Transnational Francophone Studies (367-0-20)
Topic
What's Luck Got to Do With It?
Instructors
Nasrin Qader
847/491-8263
1860 S. Campus Drive, Crowe Hall #2-101
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Encounters at the Crossroads of Chance and Destiny
In "Déviation" [Detour] a short story by the Algerian writer, Mohammed Dib, two people are driving back to their hometown when they hit a roadblock marked "road work" and must take a detour. A familiar everyday event that ordinarily might annoy but eventually gets the traveler to their destination. However, here, unbeknownst both to our travelers and to us, this is no ordinary detour but rather a crossroad where chance and destiny converge. We begin our course with this short story to explore not only the daunting and often unanswerable question of "is it chance? Is it desinty?" but also the relationship between storytelling and this double question. Focusing our analyses and discussions on different modalities of encounter, we will investigate the history of key notions in the debate on chance and destiny, beginning with these words themselves, and consider their broader political and historical implications. Our class topic is not limited to human-human encounters but rather expands to consider encounter as a relation in general. Students will contribute to the structure of the class not only theoretically and critically but also by drawing on their own everyday experiences of encounter and stories.
Registration Requirements
FRENCH 271-0, FRENCH 272-0, or FRENCH 273-0, or consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when content changes.
Learning Objectives
· To Enhance student ability to analyze and critique literary and theoretical texts in French
· To understand the contextual framework of theoretical arguments and literary presentations
· To generate questions and hypotheses
· To build arguments coherently and with nuance
· To become sensitive to conceptual potentials of language
· To develop research skills on specific topics
· To fine tune writing skills and speaking skills in French at a theoretical level
Teaching Method
Class discussion
Evaluation Method
Group Project: 20% (10% group, 10% individual)
Literary Presentation: 10%
Blackboard Posting: (10%)
Midterm project: (20%)
Final Project: (30%)
Attendance: 10%
Class Materials (Required)
Tentative Course Materials (subject to modification) (additional readings will be selected by students during the quarter):
Robert Bresson, Au hasard Balthazar (film, France)
André Breton, Amour fou (novella, France)
Morgane Cadieu, Marcher au hasard (historical/critical book, excerpts)
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have completed FRENCH 271-0, FRENCH 272-0, or FRENCH 273-0. Other students may register with instructor permission.