ML6282: Cultures in Context (French)

School French
Department Code MLANG
Module Code ML6282
External Subject Code 101133
Number of Credits 30
Level L5
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Professor Katherine Griffiths
Semester Double Semester
Academic Year 2022/3

Outline Description of Module

Building on the first-year module ‘The Nation and the Transnational’, this course will provide students with a clear and theoretically informed understanding of where France sits in the world in historical, cultural and political terms.

Over two semesters, students will engage with concepts, theories and approaches that are central to the study of French Studies and to many disciplines related to Modern Languages.

Teaching is divided into four themed blocks in which students will be introduced to, and encouraged to challenge, concepts of Culture and Representation, Identity, Power, and Memory. Each block will be introduced by school-wide lectures before students split into their specific languages for more in-depth study in the national context.

Some blocks may then take a more historical approach; others will emphasise critical analysis of different genres of cultural production.

Weekly learning activities will be structured around selected materials designed to allow close study and discussion of the topics explored leading students to a theoretically and methodologically informed understanding of French history, society and culture.

Lectures, seminar and workshops will guide students in their exploration of texts and other cultural artefacts in French. The materials examined in context include historical documents, speeches, statistical data, graphs, official reports, literary texts, videos, political cartoons, films, photographs and paintings.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

  1. Define a range of key concepts relevant to the study of French culture, history, and society within a transnational context;
  2. Select and analyse key text-based and visual course materials;
  3. Analyse how the cultural artefacts/texts studied relate to one another and to their context of production;
  4. Defend, both orally and in writing, a theoretically reflected position on the topics and materials studied;
  5. Build a coherent, evidence-based argument drawing on relevant secondary literature.

How the module will be delivered

The module will be delivered through a range of interactive teaching sessions supplemented by online teaching and learning activities and materials – and may include, where relevant, asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings. Full details on the delivery mode of this module will be available on Learning Central at the start of the academic year – and may be, in part, determined by Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance.  

Students will be expected to engage in substantial independent study outside the classroom. They will be guided in this respect by the learning materials provided and related reading lists.

Skills that will be practised and developed

  • Close reading;
  • Critical thinking;
  • Basic research skills;
  • Organisational skills;
  • Study skills;
  • Writing skills;
  • Word-processing skills;
  • Presentation skills;
  • Self-awareness.

How the module will be assessed

The method(s) of assessing the learning outcomes for this module are set out in the Assessment Table, which also contains the weightings of each assessment component.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR RE-ASSESSMENT

You may be required to resit one or more of the assessments in this module if you fail the module. The Examination Board will advise you which assessments you need to resit during the August resit period. Resit assessments that are not supported by extenuating circumstances will be capped at the pass mark applicable to your programme.

MAPPING OF ASSESSMENTS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Essays assess ILO 1,2,3,4,5

 

 

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 50 Essay N/A
Written Assessment 50 Essay N/A

Syllabus content

Indicative syllabus

At the school wide, transnational level, students will explore the following topics:

  • Culture
  • Representation
  • Identity
  • Mainstream and Marginalised
  • Power
  • Resistance
  • Memory

In the French context students will normally explore questions and issues such as the following:

  • What is culture and how is it represented?
  • Where is French culture?
  • Exporting French culture: the mission civilisatrice, cultural diplomacy and la Francophonie
  • Is there a darker side to French culture: an obsession with the French language and a rejection of foreign cultures?
  • Race, identity and belonging in the context of France’s history of slavery and colonialism
  • The memorialisation of slavery and its legacies in contemporary France
  • Women and the French Republic
  • Women and war; progress what progress?
  • The Feminist Revolution
  • Gender, ethnicity and power
  • Women, politics and power
  • Napoleon in French political and cultural memory.
  • How do different mediums shape historical memory?

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