Content varies from quarter to quarter.
Did you know that approximately 200 million people speak French, and that French is an official language in 29 countries?
France is the world’s sixth largest economy and holds one of five permanent seats on the UN Security Council. President Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are the media darlings of Europe. How do the French reconcile their traditional prestige and power with current global realities and challenges? For example, how will the French remain competitive and preserve their culture in a globalizing world? How does the French nation cope with the sometimes tense legacies of its colonial past? More broadly, how does France’s experience of the 20th Century inform its strategies for the 21st?
Explore these questions in the French trailer section to SIS 201, Making of the 21st Century, SIS 490 M
Instructor lived in Paris, taught introductory French at UW, and has been a TA for both SIS 200 and 201.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
This French language trailer section is attached to SIS 201, “Making of the 21st Century.” In the section, we will use a combination of French and French-language film, podcasts, newspapers, and the fine arts to prompt our discussions of core concepts from the main lecture course, giving you tools to understand our complex, international environment from a Francophone perspective.
The section will also help students to develop their language skills with fellow French speakers. Not sure you fall into the Francophile category? Don’t worry, this section embraces all levels of French speakers and students with varying familiarity with France and the French-speaking world!
Class assignments and grading
Class is credit/no-credit