Bruce Richards, Acting Chair, Emer Prof, Physics.
Eunjung Grace An, Associate Professor of French and Cinema Studies
Ivana Di Siena, Instructor of Italian
Preeamvada Leelah, Visiting Assistant Professor of French
E. Elizabeth Murphy, Associate Professor of French
Matthew Senior, Associate Professor of French
Ali Yedes, Associate Professor of French
The Department of French and Italian offers a major in French and Francophone studies supported by an extensive and distinctive curriculum. In addition to courses supporting the French major, the department offers courses in beginning and intermediate Italian language. We strongly encourage students to include in their major a semester or year of study abroad in a program suited to their interests and level.
FRENCH.
Cultural ties between France and America go back to the origin of the American republic, when Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Paine borrowed and shared concepts with French revolutionaries to frame the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Today, French and Francophone literature, philosophy, art, and cinema continue to exert a powerful influence over students and intellectuals around the world. The legacy of French thought reaches back to Descartes, Rousseau, Bergson, Sartre, Camus, and Beauvoir and continues into the present, where the concepts of Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, and others are indispensable to theory in the human and social sciences and real-world struggles related to race, nation, gender, class, and the environment. Writers such as Assia Djebar, Tahar Ben Jalloun, and Maryse Condé, and cinéastes such as Jean-Luc Godard, Claire Denis, and Ousmane Sembène have given world literature and film new faces and voices, while Médecins sans frontières has defined the concept of humanitarian aid beyond national boundaries.
In the image of this new, engaged, global community of Francophones, the French program offers students the opportunity to integrate classroom learning with study abroad in France, Senegal, and other countries, on-campus activities at La Maison Francophone and the Table Française, and opportunities to serve the broader community. The program is built on four integrated objectives: mastery of spoken and written French; acquisition of critical appreciation of literature written in French, and of French-speaking cinema; the study of culture through cultural analysis; awareness of the life-changing experiences entailed in the intellectual and personal challenges of learning a different way of being. We encourage majors to live in La Maison Francophone on campus, where they have the opportunity of immersion in the target language and culture in daily contact with native speakers. The French program intersects with other major programs on campus, allowing students to combine their interests in History, Art History, Comparative Literature, Cinema Studies, Middle-Eastern and North African Studies, Economics, Politics, and other subject areas with a major or minor in French. Departmental advisors are available for consultation in organizing the major program. All courses numbered 301 and higher offered by French department faculty and listed as FREN count toward the major, regardless of the language of instruction.
LANGUAGE LABORATORY.
The Paul and Edith Cooper International Learning Center, located on the third floor of Peters Hall, is a state of the art facility designed for both class and individual use at all levels of language learning. Audio, video and computer materials are available for student use. A staff of experts help students develop their language skills and connect with French speakers around the world. Laboratory practice is encouraged for all students who wish to improve their speaking and oral comprehension.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT.
Students who have received a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in French Language or French Literature will be automatically awarded credit for one course toward graduation, but not toward the major. They should enroll in French 301, the gateway course for the French major.
PREREQUISITES AND PLACEMENT STUDENTS.
It is the department’s policy to advance students as fast as achievement warrants. Students who have taken the SAT II Exam in French should enroll in courses according to their score:
550-625 French 203 or 205, 206
626-800 French 301
Students with previous study of French who have not taken the SAT II exam should take the Oberlin French Placement Test administered by the department during orientation to determine their appropriate level.
SUGGESTED COURSE SEQUENCE.
French 101-102 (or 103), 205-206 (or 203), 301, other 300-level courses in French, followed by 400 level courses. French 301 is the prerequisite for other courses at the 300-level. Two 300-level courses beyond 301 are the prerequisite for 400-level courses. Other prerequisites may be noted: see the course descriptions below.
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