Concurrent Enrollment in or completion of French 102 or its equivalent required for enrollment. This class is taught entirely in French. Montreal, Quebec, is one of the largest Francophone cities in the world, and the largest in North America. Located on a continent where most people speak English, this French-speaking metropolis lays at the crossroads of multiple histories of colonisation. This has given its authors and filmmakers a unique perspective on such common issues as urbanisation and industrialisation, sexuality, racism, and migration. In this class, we will study literature and film that depict the city over the course of the past century or so, which reveal how its concerns are related to, but distinct from, those of the continent’s Spanish– and English-speaking traditions. The semester will be divided into four units focusing on:

(1) francophone settlers’ efforts to construct a uniquely North American voice;

(2) the social and economic dislocations caused North American-style industrialisation;

(3) Indigenous resistance to colonisation in and around Montreal; and

(4) migration to the city in the wake of slavery and war in the francophone world. During the semester, students will complete a series of graduated exercises to initiate them in writing literary and filmic analysis. These exercises will culminate in a term paper.