RLFR 410(S) Senior Seminar: Landscapes of Movement and Migration in French*
How do migration and movement construct and disrupt landscapes of identity-home, city and nation-in the French-speaking world? How do migration and movement contribute to conditions of alienation, nostalgia and violence? This seminar explores such fundamental questions and asks us to think about how in an increasingly mobile and de-territorialized world, place is imagined, experienced and remembered. Over the course of the semester, we will examine theoretical texts on memory, space, identity and movement, and analyze literary and film narratives of migration that focus on: the immigration experience in France, the construction of an Atlantic identity between Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas, internal migration between the country and the city, clandestine migration between Africa and Europe, population displacement due to war, and the possibility of creating portable places of memory. Works by Nora, Benjamin, Deleuze, Barthes, Charef, Chamoiseau, Glissant, Diome, Condé, Mernissi, Poulain, Pineau, Sembene, and Binebine among others. Conducted in French.
Format: seminar. Requirements: weekly 1-page response papers, short mid-term paper and a final research paper. Prerequisites: one literature course in French beyond the 100 level or by permission of instructor. Qualified students in first, second, or third years of their career at Williams can enroll in the Senior Seminar with the permission of the instructor. However, this will not replace the senior seminar requirement in the senior year of French majors. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 10). Preference given to seniors who are French majors or completing the Certificate in French, but open to advanced students of French.
Hour: PIEPRZAK