HIS21270 France Since the Revolution

Academic Year 2020/2021

This module is a broad survey of modern French history.

The lectures will provide a chronological spine and focus on selected topics in political and social history from 1789 to 1989; the seminars will be devoted in the main to topics in cultural and intellectual history. Students will be expected to have read assigned weekly readings in advance of the seminars so as to be able to contribute to class debate. There will be no formal student presentations. All assigned texts will be in English.

All weekly seminar readings will be available on Brightspace, as well as a selection of texts to accompany each lecture and a short bibliography on each weekly topic. The readings will be sufficient to follow the course; the bibliographies will be there to help in researching the assignments. A reading list of recommended general texts on modern France will also be provided. In addition, lists of recommended literary texts and suggested films to watch will be available for the absurdly keen.

Week 1. The French Revolution (seminar on The Declaration of the Rights of Man and on Robespierre)
Week 2. Napoleon (seminar on David and the art of the French Revolutionary Era)
Week 3. Culture and Society in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (seminar on Delacroix and French Romanticism)
Week 4. The French Revolutionary Tradition 1830-1871 (seminar on Victor Hugo and Les Miserables)
Week 5. The Advent of Modernity under the Second Empire and the Third Republic (seminar on the Paris of Haussmann and the Impressionists)
Week 6. The Army and French Society From the Commune To The First World War, 1871-1918 (seminar on Zola and the Dreyfus Affair)
Week 7. Culture and Society in the Interwar Years (seminar on the Popular Front in Film)
Week 8. The French Experience in World War Two (seminar on Collaboration and Resistance)
Week 9. The Drama of Decolonization: From Indochina to Algeria and From the Fourth Republic to the Fifth (seminar on Sartre, Camus and Existentialism)
Week 10. Gender and Society in the 1960s (seminar on the New Wave in French Cinema)
Week 11. France since May 1968 (seminar on the Bicentenary of the French Revolution)

Assessment will be by means of attendance and participation at seminars (20%), a 1000 word midterm document analysis (30%), and a 2000 word termpaper (50%). The documents for analysis will be chosen from amongst the extracts, speeches, pamphlets and paintings discussed in the seminars from week one to week six. There will be no exam.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module students will have honed their ability to discuss topics in French social, intellectual and cultural history, whilst situating them in the broader sweep of French historical development. They will have acquired a better sense of the place of France within modern European and world history. They will have enhanced their analytical skills, practising on a wide variety of primary sources. They will have developed their skills in researching a historical topic, structuring a historical argument and writing a long historical essay.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1. The French Revolution (seminar on The Declaration of the Rights of Man and on Robespierre)
Week 2. Napoleon (seminar on David and the art of the French Revolutionary Era)
Week 3. Culture and Society in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (seminar on Delacroix and French Romanticism)
Week 4. The French Revolutionary Tradition 1830-1871 (seminar on Victor Hugo and Les Miserables)
Week 5. The Advent of Modernity under the Second Empire and the Third Republic (seminar on the Paris of Haussmann and the Impressionists)
Week 6. The Army and French Society From the Commune To The First World War, 1871-1918 (seminar on Zola and the Dreyfus Affair)
Week 7. Culture and Society in the Interwar Years (seminar on the Popular Front in Film)
Week 8. The French Experience in World War Two (seminar on Collaboration and Resistance)
Week 9. The Drama of Decolonization: From Indochina to Algeria and From the Fourth Republic to the Fifth (seminar on Sartre, Camus and Existentialism)
Week 10. Gender and Society in the 1960s (seminar on the New Wave in French Cinema)
Week 11. France since May 1968 (seminar on the Bicentenary of the French Revolution)

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

10

Seminar (or Webinar)

10

Specified Learning Activities

45

Autonomous Student Learning

45

Total

110

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Although they will impart some essential information, the lectures will be not be designed for note-taking. They will be fluid and discursive, designed to stimulate the students' private research by introducing characters and issues and asking questions to frame the student's active independent learning.

The seminars are designed to be a forum for active debate, in which students will be encouraged to articulate their response to the texts and to material from the lectures whilst learning to engage with and critique their peers' arguments. There will be no formal student presentations. The class may be divided into smaller groups at times. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Essay: A 2000 word term paper Week 12 n/a Graded No

50

Continuous Assessment: Attendance and participation at weekly seminars. Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20

Assignment: A 1000 word document analysis Week 7 n/a Graded No

30


Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on seminar participation will be delivered on an ongoing basis. Feedback on the midterm document analysis will be provided in written form on an individual basis by the end of week 9. Verbal feedback on the end of term assignment will be provided at an appointed time at the beginning of the spring semester.

Name Role
Paul Noonan Tutor
Mr Philip Walsh Tutor