Winter Quarter 2027
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Catalog Descriptions
Language Courses
FRE 001Y-003Y: Elementary French
FRE 021Y-023Y: Intermediate French
See Placement Guide or Catalog Description
Undergraduate Course Descriptions
FRE 055 Fashion & French Society | Claire Goldstein
Taught in English
New course, taught in English, no prerequisites A visual exploration of French history and society through the lens of fashion. From the fabrics brought to Europe by crusaders to the long pants that proclaimed the values of radical revolution; from Coco Chanel to the youth movements of the May 1968 to contemporary debates about fast fashion and whether students are allowed to wear hijabs in public schools. We will follow how artists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers depict clothing to reflects social changes, including urbanization, evolving gender roles, and concerns about ethics, including environmental and social justice.
General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC).
- FRE 105 Advanced French Grammar | Zachary Scovel
In this course, students will develop and deepen their knowledge and mastery of French grammar, paying close attention to the verbal system. We will identify and work through the most challenging, nuanced aspects of French grammar through daily written practice and discussion. Students will reinforce their proficiency through writing assignments: essays will grant students the opportunity to showcase their mastery of the discussed structures, and translation assignments will provide a comparative study between French and English. This course is taught in French.
Prerequisite: FRE 23 or permission of instructor.
General Education: Writing Experience (WE).
- FRE 128 French Rap and Hip-Hop Culture | Julia Simon
This course traces the emergence of the French hip-hop movement and especially rap. We will study songs from the beginning of French rap in the 1980s through to today. We will also read cultural and historical analyses, including of the banlieue. Our exploration will include ethnic and sexual identities as they are reflected in hip-hop--rap, DJing, graffitti, dance, and style. Because much of our analysis will center on sound performance, we will also work on French pronunciation and especially prosody.
Prerequisite(s): FRE 100; or consent of instructor.
General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); World Cultures (WC).
- FRE 141 Rewriting, Restaging, Revising | Toby Warner
In this course we will read a selection of literary texts and films that rewrite, revise or restage other, earlier works. Our class will be arranged around three pairings of “original” texts and their “rewritten” counterparts. These will include Aimé Césaire’s play Une Tempête, which is a rewriting of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest; Kamel Daoud’s novel Merseault, contre-enquête, a reply to Albert Camus’ L’Etranger; and Abdellatif Kechiche’s film L’Esquive, which restages the play Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard by Pierre de Marivaux. In each case, we will work comparatively in order to trace how plots, scenes, and characters have traveled through time and found different resonances in new circumstances. In our readings, conversations, and assignments, we will explore revision from two angles: as a sign of the weight of the past on the present, but also as an attempt to carve out space to imagine and stage new futures. In keeping with our theme, students in this course will write and revise their own essays to practice both composition and literary analysis.
Prerequisite(s): FRE 100; or consent of instructor.
General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).
