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UC Center Program
French & European Studies
FALL 2008 Semester
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The Program in French and European Studies is the creation of faculty and administrators at the University of California. It is designed to immerse students in several dimensions of French culture and life.
The program begins with a 11-day practicum focusing on language learning, with special attention paid to the acquisition practical skills for living in Paris. Every week excursions will allow students to discover the city.
After the practicum students take one French language and three upper-division courses in the Social Sciences and the Humanities intended to provide windows into French history, identity, visual culture, literature, politics and economics in relation to a broader European civilization, and to the United States.
The program is intended as rewarding experience abroad, and it is also a gateway for some students who may choose to extend their stay in France for a second semester at the University of Bordeaux.
ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR THE PROGRAM IN FRENCH AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
In the "Student Conduct and Discipline Agreement" our students have made a commitment to conform to standards of conduct including "regular attendance in all classes for which Student is registered."
Here is the specific attendance policy of the UC-Study Center Program in French and European Studies:
(1) Since a pattern of absences may be an indicator that a student could be experiencing difficulties, roll will be taken as a matter of course.
(2) A Student can be absent the equivalent of one week of a course without documenting the reasons for the absences.
(3) Above and beyond the equivalent of a week of unexcused absences, students must document a legitimate excuse for the absences, such as a note from a medical doctor. This includes lectures, sections, film-screenings, and excursions listed on the syllabi.
(4) Unexcused absences will be penalized as follows: we will lower on ½ letter grade per course for the equivalent of a week of unexcused absences.
INTRODUCTORY PRACTICUM
 Practicum - Main Page
COURSE OFFERINGS FOR FALL 2008
Content Courses
PCC 111. Histories of Paris
Professor Christina
von Koehler
Using the buildings and space of Paris as a laboratory, this course surveys key events in the histories of Paris and France. The course will focus on the social and cultural history of the city in its material dimensions; the relation of streets and buildings to the unfolding events of French history, and the meanings of local topography within the enduring mythologies of the city. A central goal of the course is to teach students to read and write critically about the history of Paris and the cityscape around them. Includes some excursions. [History, Architecture, Urban Studies, Sociology] 5.0 credits
PCC 115. European Integration
Professor Mariam Habibi
This course aims to provide a general introduction to the history, the structure and the current developments of the European Union with a specific focus on France. We shall look at the circumstances after the second World War that once again put the 'Idea of Europe' on the agenda and the role that France played in the rebirth of this idea. The EU will be studied from a theoretical point of view; how do we define its structure? What determines the shape and speed of the integration process? How does this institution maintain its legitimacy? We will evaluate the success of this project by looking at specific policies, such as the common agricultural policy, the economic and social policy and common foreign and security policies. Finally we will consider the role of the EU as a global actor and study the EU's relations with the rest of the world. [Political Science, History, International Relations, Economics] 5.0 credits
PCC 116. Cultural Identities in France
Professor Stéphane Dufoix
This course explores recent political debates about French 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”. Includes a one-hour discussion section. [Political Science, Sociology, History, French] 6.0 credits
PCC 120. French Cinema
Professor Marc Cerisuelo
In this course we will study the endurance and resilience of French cinema, the causes and effects of film as a "French passion." We will pay special attention to strong directorial personalities (Carn", Bresson, Tati, Godard, etc.); the French star system ; the popular love of cinema; French critical approaches to cinema; and the role of the state in promoting French cinema. We will cast a wide net over cinema to understand the secrets of the privileged relationship between a nation, an art, and a social practice. [Film, Communications, History] 6.0 credits
PCC 117. French Media
Professor Sarah Juliette
Sasson
This course will explore the interaction between French media and contemporary society. The aim of the course is to give participants a detailed understanding of the various media: press, television, radio, publishing and the internet. Themes will include the genesis and growth of the French media, institutionalization of the media, media and politics, media as a tool of power, and the identity of the French media within Europe and a globalized world. We will contextualize the current state of affairs and look closely at the way the nineteenth century paved the way for modern media today. The course will be conducted in an interactive seminar format and will include visits to museums as well as interventions from actors in the French media. [Communications, History, Sociology] 5.0 credits
PCC 123. Paris in Literature
Professor Will Bishop
This course looks at representations of Paris in French literature of the modern period. Readings have been chosen to introduce students to Paris’s multiple and changing identities. The course will place a particular emphasis on the borders, sometimes extremely stable and others somewhat porous, between the different social worlds that make Paris such an interesting, diverse, and culturally important city. Beginning with Balzac’s powerful representation of the city as the locus of power, corruption and social inequality, we will trace key developments in the way French novelists, poets and filmmakers have conceptualized their capital city. We will in the course of the semester become familiar with some of the important literary movements of the modern period: realism (Balzac), naturalism (Zola), surrealism (Breton) etc. [Literature, Comp Lit, Urban Studies, History, French]. [Literature, Comp Lit, Urban Studies, History, French] 5.0 credits
PCC 125. French Art: 1715 - 1914
Professor Christopher
Boicos
This course traces the evolution of French painting from the decline of the Ancien Régime, through the upheavals of the Revolutionary age, to the birth of modern industrial and capitalist France in the 19th century. It ends with the last heroic re-definition of “modernity” in art at the opening of the 20th century. . [Art History,European Studies, Communications] 5.0 credits.
PCC 126. French Music Appreciation
Professor Marc Battier
The course will focus on the major composers who have shaped the musical discourse of the last century. Some of their most wellknown pieces will be presented and discussed. For instance, piano pieces by Debussy (La cathédrale engloutie…), orchestral music (La Mer) and opera (Pelleas and Mélisande); music by Eric Satie; orchestral music by Ravel (Boléro, Concerto in G…); music by Olivier Messiaen (chamber and orchestral music); the birth of musique concrète and electronic music ; the Serial school (Pierre Boulez); the Spectral school (Murail, Grisey), and electronic music. [Music, History, European Studies] 5.0 credits
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