Module FREN3241: MODERNITY AND THE CITY

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (French)

FREN3241: MODERNITY AND THE CITY

Prerequisites

• French Language 2 (FREN2051) or French Language 2 and Year Abroad (FREN2071) OR an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• Modern European Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: French Language 4 (FREN3041). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce final-year students to modern thinking on the city and the urban condition, and the representation of urban life in modern French culture.

Content

• The nature of the urban world, the forces which shape it, and the modes of being it produces, have preoccupied French culture over the past two centuries.
• and the geography and environments of Paris especially have informed the work of various theorists of the modern urban condition.
• This module explores the urban world, and its links with the conditions of 'modernity' and 'post-modernity', in two ways.
• Firstly, it discusses major modern thinking on the city, drawing on the work of theorises such as Walter Benjamin and Henri Lefebvre.
• Secondly, it examines the representation of the city and urban life in a range of texts and films from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, including work by Baudelaire, Aragon and Kassovitz.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students should have understood further the relationship between culture and its contexts by using concepts from other disciplines.

• By the end of the module students should have developed analytical skills by dealing with diverse cultural and historical materials.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module will be taught in English through lectures and seminars.
• Lectures will provide introduction to, and discussion of, theoretical and historical material.
• They will also prepare for seminars by introducing and setting in context the texts and films prescribed for special study.
• Seminars will be devoted to discussion of these texts, with students encouraged to identify and explore how they reflect and respond to the broad historical shifts outlined in lectures.
• Assessment will also be in English.
• A two-hour examination will test knowledge acquired in lectures and students' ability to use that knowledge in their interpretation of the set texts.
• An assessed essay will be provide students with the opportunity to undertake independent research, by analysing a text or film of their choice (approved by the module co-ordinator) in the light of the critical and theoretical knowledge they have acquired.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University