The 2023-2024 program will be directed by Professor Mark DeMont, .
Mandatory Classes:
all students must take a French Class at the appropriate Level
and
“The French Experience" (HUM 235) Taught by Dr. Marc DeMont.
The course offers a double approach to the question of identity, a theoretical approach and an experiential one. With the theoretical approach we will focus on the notion of experience and its relationship with national (but not only) identity. Instead of adopting a more traditional approach which tends to define national identities in terms of shared values and knowledge, shared practices, or a shared access to rights and duties, our approach allows not only to link all these dimensions through one single notion (experience), but also to complexify the notion of national identity. With the experiential approach, students will be exposed to “French” experiences and will have the opportunity to identify more closely with the French “lifestyle.”
Students must also enroll in TWO of the courses from the following list:
1•FLM 281/FRE322: French Contempory Cinema Taught by Dr. Marc DeMont
The course will offer a comprehensive overview of French cinema from the 90s up to now and the ways in which it reflects and shapes the French perceptions of current social issues (immigration, queerness, history and memory, etc). Student will have the opportunity to develop their visual literacy skills while discovering contemporary French cinema and its relation to France’s recent history. The course organization and assignments will reflect this double articulation allowing students to produce rigorous film analyses in relation to the films’ contexts of production. Movies will be introduced as complex products shaped by different forces and relations that students will learn to identify and discuss critically. The course will cover the major social and artistic movements (Cinema du Look, Heritage Cinema, New French Extremism, etc.) that contributed to make of French Contemporary Cinema a major innovator and leader, and one of the most recognizable national cinematic tradition.
2• Promoting Sustainability Literacy through Physical Literacy (ENSXXX). In this course, students will understand the concept of sustainable development and the challenges that our western lifestyle poses to the future of humankind, using a set of evidence-based approaches. Students will be encouraged to reflect about ways to meet some of the sustainable goals proposed by the United Nations, and will be invited to experience the kind of lifestyle habits that it implies. Different aspects of sustainable literacy will be covered, such as food and the way that ecosystems work. But a particular emphasis will be put on physical literacy through the understanding of the benefits of exercise for health and the acquisition of skills related to orienteering. With this skillset, student will be taught how to quantify physical activity, examine and reflect on their own active behaviour. They will also employ active transportation, as Strasbourg is ranked n°4 in the world for bike transportation (Copenhagen Index, 2017). Orienteering will also be used in natural setting, combining academic, cultural and leisure activities. By combining excursions in urban and natural settings, student will become sustainability-literate through the promotion of physical literacy. The class combines lectures, readings, student presentations, and visits of sites in Strasbourg and an overnight trip in the Vosges. Lastly, they will understand how to design and manage a project based on the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) model, which is nowadays an important feature for many project to be accepted and funded. Taught by staff
3• The Construction of Europe (POL 461). Capitalizing on Strasbourg’s location at the geographical center of Europe and as the home of three of the most important European institutions, students study the Council of Europe, whose main assignment is to defend Human Rights in Europe. How does the Council work, and how does its European Court of Human Rights ensure the respect of fundamental rights in Europe? Students also study the ways in which some European States have deepened their interconnectedness through economic, political, and monetary cooperation. In conjunction with a trip to the European Parliament, students consider how the European Union was born, how it works, and what makes it unique. All of these issues are approached comparatively, with an eye toward the United States, and in their impact on students living on European soil. No prerequisites; taught by staff.
Classroom Facilities in Strasbourg
The classroom area is located near the University of Strasbourg, a short walk from the main cathedral. It includes classrooms and an office, small library and study area.