FRE 365 - Advanced Topics: Francophone Identities and Cultures outside of France (1)

This course will introduce students to a variety of Francophone cultures and identities outside of hexagonal France, including those of Vietnam, Algeria and Senegal. We will interrogate the phenomenon of “Francophonie” in specific historical and geographical contexts as both a cultural, political and social unifying force and as a movement that still carries with it its colonial past. We will also explore the creative work of bilingual, bi-national and/or bicultural writers who have chosen to write or otherwise express themselves in French, including Fatou Diome of Senegal, Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-born French graphic novelist and author of Persepolis, Nina Bouraoui, a French author who spent most of her childhood in Algeria and Minh Tran Huy, a French author of Vietnamese heritage. This course will enhance students’ intercultural competence and knowledge of the rich diversity of the French-speaking world. This course may be taken in place of FRE 303 in order to satisfy the requirements to major or minor in French. FRE 205. FRE 301 is recommended.
(Humanities)