DOCUMENT R: SYLLABUS
1. Date Prepared: February 2012
2. Prepared by: Nathalie Cornelius
3. Department: Languages and Cultures
4. Course Number: FRENCH 211
5. Course Title: Foundations of French Culture and Civilization
6. Credit Hours: 3
Goal 4 - Cultures and Diversity
Goal 7 – Arts and Humanities
2 GEPs
1 GEP
7. Prerequisites: No prerequisites.
8. Catalog Description:
Presents the history of French culture and civilization from its beginnings to the French
Revolution, with emphasis on art, literature, ideas, historical events, and cultural exchanges.
Intended for students seeking an introductory course on French culture. Students gain insights
in the cultural history of France and Francophone cultures, including geography, society, politics,
philosophy, art, literature, and the sciences. Course is taught in English through lectures,
projects, discussions, readings, and audio-visual media. FRENCH 211 partially fulfills the
requirements for the French Minor. Course is offered in alternating semesters.
9. Content Outline:
FRENCH 211 presents the history of French and Francophone peoples and cultures from their
beginnings through the French Revolution. Required course content addresses cultural topics as
they develop over time, especially the French language, the arts, humanities, science and
technology, geography, major historical events, and social and political structures and traditions.
A course plan could include, but is not limited to the following:
Period
Prehistory in
France and
Antiquity
Readings in translation/viewings /lectures
 Art: Lascaux, the Cro-Magnon, prehistorical painting techniques
 Architecture: Roman vestiges
 Reading: Astérix et Obélix (for its
content on the Roman Occupation)
 Reading: Caesar’s commentaries on
the Gallic Wars (excerpt)
 Reading: Les Serments de Strasbourg
 Reading: The Song of Roland
(Charlemagne)
 Art: Illuminated Texts
Topics
 Prehistory in France
 Roman Colonization of
France (Vercingetorix,
Clovis, the Franks)
 The Development of the
French Language
 The Birth of the French
State (from Gaul to
France)
 The Hundred Years War
The Middle Ages
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The Renaissance
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Absolutism and
Classicism
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Age of
Enlightenment
and the French
Revolution
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Documentary: Jeanne d’Arc
Music: Medieval songs, music and
musical instruments
Art: Catholic painting and sculpture
Readings: Excerpt: Victor Hugo Notre
Dame de Paris
Architecture: The Gothic Cathedrals
Music
Painting
Reading: excerpt from work by
Rabelais Gargantua or Montaigne
Essais
Documentary: Francis the First
Architecture: castles of the Loire Valley
Film: Return of Martin Guerre
Art : Baroque architecture and style
Art: paintings of Georges de La Tour
and sculptures by Pierre Puget, as well
as other artists from the time period
Reading: excerpt of Descartes Discours
de la method
Reading: excerpt of Pascal’s Les
Pensées
Politics: Louis XIV
Art: Paintings by Nicolas Poussin and
other painters from the time period
Architecture: Versailles and its
Gardens
Film: Play representation of Racine’s
Phèdre or Molière’s Le Bourgeois
gentilhomme
Music: Lully, Charpentier and Couperin
Reading: excerpt of Voltaire’s Candide
or Lettres persanes
Reading: excerpt Rousseau Du Contrat
social
Reading: La Pérouse’s writings on the
New World
Music: Songs from the Revolution and
from the First Republic
Document: La Déclaration des droits
de l’homme et du citoyen
Art: paintings by , Boucher, Watteau,
Louis David and other painters from
the time period
Film: Marie Antoinette
Film: Danton
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Feudal Society and
Emerging Social Classes
Wars of Religion
Catholicism as Center of
Society
The Defense of
Intellectual and Religious
Freedom
Development of the
Monarchy
Humanism
Baroque Literature and
Art
France as a Cultural
Center
Classical Architecture, Art,
and Literature
Cartesian Thought
The Court of Louis XIV and
Absolutism
Colonization and
Exploration
The Age of Enlightenment
The Philosophers
Neo-Classicism and
Rococo Art and Literature
Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette
The Reign of Terror and
the First Republic, le
Directoire and Consulate
10. Methods:
Course is taught in English and includes a combination of lecture and discussion. Class size is
limited to 40 students in order to facilitate discussion and manage complex material. Students
work on projects, take tests and quizzes, and participate in class discussions. Written
assignments and oral presentations investigate specific topics. Activities outside class, such as
participation in informal conversation groups or film viewings, may be assigned. Alternate
assignments may be provided in lieu of out-of-class or co-curricular activities. Access to
electronic resources such as the Internet is required. FRENCH 211 is offered in alternating
semesters.
11. Student Learning Objectives:
Student Learning Objective
11a. Compare and constrast historical, social,
political, geographical, intellectual and
aesthetic features that shape the traditional
French societies with one’s own society.
Gen. Ed.
Goal
associated
with GEPS
Cultures and
Diversity
11b. Communicate basic information
pertaining to the cultures of traditional
France and Francophone societies and
compare those cultures with one’s own
during the historical times.
Cultures and
Diversity
11c. Identify biases held personally and by
one’s own culture and apply critical reflection
on those biases.
Cultures and
Diversity
11d. Apply approaches and methods of
cultural inquiry, particularly, from historical
and philosophical perspectives toward a
grasp of another world view.
11e. Analyze critically the historical, ethical,
political, cultural, environmental,
circumstantial settings and conditions that
influence ideas in French literature and
culture.
Arts and
Humanities
Arts and
Humanities
Related VALUE Rubric
Elements
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT:
Knowledge—Cultural selfawareness
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT: Knowledge—
Knowledge of cultural
worldview frameworks
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT: Attitudes—
openness
Attitudes—Curiosity
RUBRIC: Critical Thinking
ELEMENT: Explanation of
Issues
RUBRIC: Critical Thinking
ELEMENT: Evidence—
Selecting and using
information to investigate a
point of view or conclusion
FRENCH 211 is designed both to support the department’s established program goals, and to
enhance the university’s General Education program. Cultural traditions and cultural
interpretations of historical experience play a central role in general education. Cultural history
examines the records and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a
group of people, constituting a continuum of events leading from the past to the present and
into the future. Because studies in culture and civilization records and interprets past events
involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political settings, FRENCH 211 fulfills 2
GEPs for Goal 4 - Cultures and Diversity. Culture and civilization is inextricably integrated with
Arts and Humanities and therefore a significant portion of historical study includes creative,
philosophical, literary, and performative works. Hence FRENCH 211 fulfills 1 GEP for Goal 7 –
Arts and Humanities.
12. Student Assessment:
Assessment instruments may include the following:
1. 11a: Tests and the final exam include sections that specifically address French cultural
history. Possible individualized and collaborative projects may focus on one or more specific
selected cultural topics. On-line and in-class discussions also indicate the specific knowledge
acquired regarding French society.
2. 11b: Tests and the final exam include sections that specifically address the relevance of
socio-cultural issues pertaining to race, gender and class, including those problems that
arise in the students’ own world. Possible individualized and collaborative projects may
focus on one or more specific selected issue of general relevance, as will on-line and in-class
discussions.
3. 11c: Guided written and oral presentations are structured to reflect the level of critical
understanding of intercultural awareness.
4. 11d: Guided written and oral presentations are structured according to approaches and
methods of cultural inquiry.
5. 11e: Independent projects and prepared discussions based on readings from French
literature and culture are devoted to the critical confrontation with the products of French
culture in their historical and social contexts.
13. Evaluation of Individual Student Performance:
Evaluation of student performance may include but is not limited to projects, tests and quizzes,
discussions during class, written assignments and oral presentations which investigate specific
topics, activities outside class, such as participation in informal conversation groups or film
viewings, and alternate assignments completed through co-curricular activities. Other measures
of evaluation may be integrated as appropriate or necessary.
14. Course Assessment:
Specific course assessment will take place as imbedded test questions on final exams or
embedded material on final exam projects. Additional assessment data may be gathered using
independent projects and writing assignments. The assessment data gathered, as well as the
tools used to gather the data, will be reviewed at appropriate intervals both by the department
Assessment Committee and by the department General Education Committee to verify the
extent to which student learning outcomes are being achieved. Modifications to the course will
be made accordingly. Assessment data will be reported to the Office of Planning and
Assessment.
The study of cultures and civilizations necessarily entail VALUE rubrics regarding cultural selfawareness and cultural worldview frameworks, and thus foster curiosity, empathy and openness
to other peoples and nations. To this end, students need to explain issues, select and use
information to investigate cultural points of view in comparison. Because cultural history
necessarily involves the arts and humanistic achievements of a culture, student should select
and use information to investigate critically points of view and conclusions.
15. Supporting Materials and References:
(Items marked with an asterisk * are available in the Andruss Library.)
Aguilhon, Michel and Beaujeu-Garnier, Jacqueline and Bergeron, Louis and Duby, Georges.
Histoire de la France: des origins à nos jours. Larousse: Paris, 2006. Print.
Belk, William. A Social and Cultural History of Early Modern France. Cambridge University Press:
England, 2009. Print.
Doyle, William. The Oxford History of the French Revolution. Oxford University Press: USA, 2003.
Print.
Goubert, Pierre. The Course of French History. Routledge: USA, 1991. Print.
*Haine, W. Scott. The History of France. Greenwood: USA, 2008. Print.
Jones, Colin. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge University Press: England,
1999. Print.
Nadeau, Jean-Benoît and Barlow, Julie. The Story of French. St. Martin’s Press: New York, 2006.
Print.
Nadeau, Jean-Benoît and Barlow, Julie. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be Wrong. Sourcebooks
Inc.: USA, 2003. Print.
Ravisé, Suzanne. Tableaux culturels de la France. NTC Publishing Group: USA, 1994. Print.
*Robb, Graham. A Discovery of France: Historical Geography. W.W. Norton and Company: USA,
2008. Print.
*Steele, Ross and St. Onge, Susan and St. Onge, Ronald. La civilization française en evolution I:
Institutions et culture avant la Ve République. Heine and Heinle Publishers: Boston, 1996.
Print.
16. Prototype Text:
Jones, Colin, The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge University Press:
Cambridge, 1999. Print.
Selected Primary readings.