Trinity in Paris Courses

 

Courses are subject to a minimum enrollment in order to run.  Changes to course offerings may occur.

*All students must get departmental approval for major and minor credit for courses listed below, regardless of the listed requirements fulfilled for each course .*

 

FRENCH LANGUAGE COURSES

PARI 101 (F2172/S1231): Intensive Elementary French (equivalent to French 101 at Trinity)

Intensive Elementary French: Designed to develop a basic ability to read, write, understand and speak French. Emphasis will be placed on ability to speak, while continually broadening students' knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, French and Francophone culture and current events. For students who have had some background, this course will emphasize oral practice; consolidate basic grammar skills and ability to read short texts. It will also introduce the ability to write short compositions.  There are four hours of class per week.

PARI 102 (F7631/S3067): Intensive Elementary French(equivalent to French 102 at Trinity)

Paris 102 is a continuation of Paris 101, designed to help students develop a basic ability to read, write, understand and speak French. French 102 extends and reinforces the basic structures and skills learned in French 101, while continually broadening students' knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, French and Francophone culture and current events. There are four hours of class per week.

PARI 201 (F2173/S1232):  Intermediate French (equivalent to French 201)

Review of basic grammatical concepts and development of fundamental language skills with increasing emphasis on written expression and spoken accuracy, while continually broadening students' knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, French and Francophone culture and current events.

PARI 202 (F7632/S3068):  Intermediate French (equivalent to French 202)

Further reinforcement of written and spoken skills, with continuing practice in the use of complex grammatical structures and greater emphasis on the mastery of contemporary usage through extensive class discussion, reading, and writing. There are three hours of class work per week, while continually broadening students' knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, French and Francophone culture and current events.

PARI 301 (F2245/S3069): French for Advanced Students

Pre-requisite: FREN 202 or higher.  Development of a high level of proficiency through the reading and analysis of contemporary texts and film in idiomatic French, with considerable emphasis on attainment of grammatical accuracy.

PARI 302 (F2233/S3070): French Language and Culture: Paris Theatre Literature & Performance    Offered Fall and spring

Students will read and discuss French plays of various periods and attend theatrical performances of the plays they have studied. Students will do additional research and writing at the seminar level. This course counts for major credit in Modern Languages and Theater and fulfills the college’s general distribution requirement in the humanities.

PARI 303: Paris Tales  

This is an upper level French literature course designed to familiarize students with a variety of texts in French that are relevant to the experience of living in Paris. The students will make site-visits to locations in the city of Paris associated with the authors or places evoked in the stories they are reading. Depending on the area of expertise of the instructor, the course could feature a particular century, contemporary literature and culture, or the experience of francophone writers.

ELECTIVES

PARI 221 (F2359/S3071) : Modern European History and Politics

The purpose of this course is to give a global description of Modern European History toward enabling students to understand contemporary events in Europe and the part the EU plays in regard to the United States. The course will consider the historical sources of the common heritage of the European nations in their concepts of confederation and federation and the tensions created by ideologies such as liberalism, nationalism and socialism that led to divisive world wars and economic depressions. Against this historical backdrop, the course will concentrate on current issues related to the EU: its definition and functioning, the building of its institutions, its economy, and the debates raised by treaties and enlargement.  Students in this course will attend the lectures and go on the site visits and will receive additional instruction and do readings in advanced issues of contemporary European history and politics. Students will write seminar papers and fulfill all of the requirements of advanced course work required by their home departments.  Student taking Paris 321 must be Political Science or History majors.

PARI 251 (F2170/S1229): Paris through its Art and Architecture. Renaissance to the Belle Epoque

This course will study the history of the city, investigating urban planning and architectural history from the reign of Henri IV (1594-1610) until la Belle Époque (1900). Classes will combine lectures and walking tours of the city with on site lectures at the Louvre and Musée D’Orsay. Beginning with Henri IV, considered the first urban planner for Paris, the course will move on to the development of the Palace of Versailles. Group visits to the château and gardens will study how the planning of Versailles influenced the urban growth of Paris. After examining the development of the hôtel particulier in the eighteenth century and rococo painting at the Louvre, the course will turn to the nineteenth century with a number of visits to the Impressionist collections at the Musée D’Orsay.  The course will culminate with an analysis of Baron Haussmann's city planning (1854-1870) and its impact for the Belle Époque (1870-1900). In the Spring semester special emphasis will be given to Post Impressionist painters. During the Orientation Period and Program excursions in each semester special study tours to such sites as Chantilly, Vaux le Vicomte, La Roche Guyon and Giverny will be considered class hours requisite for this course.

PARI 278 (F2234/S3072): Exotic Fare: Spice Routes, Garden History & the Development of Food Culture in France 1500-1900

This course is an interdisciplinary study that looks in parallel at the history of gardens, imports of new exotic plants and spices, and the evolution of food culture. Students study the history of gardens from the Renaissance until the Belle Époque, taking into consideration how developments in trade, agronomy and aesthetics influenced both popular and elite culture. Special emphasis will be placed on the history of Versailles in the seventeenth century and the simultaneous development of gardening and gastronomy as aesthetic accomplishments. The students will be encouraged to choose term paper topics on exotic imports such as coffee, chocolate or tea that allow them to ask questions about trade, agriculture and ultimately gastronomy. The course includes a practical component in which the students visit markets and chefs in behind-the-scenes restaurant settings. The course includes an elementary introduction to the expertise of cheese and wine, two defining French agricultural industries. This course is acceptable as an elective credit in Art History and fulfills the general distribution requirement in the arts at Trinity College.PARI 299B (F7633/S3079) Gastronomic visits

PARI 299C (F7634/S3078):   Choir with the Paris Choral Society ( www.parischoralsociety.org)

1.0 credit , Mariscal

Fulfills following requirements: Art History requirement in Studio Art. Not eligible for Studio Art major or minor credit

In this Studio Arts course taught in Paris, students will create a Carnet de Voyage (Travel Journal). They will work with traditional media (pencils, watercolors, pastels) on their journal, following the traditions of nineteenth-century artists. The journal must accompany the students not only in class, but also on their program trips and explorations of the city. Students will begin from observing, first, the structure of the Paris and then their experience living in France. The goal is for students living in a world flooded by computers and digital images to observe and draw, learning from the senses: observing, smelling, touching, hearing, tasting and describing the city of Paris. Special emphasis will be focused on drawing after works of art in museums, especially of sculptures or details of architecture in the streets. Drawing from nature is also encouraged.

Following the example of nineteenth-century artists, we will enrich our Carnet de Voyage by experimenting with other medium. In the studio, students will work from their journal to make larger drawings or paintings. They will learn how to use each technique.

PARI 237 (2354): Understanding Contemporary PARIS: Urban and Global Processes

The course aims at providing a general overview of urban sociology; an introduction to core notions such as urban economics, segregation, ethnicity, stratification, crime, urban riots, local social policy, and urban politics.  In addition, the class will systematically compare US and French perspectives on the same issues. Field trips in Paris will be organized to train students to match concepts and theories with everyday experience.

PARI 255 (F2370): Medieval Art and Architecture in France 

This course follows the development of Medieval art and architecture in Northern Europe from late antiquity and early medieval through the Gothic period. The course will consider the full range of artistic media – architecture, sculpture, stained glass, metalwork and enamel – as they were practiced in many geographical locations and differing cultural contexts.  The course will consider cross-cultural influence in all of the arts through visits to museum collections and monuments in and around Paris, including some of the most famous major Gothic cathedrals: Notre Dame, Saint Denis, Chartres and the Sainte Chapelle.

PARI 308: Paris Migrations, Voluntary or Not

1.0 credit, Lecture, Schott
Fulfills following requirements: Global, English post-1800, English 300-level cultural context, Urban Studies

Ever since the 1789 revolution, Paris has been associated with the idea of freedom like no other capital in Europe.  A place of refuge and exile, it has also long been a place for the curious, the adventurous, and the itinerant.

The course examines Paris as a destination for migrants, voluntary and involuntary, and studies what authors found (or failed to find) there.  Focusing on the “Lost Generation”, the course also considers the history of Paris as a destination for students, (former) colonial subjects, political exiles, and economic refugees in the nineteenth

PARI 328 (2591): Franklin, Jefferson and Adams: The Founding Fathers in Paris 1776-1789

Three of America’ s founding fathers: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson lived in France in the decade marked by the Declaration of Independence and the fall of the Bastille (1776 until 1789). All three men were ‘foreigners’ in France, symbols of the New World; they both created and reflected the notion of ‘Americans in Paris.’ At the same time, the exceptional intellectual character of the Founding Fathers contributed to the political revolutions that gave birth to the sister republics of France and America. This course will examine careers of
Franklin, Jefferson and Adams at the court of Versailles. The fundamental role of the Marquis de Lafayette in French and American history will be examined. The course will include visits to several museums of eighteenth century France (Musée Carnavalet, Cognac Jay) and walking tours of the city that  follow the footsteps of the eighteenth century Americans in Paris.

PARI 352 (F2444/S3074): Seminar: Major Figures/Topics in French Art

1.0 credit, Lecture, Schott
Fulfills following requirements: Global,  English 200-level cultural context

From eighteenth-century coffee houses and literary salons to Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Company, Paris has been rich in attractions for aspiring and accomplished writers.  Yet, as much as literature was influenced by the city, the history of Paris has been shaped by authors from all over the globe, and its literary treatment as the City of Lights, metropolis, capital of progress, and lovers refuge continues to determine our conceptions of Paris.

This course studies the history of the city and the history of literature in the heyday of French power, from the Enlightenment to the mid-twentieth century.  It pays particular attention to how Parisian authors looked at the city and at how the Parisian experience allowed foreigners – especially Americans – to reconceive of what they left behind.  Key authors include Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Dumas, Balzac, Hugo, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Zola, James, Hemingway, and Baldwin.

PARI 259 (S3120): Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture

The course will introduce students to the dynamic and multifaceted character of Islamic art, architecture and culture from western Mediterranean lands to the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Students will study original works of Islamic art in the Louvre’s dedicated Islamic wing. Consideration will also be given to the study and critique of this cutting-edge museum installation and recent permanent installations in museums in the US, Europe and the Middle East. Students will be expected to enlarge their understanding of the original context and functions of objects now in museum collections and to consider how trade, diplomacy and political influence linked the West, Middle East, and East Asia together, giving rise to fertile cross-cultural influence in all of the arts.

PARI 281 (3081): Music  at Versailles

This course considers music, dance, and courtly life at Versailles. Students will study music at the court of Versailles under the reigns of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. Visits to Versailles to attend performances as well as visit the gardens, chapel, and Opera Royal will supplement the assigned readings.

PARI 325:   French and European Politics

1.0 credit, Lecture, Zagrodzki
Fulfills following requirements: Global, Political Science comparative politics 300-level

It is hard to think of a more different country from the USA within the Western Democratic world than France. Centralization vs. federalism, multiparty system vs. bipolar party system, regulated vs. deregulated political campaigns.  Everything seems to distinguish French politics and public policies from their American counterparts.

This class will focus on numerous issues related to French political life, using a comparative approach with the United States: political structure, elections, parties, local powers, political sociology, and public opinion.

PARI 356 (3077):  Paris: A Museum City or a City of Museums?

This course will examine the symbiotic relationships between museums and the history of Paris from the French Revolution to the 21st century while investigating the variety of museological practices and missions in the larger context of world museums. Focusing on the intersection of urban history and the historiography of museums, students will be introduced to a number of disciplines: art history, urban planning, sociology, politics and economics. The course will follow two interrelated tracks: an overview of the urban and architectural infrastructures of Paris and museology. Art collections and museology will be discussed in weekly readings that are coordinated to museum visits.

Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP)

For students who would like to take a course in the social sciences or humanities, courses are offered in English in the following areas:

• International relations
• Political Science
• British and American literature
• History
• Education
• History of French Cinema
• French Literature in Translation

French  Immersion Option
Students who are proficient in French (with greater than 2 ½ years of College level French or completed 241) may take 1-2 courses at the Insitut Catholique de Paris (ICP) in French.  Courses are offered in French in the following areas:

Institut de Langue et de Culture Francaises (ILCF)

The ILCF is a part of the ICP and is dedicated to non-French students, offering courses in both French and English in the following areas:

• French language
• French culture
• History of French Cinema
• Best of French Literature (French literature survey course)

Science Po University (SP)

Select students may be nominated by the Trinity College Office of International Programs to take 2 courses in English in the following areas:
• Economics (with pre-approval from economics department)
• Sociology
• Urban Studies
• International Studies
• Political Science
• Human rights

French Immersion Option
Students who are proficient in French (with greater than 2 ½ years of College level French or completed 241) may take 1-2 courses at the Sciences Po University (SP) in French.

 

Note: Not all courses will be available each semester; courses with low enrollments may be offered as independent studies.