- Paris and its Others

Catalog description

An exploration of literature, culture, and arts that have shaped the French capital from the early twentieth century to today. Students will engage with fictional and non-fictional texts and visual documents that both register and challenge what romanticized visions of Paris have left out: the economic, racial, and religious marginalization of entire communities that have yet contributed to the very cultural and material making of the City of Light; the repression of ways of thinking, being, and acting that do not correspond to a pre-established, yet contested, universal French Republican identity. Students will discuss actively in class, acquire analytic tools, and produce papers engaging with secondary sources on a topic of their choice. This course will be of interest to any student who seeks to decenter their knowledge of Paris from underexplored angles.