Minor Requirements: French and Francophone Studies

The French and Francophone Studies Minor unites a diversity of disciplinary approaches to France while extending the notion of French and Francophone Studies beyond the specific territorial and linguistic boundaries of France and Parisian French. Relying on a solid language training, courses in Francophone literature and culture (continental Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America) as well as in other disciplines, this minor will afford a synthetic view of the evolution and impact of French and Francophone cultural institutions. The majors most organically connected with this interdisciplinary curriculum are history, anthropology, art history, political science, media studies, and international relations, although students majoring in other disciplines may also minor in French and Francophone Studies. No more than 12 credits from non-Carleton off-campus study programs may be applied toward the minor

  • Language Requirement: French 204 or equivalent
  • Six Courses: Four from Group I, one from Group II, and one from Group III.
    Group I:     French and Francophone Literature and Culture (Four courses required, two of which must be at the 300 level)
    • FREN 206 Contemporary French and Francophone Culture
    • FREN 208 Paris Program: Contemporary France: Cultures, Politics, Society
    • FREN 235 The Human Body in the Francophone World (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 236 Francophone Cinema and the African Experience (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 238 Back to the Future: French Classics Reimagined (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 239 Banned Books
    • FREN 241 The Lyric and Other Seductions (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 244 Contemporary France and Humor (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 245 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean
    • FREN 246 Contemporary Senegal (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 248 Murder and Mayhem: Narratives of Suspense (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 250 French History in 10 Objects (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 257 French and Francophone Autofiction (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 259 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
    • FREN 308 France and the African Imagination (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 309 Expression and Translation: Encounters with Language (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 340 Arts of Brevity: Short Fiction
    • FREN 341 Madame Bovary and Her Avatars
    • FREN 347 Gender and Sexuality in the Francophone World
    • FREN 353 The French Chanson (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 357 French and Francophone Autofiction (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 359 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
    • FREN 360 The Algerian War of Liberation and Its Representations (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 370 Cultural Mutations in the Francophone World: Theory and Practice (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 395 The Mande of West Africa (not offered in 2022-23)
    • LCST 245 The Critical Toolbox: Who’s Afraid of Theory?

    Group II History and Art History     (One course required)
    • ARTH 140 African Art and Culture
    • ARTH 172 Modern Art: 1890-1945 (not offered in 2022-23)
    • ARTH 236 Baroque Art (not offered in 2022-23)
    • ARTH 245 Modern Architecture (not offered in 2022-23)
    • ARTH 255 Islam in the Eyes of the West (not offered in 2022-23)
    • ARTH 263 European Architectural Studies Program: Prehistory to Postmodernism (not offered in 2022-23)
    • EUST 111 The Age of Cathedrals (not offered in 2022-23)
    • FREN 254 Paris Program: French Art in Context
    • HIST 137 Early Medieval Worlds in Transformation (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 138 Crusades, Mission, and the Expansion of Europe (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 139 Foundations of Modern Europe (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 140 The Age of Revolutions: Modern Europe, 1789-1914 (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 141 Europe in the Twentieth Century (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 181 West Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 183 History of Early West Africa (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 184 Colonial West Africa (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 232 Renaissance Worlds in France and Italy (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 243 The Peasants are Revolting! Society and Politics in the Making of Modern France (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 244 The Enlightenment and Its Legacies (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 288 Reason, Authority, and Love in Medieval France (not offered in 2022-23)
    • HIST 289 Gender and Ethics in Late Medieval France

    Group III: Anthropology, Political Science, Media Studies     (One course required)
    • EUST 110 The Nation State in Europe (not offered in 2022-23)
    • EUST 159 “The Age of Isms” – Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe
    • FREN 255 Paris Program: Islam in France: Historical Approaches and Current Debates
    • POSC 251 Modern Political Philosophy: Liberalism and Its Critics
    • POSC 255 Post-Modern Political Thought (not offered in 2022-23)
    • POSC 277 Religion in Politics: Conflict or Dialogue? (not offered in 2022-23)
    • POSC 278 Memory and Politics (not offered in 2022-23)
    • POSC 329 Reinventing Humanism: A Dialogue with Tzvetan Todorov (not offered in 2022-23)
    • POSC 348 Strangers, Foreigners and Exiles*
    • POSC 352 Political Theory of Alexis de Tocqueville* (not offered in 2022-23)
    • POSC 359 Cosmopolitanism (not offered in 2022-23)
    • SOAN 108 In & Out of Africa: How Transnational Black Lives Matter (not offered in 2022-23)
    • SOAN 256 Africa: Representation and Conflict

For students who wish to make the most of the French and Francophone Studies Minor, we strongly recommend taking classes that reflect the diverse geography of the French and Francophone world. For courses other than those in the French and Francophone Studies department, students may be expected to do source reading in French, but papers and exams will be written in English. Check with the department for other on- or off-campus courses that may count for the minor.