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UC Center Program Courses - Fall 2006
PCC 116. Debating French Identities: Politics and Society
Prof.
Stéphane Dufoix
Office Hours
TBA
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Lecture
Thu 10:30am - 1:30pm
Section
Tue 2:30-3:30pm
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Since the end of the Second World War, France has undergone formidable changes, and French “national identity” along with the political ideal republicanism has been seriously challenged. Much of the 1980s and 1990s, indeed, was spent worrying about the “crisis of French identity”, as intellectuals and the “political classes” attempted to make sense of France’s history and identity in light of the challenges posed by immigration (especially non-European immigration), feminism, economic and cultural globalization (considered an American-directed movement), and France’s peculiar version of “multiculturalism.” The first years of the new millennium see France trying to maintain its distinctiveness in a world of globalization, while the 2002 presidential election has, more than ever, demonstrated the power of “national identity” discourses. To understand these movements and their impact on France, this course considers contemporary debates in French political life surrounding the politics of recognition, national identity, and French “exceptionalism” in a European and global context. [History, Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, French Studies, European Studies] 6.0 Credits
- Timothy Smith, France in Crisis, Cambridge University Press, 2004
- Articles and book chapters reproduced in the Course Reader (hereby referred to as [CR])
- Recommended readings for each week are either online, in the Reserve Cabinet [RC], or on the Course Reserve Shelf [RS]
- Online materials, including the weekly dossiers that will be discussed in lecture and section. Note that for any set of topics covered by the weekly dossiers, students are urged to search materials using the CDL (in particular, Lexis-Nexis) and www.scholar.google
- There are also separate Web
Resources Pages for this course with links to online
reference sites, as well as other research material. The
best English-language summary of French current events on
the web is The
Tocqueville Connection.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students are required to do all reading before the first weekly session and to attend all guest lectures and sites visits scheduled during the semester. Students are required to complete the weekly readings comprised of secondary sources (in English) found in the assigned books, the Course Reader, and directly on the web (with links from the syllabus). In addition, most weeks require the perusal of a "dossier" of primary sources including speeches, articles in the newspapers by experts, politicians or scholars, government reports.
- Weekly Readings and Class Participation (20% of the final grade)
- Writing Assignments (30% of the final grade)
- Two short papers (5-7 pages each) on two different topics to be chosen in consultation with the instructor.
- Mid-term exam (20% of the final grade)
- Final exam (30%).
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1.
Introduction
What is France and What is a Nation?
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapters 1 and 2
- Fernand Braudel, “Introduction” in The Identity of France, vol. 1 History and Environment, Collins, 1988, pp. 15-28 [CR]
- Ernest Renan, “What is a Nation?”, text of a conference delivered at the Sorbonne-University, 11 March 1882 in Ernest Renan, Qu’est-ce qu’une Nation?, Paris, Presses-Pocket, 1992
I. Framing the Debates: The Parties, The Immigration and the Constitution
This section will focus on three sets of phenomena that framed the various debates on French national identity: the existence of a specific party system that shifted from a classical to a more complex one in the mid-80’s; the recent history and composition of immigration in France; the existence of a “constitutional lock” that constraints the possible evolutions towards pluralism (of regional languages, of “peoples” composing France…)
Week 2.
Parties and Electoral Politics
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 3
- Pierre Brechon and Subrata Kumar Mitra, “The National Front in France: The Emergence of an Extreme Right Protest Movement” in Comparative Politics, vol.25, n.1., October 1992, pp. 63-82
- George Ross, “Party Decline and Changing Party Systems: France and the French Communist Party” in Comparative Politics, vol.25, n.1, October 1992, pp. 43-61
Week 3.
Immigration in France
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 4
- Gérard Noiriel, “Immigration: Amnesia and Memory” in French Historical Studies, vol.19, n. 2, Autumn 1995, pp. 367-380
- Dominique Schnapper, “The Debate on Immigration and the Crisis of National Identity” in West European Politics,vol.17, n.2, April 1994, pp. 127-139
Week 4.
Territory, Language, and the Constitution
[ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE]
Reading:
- Denis Lacorne, “Corsica, 'Multiculturalism', and the Jacobin Republic” in Correspondence (Winter 2001)
- Alain Renaut, “The French Debate on Regional Languages” in Comprendre. Revue de Philosophie et de Sciences Sociales, special issue “Les identités culturelles”, edited by Will Kymlicka and Sylvie Mesure, n.1, 2000, pp. 381-400
II. The Politics of Recognition: Race, Gender, Sexual Preferences
France is a Republic, where public law officially forbids the political recognition of any subgrouping (of race, gender, or ethnicity) in the public sphere. In the recent years, this republican model has been frequently challenged by claims for the official recognition of gender and sexual differences; by racism; by the politics of communitarianism and affirmative action; and by the recognition of “zones de non-legalité” within French territory.
Week 5.
French Exceptionalism I: Neo-republicanism and the PACS
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 5
- Michael F. Leruth, “The Neorepublican Discourse on French National Identity” in French Politics and Society, vol.16, n.4, Fall 1998, pp. 46-61 [CR]
- Carl F. Stychin, “Civil Solidarities or Fragmented Identities? The Politics of Sexuality and Citizenship in France” in Social and Legal Studies, vol.10, n.3, 2001, pp. 347-375
Week 6.
French Exceptionalism II: Gender Parity
Guest Lecture: Parity Law and its Effects - Laure Béréni
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 6
- Jill Lovecy, “Citoyennes à Part Entière ?: the Constitutionalization of Gendered Citizenship in France and the Parity Reforms of 1999-2000” in Government and Opposition, vol.35, n.4, Autumn 2000, pp. 439-462
- Marie-Marthe Gervais-le Garff, “Liberté, Egalité, Sororité: A New Linguistic Order in France?” in Women and Language, vol.25, n.2, 2002
Week 7.
MID-TERM
FALL BREAK
Week 8.
Racism, Discrimination and Affirmative Action
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 7
- Erik Bleich, “Antiracism without Races: Politics and Policy in a 'Color-Blind' State” in French Politics, Culture and Society, vol.18, n.3, Fall 2000, pp. 48-74 [CR]
- Michel Wieviorka, “Identity and Difference: Reflections on the French Non-Debate on Multiculturalism” in Thesis Eleven, n.47, November 1996, pp. 49-71 [CR]
- Daniel Sabbagh, “Affirmative Action at Science Po” in French Politics, Culture and Society, vol.20, n.3, Fall 2002
III. National Identity
The ideal and traditional view of “French exceptionalism” has been challenged by both the presence of migrants (and of their children) in France, and the acceleration of globalization in recent years. This final section considers three articulations of the debate over identity: the national (recent changes in nationality law); the European (the opposition to the integration of France into Europe ); and the global (“French exceptionalism” in contemporary economics, politics and culture).
Week 9.
Nationality and Citizenship
Reading:
- France in Crisis, chapter 8
- Maxim Silverman, “Nationality and Citizenship” in Deconstructing the Nation: Immigration, Race and Citizenship in Modern France, Routledge, 1992, pp. 126-152 [CR]
- Patrick Weil, “Introduction” in Mission d’étude des législations sur l’immigration et la nationalité, Report to the Prime Minister, Paris, La Documentation française, 1997
NOTE: Special Make-up Class on Tuesday, November 14 (4:30-7:30pm)
Week 10.
French Riots (Fall 2005)
[ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE]
Reading:
Week 11.
Islam and “Laïcité” in France
Reading:
Week 12.
The Enlargement of the Framework
(France, Europe and Globalization)
Reading:
- Philip H. Gordon and Sophie Meunier, “Globalization and French Cultural Identity” in French Politics, Culture, and Society, vol.19, n.1, Spring 2001, pp. 22-41
- Michael J. Baun, “The Maastricht Treaty as High Politics: Germany, France, and European Integration” in Political Science Quarterly, vol.110, N.4, Winter 95-96, pp. 605-624 [CR]
- Sophie Meunier, “The French Exception” in Foreign Affairs, vol.79, n.4, July-August 2000, pp. 104-116
Week 13.
Review and Final Exam
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