistic and cultural skills required to operate effectively and accurately in all essential communicative situations encountered when interacting orally or in writing with native speakers during, for instance, a short stay abroad (CEF level B1-).

French Higher Advanced 1 

Assuming a one-year post-A-level study of the language or equivalent, this module aims to provide a full linguistic and cultural preparation for learners wishing to undertake an extended professional, academic or recreational stay in a country where the language is spoken and to expand the range of linguistic and cultural skills required to operate effectively in most situations encountered when engaging with native speakers (CEF level B2+/C1-).

French Higher Advanced 2 

Assuming successful completion of the Higher Advanced 1 unit or equivalent, this module aims to consolidate the full linguistic and cultural preparation of learners wishing to undertake an extended professional, academic or recreational stay in a country where the language is spoken and to consolidate the full range of linguistic and cultural skills required to operate effectively in most situations encountered when engaging with native speakers (CEF level C1).

Realities and Falsehoods: The French Occupation in Literature and Film 

The course aims to enable students to critically interrogate how historical 'truths' were perpetuated and distorted to serve ideological purposes through censored and clandestine cultural production during the Nazi Occupation of France. Students will critically examine and evaluate the historical reliability of a range of texts written both by the general public and by cultural and political figures over the period. These contemporary testimonies found in diaries, letters, newspapers and newsreels of the time are then set against cultural production distributed both openly (under censorship) and clandestinely in order to assess how these 'realities' were processed and the purposes to which they were set during the conflict. In particular, students will pay close attention to any conspicuous divergence into propaganda and myth. Students will be introduced to specialist critical material in the field of life writing, film and literature and historiography as well as to a range of novels and films produced during the Occupation.

Minorités et Identités dans la France et le monde francophone du XXe siècle 

This interdisciplinary course analyses the ways identities are formed, at both the individual and collective levels, in France and in the francophone world. The 20th century is often seen as the period that saw the peak of the idea of the nation state whose strength lies in a strong and unified collective identity. This course will examine the construction of this identitarian approach, and the discursive mechanisms used to underscore concepts of national specificity in France, and cognate processes in the francophone world. We examine such processes with reference to a range of 'minorities' including those defined by gender, race or sexuality, via readings taken from the fields of literature, film, history and modern thought. The first semester focuses on the so-called Francophone world, while in the second semester we extend our readings of these questions of identity and minority to France itself. The course is taught in English and French.

French and Francophone Visual Cultures

This module is taught in French. The module examines the ways in which film and other visual cultures, function as an aesthetic, cultural, commercial and socio-political discourse which both represents and acts upon key questions in the world around us. We will address the ways in which film and other visual cultures engage the spectator, through narrative form, through a close analysis of 6-8 French and francophone films or other visual media, released since 2000 that combine critical and commercial success. Common threads of analysis sustained across these works include precarity, resistance, trauma and transformation and we look at the power of identification, empathy, humour and suspense in communicating complex messages through film and other visual cultures.

Literature and Politics of the Post(-)colonial

This module tackles one of the most problematic aspects of studying 'post-colonial' literature, culture or society: what the term 'post(-)colonial' actually means. We will use a selection of texts from various genres and various parts of France's former empire to examine the nature of the post(-)colonial, with a focus upon postcolonial theory and its relationship with issues such as identity, nationalism, race and voice. The module begins with a focus on the mid-twentieth century and debates about the impacts of French imperialism, and moves forward through time to contemporary discussions of the 'decolonial' and a particular focus on engaging with some ways in which scholars have attempted to theorise migration through the use of 'figures'. Module Aims:  By the end of the module the students should  have a critical awareness of the wide-ranging impacts of colonialism and how these have been treated in various periods in different types of text;  be able to take an informed position on how different kinds of text are interpreted, and on the wider popular debate on post-imperial history; a sound and critical understanding of the main issues in postcolonial and decolonial theory today, along with the appropriate critical vocabulary.

Haïti: La Tragédie (Histoire, politique et littérature de l'époque coloniale à nos jours)

The focus of the course will be to analyse the historical development of the Haitian nation via the prism of Western imperialism and especially French colonial and post/neo-colonial history. Through the analysis of historical works but also of works of political science and works of fiction, this module will review the tragic history of Haiti and the ways in which this tragedy is closely intertwined with French imperialism and the development of global capitalism. The module will be taught in English and French.