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Welcome to the website of the Department of French at UC Berkeley. In our department you can study French and francophone literature, culture, and film, along with the French language and French linguistics. The dedicated and creative teachers and scholars in our department share a commitment to excellence of instruction, whether it be in a first year French class, a specialized course for majors (all of which are taught in French), a course on French literature in translation, or an advanced graduate seminar.
For its undergraduate majors and minors and its graduate students the Berkeley French Department provides thorough coverage in the traditional, historically based divisions of French literature and culture, as well as in francophone literatures. It blends this coverage with the study of a wide array of related fields and topics – from literary history and theory to philosophy, to social and cultural theory, to psychoanalysis, the study of gender and sexuality, historiography, visual arts and film, music, popular culture, and politics. We encourage independent and innovative thinking and research at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
We participate fully in the interdisciplinary emphasis that has traditionally distinguished study and research at Berkeley. Many of our faculty are affiliated with other programs in the University (with the Departments of Comparative Literature and Italian Studies, with programs in Romance Languages and Literatures and in Medieval Studies, with a working group in Early Modern Studies, with Graduate Designated Emphases in Critical Theory, Film Studies and in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and with the Center for the Study of Sexual Culture). Graduate students typically count courses from other disciplines toward completion of their degree. We maintain close ties with scholars and writers in France, across North America, and around the world, and have a regular schedule of lectures and colloquia open to our students and colleagues, as well as to the public at large. Most years see visits by one or more Pajus Distinguished Visitor in French Studies. Recent longer term Visitors have included Christopher Prendergast (2010-2011), Ross Chambers (2008-2009); Jacques Rancière (2007-2008 and 2005-2006); Michael Sheringham (2006-2007); and Didier Eribon (2004-2005 and 2003-2004). Recent shorter term visitors have included Michel Jeanneret, Mireille Huchon, and Yves Citton. In Spring 2012 we look forward to welcoming Wendy Ayres-Bennett, of Cambridge University, for a series of lectures and seminars covering topics ranging from the history of the French language, to early modern French literature and culture, to gender and literary/linguistic history.
The department also regularly hosts international conferences. In April 2010 we held a conference called "Music, Letters, Moving Shadows, " honoring the career of our colleague Ann Smock. Speakers included Ann Smock, Katherine Bergeron, Daniel Heller-Roazen, Denis Hollier, Thomas Schestag, Rochelle Tobias and Christophe Wall-Romana. On October 4th and 5th, 2007, the French Department graduate students hosted a conference entitled "Paths of Desire: Itineraries as Transgression." Spring 2005 saw a remarkable interdisciplinary conference on “Thinking in Time: Henri Bergson.” In Spring 2006 there was “The Time of the Political: A Conference around the Work of Jacques Derrida”. In Fall 2006 the department hosted two conferences: “Poetry of the Everyday” in October and “Corneille and the Discourses of Empire” in November. A workshop titled "Contextualizing 'Literary' Practices in Early Modern France" occurred in Spring 2007. French film series organized both by our department and at the Pacific Film Archive complement our academic programs and offerings.
There are numerous opportunities for education abroad at all stages of our program. Undergraduate majors typically participate in the University of California Education Abroad Program, which maintains campuses in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, and Toulouse. For those wishing to take their first steps, our Summer Session Travel Study Office offers an exciting and rigorous program which takes students to Paris for six weeks and currently offers instruction in French 1 and French 2. At the graduate level, the Department has two yearly exchange programs with the Ecole Normale Supérieure and with the Institut d’Anglais at the Université de Paris VII.
I hope that you will take the opportunity to explore our site and its various links so as to acquaint yourself more fully with our programs, our faculty, and their research interests. Do not hesitate to contact the faculty or our superb staff members should you have any further questions about studying in our department.
Timothy Hampton
Professor and Chair
University of California,
Berkeley •
College of Letters
and Sciences |
