Course I

Cours de Langue Française de la Sorbonne

Students are assigned to the appropriate class level based on the results of a diagnostic exam. Language courses focus on grammar, expression, phonetics, and literary awareness in classes taught by professors of French as a second language in the University of Paris system. Classes are held at various sites around the Latin Quarter. A student’s grade is assessed on the basis of a final examination following the traditional French two-part model: an oral exam and a written one.

Course II:

Art Politics and the State

French cultural identity between patrimony and modernity For understanding France today, the theme of cultural identity is a highly useful, even essential, approach.. France has been both a great melting pot where so many of the major modern and avant-garde movements have been forged, as well as the cradle of such notions as cultural heritage, History, and memory. France is in perpetual hesitation between its past and its future. Heir or pioneer, reactionary or progressive, French culture is heterogenous and rich in opposites. A crossroads of European and Mediterranean cultures, French culture is continually renewed through dialogue, integration, and appropriation. After a period of being relatively turned in on itself, France is back in touch with this special alchemy and as a result is once again fully immersed in global society and its issues.

This course takes a look at the major steps in the development of the idea of culture in France and identifies the role of the State in its invention and administration. Questions of culture are closely tied to the notion of identity, whether of an individual, a territory, a group, or a nation, and as such are integral to the major issues of gobalized exchange and globalized trade which define our time.
The course also focuses on fine arts (museums, patrimony, contemporary art), which permits students to take stock of the variability of the field covered by the notion of "culture". Lastly the course attempts to understand the ideological and political stances behind opposing visions of the world, culturally and humanistically speaking.

The course is taught in two parts:

A. The Cultural Geography of Paris.
A cultural and artistic geography of Paris is a way to grasp at the local, territorial level how culture rhymes with history, heritage (« patrimoine »), and modernity, especially since the city is the result not only of architectural and artistic choices but economic, social and political ones as well. By the density of its urban fabric and its cosmopolitanism, Paris embodies this mix of heritage and modernity which is at the heart of French society and its hesitations. This portion of the course involves visits to cultural institutions, cultural sites, and urban sites in Paris.

B. Art, State and Society: From the Renaissance to today
Concurrent with the rise of the modern State under the reign of Francis I, the notion of culture made its entry into the humanist lexicon in the 15th century. From that time forward, French Culture has been shaped by simultaneous and successive actions by the State and civil society, actions often in contradiction or competition with each other. This perpetual give-and-take between public and private realms is clearly the source of the specificity of the French cultural situation and goes a long way toward explaining the identity ambiguity characteristic of French society today. This portion of the course involves visits to the Pompidou Center and the Marais gallery district, the Institut du Monde Arabe, and the new Quai Branly Museum of world cultures.

Course III

Paris, France: A journey through contempory French history

Centered on contemporary history as seen from/by the Capital, and on the relations between city and State, this course will articulate three main avenues:

A. Places (City Hall, les Halles, Montparnasse, Belleville, and places outside of Paris) will be looked at as spaces that reflect policies, practices and social habits. They will be studied using a broad range of media and documents and – as often as possible – on-site lecture visits.

B. Moments (the Paris Commune, May ’68, Colonial Exhibition 1931, the liberation of Paris, etc), siezed as situations the analysis of which carries important lessons for reflecting on French history.

C. Processes affecting the capital and the nation. These include urbanization, democratization, changing forms of protest, and digesting the colonial heritage, among others.

This course puts special emphasis on using a wide range of sources in addition to scholarly literature: witnesses, literature, films, documentaries, exhibitions, news media, etc. Recourse to on-line resources is frequent. . Topics include...

Course IV

Intensification Workshop

This course is a three part exercice in encountering France today, focusing on personal engagement with civil society, current events debate, and individual research... (read more)

1.Civil society engagement: IFE staff work with each student individually upon arrival to arrange an involvement with French people through any one of a variety of types of activity, such as cultural activity, volunteer work, sports club, and the like. Students may choose an engagement that reflects an academic, personal or career interest, as expressed on a questionnaire each student is asked to fill out for this purpose and during an individual placement session with IFE staff

2.Current events seminar: Meeting once weekly, a discussion group led by IFE staff examines current issues in French society as reflected in the daily and weekly press. Discussion may take the form of debate, press review, informal and formal oral presentations, informal discussion, etc. Students read and prepare for discussion a short article each week, often of their own choosing. Students are encouraged to suggest topics for debate, so that the seminar content reflects their various centers of interest. This seminar is also the occasion to develop vocabulary in the areas of everyday idiomatic speech and writing. Students also acquire many of the acronyms and institutional names and terms that are important for reading the daily press.

3.Individual research: Students work individually with IFE staff to identify, research and write about a topic related to French society or history and of academic interest to the student. Students are guided in the application of French scholastic methodology for organizing an outline and other aspects of generating a research paper. Students are encouraged to make use of the IFE network to generate field research opportunities related to their topic.