In the Eyes of an "Other": Travel Narratives and Immigration Literature of the Francophone World

This course will introduce students to diverse cultures of the francophone (French-speaking) world through novels, films, and other texts (translated into English), which convey what it is like to find oneself in a foreign land. One thing that ties places as distant from one another as Haiti, Quebec, Belgium, France, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and Senegal together is the commonality of the French language as a means of expression. Yet despite a shared language, there are significant cultural differences between cities, countries, and continents, and these can become heightened when experienced by someone from an "other" culture. We will investigate notions of identity in the context of global modernity, and what it means to exist in terms of both cultural similarity and difference. To experience a place in the Francophone world, our class will take a field trip to Montréal, Quebec.

No prior knowledge of French is required to take this course. First-year students interested in participating in the Global Francophone Cultures study abroad program in Spring 2013 should consider taking this course, and one of the fall course instructors will also teach the spring First-Year Seminar abroad. For more information, please see the section on "Global Francophone Cultures" at http://www.stlawu.edu/ciis/program/france/introduction.