Communication and culture in the global French-speaking world. We will explore different media and documents that will enable students to express themselves both orally and in writing in a wide variety of contexts. Students will consolidate and expand their skills and engage in creative activities in literary as well as colloquial French.

This course will improve students' writing and speaking skills in French and develop their ability to read and discuss texts. Course materials include authors and films representing cultures of the French-speaking world. Written and oral expression are strengthened through weekly essays, class discussion, and comprehensive grammar review.

This course will improve students' writing and speaking skills in French and develop their ability to read and discuss texts. Course materials include authors and films representing cultures of the French-speaking world. Written and oral expression are strengthened through weekly essays, class discussion, and comprehensive grammar review.

This course introduces students to literature and culture from a variety of perspectives. It will increase confidence and skill in writing and speaking; integrate historical, political, and social contexts into the study of literary texts from France and the French-speaking world; and bring understanding of the special relevance of earlier periods to contemporary French and Francophone cultural and aesthetic issues. Students explore diversified works - literature, historical documents, film, art, and music - and do formal oral and written presentations.

This course introduces the literatures of French-speaking countries outside Europe. Readings include tales, novels, plays, and poetry from Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, and other areas. Discussions and short papers examine the texts as literary works as well as keys to the understanding of varied cultures. Students will be asked to do formal oral and written presentations.

The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize students with contemporary issues in French culture as they are represented in French-speaking media of today. This course will introduce students to contemporary popular culture, through the study of texts, popular music, and feature films. Students will be asked to participate actively in class discussion, do oral presentations, and converse with an exchange partner.

In the interwar period, 1920-1940, black students from Africa and the Caribbean met in Paris to pursue their education. Galvanized by the colonial situation at home and the political situation in France, Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Léopold S. Senghor (Sénégal), and Léon Damas (French Guyana) formed the cultural movement called Négritude. This course will survey the emergence, goals, evolution, achievements, and legacies of that movement. Discussions will be based on major texts by the founders.

Smartphones -- that superpower in our back pockets -- allow us to talk with someone in many languages we don't know, to read unfamiliar character sets and to translate pages from other highly resourced languages. In this seminar, we will explore the implications of the communication revolution powered by artificial intelligence translation tools. How, in the face of digital disparities, should a commitment to language justice shape our use of these technologies? How does Mount Holyoke's mission of "purposeful engagement in the world" depend on the work of translation on campus and globally?

"Race is the modality in which class is lived," wrote the late cultural theorist Stuart Hall. This course takes Hall's axiom as a starting point for considering the racial, gendered, and sexualized character of capitalist domination. Throughout the course students will explore both the political economy and the cultural imagery of racial capitalism. One question we will grapple with is the following: if capital itself is as imperceptible and objectively real as gravity, what are the common tropes we use to apprehend its circulation?

Designers are continually innovating ways of incorporating technology into today's world, from projections of butterflies on Grammy performance dresses to "smart" purses that sense when your wallet is missing. The recent emergence of low-cost, user-friendly components is making this new world of design accessible to a broad community. In this course, students will think critically about products already in the marketplace and will be given the tools to create their own designs.