Readings/Films:

Eugène Atget, Album zonier

Blaise Cendrars et Robert Doisneau, La banlieue de Paris

Jean-Luc Godard, Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle

Mathieu Kassovitz, La Haine         

Yamina Benguigui, 9/3 Mémoire d’un territoire

Marie NDiaye, Rosie Carpe

Faïza Guène, Kiffe kiffe demain

 Philippe Vasset, Un livre blanc

Céline Sciamma, Bande de filles

Course Description:

In this course, we will focus on French contemporary culture from the vantage point of the Parisian “banlieues,” the spaces of social marginalization and creativity surrounding the historical city-center. Drawing on critical discourses ranging from sociology to architecture, space theory, postcolonial studies and political theory, we will study literary texts, films and photographic works representing the banlieues to investigate a set of complex transitions and phenomena that participate in shaping the French social landscape today. How, indeed, can literature and film help us critically investigate, among other critical issues, the different and sometimes clashing layers of history traversing the banlieues (including the memories of industrial labor, of colonialism, of migrations); the encounter of  the relationships between city-planning, governance, and social unrest; the inscription, onto space, of notions of belonging, citizenship and democracy; the impact of race and gender on movements in space and between spaces? These questions will guide our exploration of the creative gestures, political and aesthetic, that have emerged in the banlieues in the last few decades. Students will be introduced to key notions in literary and film analysis, while being encouraged to relate their analysis of cultural objects to the social history of the banlieues.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional Information:

Satisfies 1 “Culture” or 1 “Elective” requirement in the French major.  Satisfies one course requirement in the French minor.  Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature, or Historical Studies, or Social and Behavioral Sciences, or International Studies.

Section times and locations in the Schedule of Classes