French and Francophone Studies

Requirements for the French and Francophone Studies Minor (20 semester hours)

No more than 12 semester hours may be earned through off-campus or foreign study programs.

Core courses

• FREN 331W French Composition and Discussion (4)
• FREN 340 Readings in French Literature (4)

One course from the following (4 semester hours )

• FREN 336 France and the Other (4) or
• FREN 337 French and Francophone Studies II (4) or
• FREN 430 Civilization and Its Critics (4)

Two additional courses in French (8 semester hours )

• Numbered electives at the 300 or 400 or above level (8)

The department strongly urges its students to improve their language competency and broaden their education through off-campus study in approved programs. Of special interest to students of French and Francophone Studies is the Willamette semester abroad in France, CIDEF in Angers and CUPA in Paris. The CIDEF (Centre International D’Etudes Françaises) is an intensive language and culture program which places students into the appropriate level courses based on their current language ability. The CUPA program (Center for University Programs Abroad) is recommended to highly motivated juniors and seniors interested in individualized programs of study at the leading Parisian universities and institutes.

Credits earned in Willamette University's off-campus study programs, or in other pre-approved foreign study programs, may be substituted for required courses in the French and Francophone Studies Department. Students should consult in advance with the Department Chair to assure such substitution.

The French and Francophone Studies Department also offers an assistant language exchange program in cooperation with the French Ministry of Education

Language students enjoy the use of a state-of-the-art Language Learning Center featuring multimedia stations, foreign language word processors, foreign television programs transmitted by satellite, and up-to-date communication technology.

Indicators of Achievement

In the French Department we expect our students to achieve three learning outcomes by the time they graduate from Willamette University.

Student Learning Outcomes for the French Minor

1. To reach the advanced level of proficiency as defined by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The advanced level is characterized by the ability to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation
2. To be able to initiate, sustain and bring to closure a wide variety of communication tasks, including those that require an increased ability to convey meaning with diverse language strategies
3. To be able to demonstrate a broad knowledge of French and Francophone literatures, history and cultures

Faculty

• Amadou Fofana, Professor of French and Francophone Studies; French Department Chair,
• Natalie Brenner, ,
• Maguelonne Ival, ,

Professors Emeriti

• Gaetano DeLeonibus, Professor Emeritus of French and Francophone Studies,

Course Listings

FREN 131 Elementary French I (4)

Introduction to basic skills: comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. Regular assignments for laboratory work.

• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 132 Elementary French II (4)

Introduction to basic skills: comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. Regular assignments for laboratory work.

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 199 Topics in French & Francophone Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in French & Francophone Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

FREN 205 Basic Conversation in French (1)

This course will allow students to practice conversational French with confidence in an informal and relaxed setting, leading to a stimulating exchange of opinions. They will engage with French popular culture in the form of films, news items, songs, plays, etc. Conducted in French. May be repeated for up to 4 semester hours.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 131, FREN 132, FREN 231, FREN 232 or FREN 331W; OR equivalent placement via exam.
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 231 Intermediate French I (4)

Development of basic skills, classroom and laboratory. Carefully selected readings in the student's special fields of interest.

• Prerequisite: Elementary French (or equivalent) or two years of high school French with satisfactory AP score.
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 232 Intermediate French II (4)

Development of basic skills, classroom and laboratory. Carefully selected readings in the student's special fields of interest.

• Prerequisite: Elementary French (or equivalent) or two years of high school French with satisfactory AP score.
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 241 Topics in French History Through Film (4)

This course presents a survey of French history and culture, from the Renaissance to the 20th Century, as the history and culture are represented in a major French art form, the cinema. Topics studied include: religion and marriage in the Renaissance, court life under the ancient regime, the French Revolution, Napoleon's Empire, colonialism, World War I, World War II, the Algerian War, and the student revolution of 1968. Conducted in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 275 African Cinema (4)

This course surveys the literature and culture produced by African men and women in the last four decades focusing on female voicing and representation. How do African feminisms deal with issues of female subjecthood and agency in local contexts where culture, politics, social institutions and language are ensconced within dominant male narratives? How do African feminist discourses negotiate the strictures and structures of feminist internationalism while maintaining a specific African inflection?

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 285W Gender and Sexuality in African Literature and Cinema (4)

This course surveys the literature and films produced by African men and women describing, examining, or challenging power structures and dominant discourses that characterize gender roles and representation. The questions the course will seek to address are among others: How do African feminists deal with issues of female subjecthood and agency in local contexts where culture, politics, social institutions and language are established within dominant male narratives? How to begin to understand gender dynamics and sexuality in particular African works? How do African feminist discourses negotiate the constraints and structures of feminist internationalism while maintaining a specific African inflection? Taught in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 299 Topics in French & Francophone Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in French & Francophone Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

FREN 331W French Composition and Discussion (4)

Oral and written compositions based upon readings of texts emphasizing French and Francophone cultures and literary vocabulary needed in more advanced letters courses. Exercises in Syntax and introductory phonetics. Conducted in French.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 232
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 336 France and the Other (4)

Examines conceptions of culture and civilization and notions of Empire in France from the Renaissance to the Exposition Coloniale of 1931, with an emphasis on the historical development and ideological foundations of French colonialism and its manifestations. Authors and texts include: Montaigne; the Code noir; the Encyclopédie; the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen; Rousseau; Voltaire; Dederot; Chateaubriand; Tocqueville; Claire de Duras; Renan; Gobineau; Gauguin; Drumont; Sartre. Conducted in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Prerequisite: FREN 232
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 337 French & Francophone Studies II (4)

An introduction to the cultures, literatures and histories of the erstwhile French colonies through a study of representative texts by Francophone authors including Léopold Sédar, Aimé Césaire, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ferdinand Oyono, Assia Djebar, Maryse Condé, Fatou Diome, Azouz Begag among others. Conducted in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 232
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 340 Readings in French Literature (4)

Introduction to the study of French literature through reading typical works in the various genres. The course will acquaint the student with the basic vocabulary and tools of literary criticism. Conducted in French.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Prerequisite: FREN 331W or consent of instructor
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)

This course explores how contemporary written literature in Africa continues to derive a great deal of its vitality from older traditions of verbal art. Initially the course will examine sample texts from the oral tradition. It will next focus on representative texts by major African writers whose works have made use of said oral tradition as well as examine their social and political contexts. The principal concern of the course will be the analysis of the aesthetic implications of the transposition of oral techniques and structural features into the medium of the written/printed word. Conducted in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate Years
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 399 Topics in French & Francophone Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in French & Francophone Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

FREN 429 Topics in French & Francophone Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in French & Francophone Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

FREN 430 Civilization and Its Critics (4)

Focusing on key texts from the 16th to the 18th century, this course proposes to examine the various philosophical tendencies that have marked French cultural, social, and political thought through the ages, and which continue to have an impact on modern thinking. Selected themes such as education, reason, progress, enlightenment, as well as their intellectual and aesthetic ramifications will be analyzed. Conducted in English and French.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 331W or consent of instructor
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 432 Language in Society (4)

Examination of the characteristics of language and its variations. The course introduces language within its social context and examines topics such as language definition, dialects and dialectal variations, language and social class, mother tongue, language and identity, language spread, language shift, and language loss. Conducted in English.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 439 Advanced Topics in French Literature (4)

An examination of one major topic in French literature, with an emphasis on the significance of the specific topic in French literature in general. Topics may be organized around a major author or comparison of authors, an idea, a genre, a literary movement, or a critical approach, such as comparative approaches to humanism: neo-classicalism; literature and nationalism; colonialism; romanticism; negritude; existentialism; post-colonialism; Francophone literature; and lyric voice. This course is taught in seminar format and designed not to be introductory in nature, but rather to explore a particular topic or theme intensively and creatively. Conducted in French. May be repeated for credit.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 340 or consent of instructor
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

FREN 490-491 Reading and Conference (2 or 4)

Designed to enable a student to acquire the necessary knowledge and experience of literary periods which are not covered by courses offered at Willamette University.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: FREN 331W; Junior standing and g.p.a. of 3.0 or better
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Fofana

FREN 492W Research and Discussion of Selected Topics in Literature (4)

This seminar course will serve to integrate the linguistic, cultural, historical and literary experiences of seniors in the language. The class will be taught in a true seminar fashion, with a flexible format to allow students to highlight their varying individual backgrounds and interests in French. The course will include a discussion of major works of French literature, the topic set by the professor according to the proposed student projects. Students must present a major research paper at the end of the semester and pass an oral defense. Both research paper and oral defense will be in French. Conducted in French.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: Senior standing
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Fofana