Claire Mouflard Union College 1 Exiled Women in - My Site

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Claire Mouflard
Union College
Exiled Women in Twentieth-Century Francophone Literature and Film
(Cross-listed, French majors read and write in French)
Objectives and goals
This course observes the different representations of French-speaking women in exile in the
works of both immigrant and non-immigrant authors and filmmakers in France. The course will
be designed as a series of readings from various literary genres (novels, short stories, poems,
theory) and films. Students will be invited to investigate the questions of colonization,
immigration, historical trauma, hybridity, sexuality, belonging and haunting in relation to the
notions of identity, ethnicity and gender. Looking closely at the diversity of narrative strategies
and film techniques, we will ask the following questions: how has the history of colonialism
affected the representation of these women? What is the correlation between colonization and
immigration in these productions? What is the link between the female body and writing (the text
as body and the body as text)? French majors will read the texts in their original French version
when available; participants whose major is not French will read the texts in English.
Course Assignments and Grading
Assignments: you will be responsible for a 10-15 minute presentation in French on a literary,
critical or historical topic relevant for a given 20th / 21st century problematic or a particular text.
A list of suggested topics will be handed out during the second week. You will prepare an outline
of your presentation for other students. You will have two literary analyses to write that require
library research. These two papers must be 4-6 pages in length. Final papers must be 10-12 pages
in length, and the topic must be discussed with the instructor beforehand. You must post on the
class’ online message board one question pertaining to the text(s) that need to be read for that
day (4 times this quarter), and you must answer a fellow student’s question as well. Participation
in the online message board will be monitored and graded (5% of final grade). Selected questions
will be used during class time for group conversations. More information will be given in class
about each assignment.
Attendance: your presence in class and your active oral participation are essential in this course.
Repeated absences and/or lack of participation will impact your grade negatively. All absences
due to illness must be excused by a doctor’s note.
Grading: Oral presentation 15%, Participation in online message board 5%, Literary Analyses
25% (2), Midterm 20%, Final Paper 35%.
* Course reader available *
Theory:
Hélène Cixous, Le Rire de la méduse
---, The Laugh of Medusa
Léopold Sédar Senghor, “Femme nue, femme noire” in Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et
malgache
---, “Black Woman” in Anthology of New Negro and Malagasy Poetry
Frantz Fanon: Peau noire, masques blancs (extrait: “La Femme de couleur et le blanc”)
---, Black Skin, White Masks (“The Woman of Color and the White Man”)
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Claire Mouflard
Union College
Albert Memmi: Portrait du colonisé
---, The Colonizer and the Colonized
Simone de Beauvoir, Le Deuxième sexe
---, The Second Sex
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
Monique Wittig, Le Corps lesbien
---, The Lesbian Body
Narratives:
Mayotte Capécia, Je suis Martiniquaise (extrait)
---, I Am a Martinican Woman
Gisèle Pineau, L’Exil selon Julia
---, Exile According to Julia
Assia Djébar, L’Amour, la fantasia
---, Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade
Calixthe Beyala, Tu t’appelleras Tanga
---, Your Name Shall Be Tanga
Nina Bouraoui: Garçon manqué
---, Tomboy
Leila Sebbar, Shérazade: 17 ans, brune, frisée, les yeux verts
---, Sherazade: Missing, Aged 17, Dark Curly Hair, Green Eyes
Films:
Claire Denis, Chocolat (Santa Monica: MGM Home Entertainment, 2001)
Yamina Benguigui, Inch’Allah Dimanche (New York: Film Movement, 2002)
Additional Material
Yamina Benguigui, Le Plafond de verre (New York: ArtMattan productions, 2004)
--- Mémoires d’immigrés: l’héritage maghrébin (Paris: Canal + Vidéo, 1998)
Fatou Diome, Le Ventre de l’Atlantique (Paris: Anne Carrière, 2003)
---, The Belly of the Atlantic (London: Serpent’s Tail, 2008)
Maryse Condé, Le Coeur à rire et à pleurer: Souvenirs de mon enfance (Paris: R. Laffont, 1999)
WEEK
TUESDAY
THURSDAY
Introduction
Frantz Fanon, Mayotte Capécia, Albert
Memmi, Léopold Senghor
Exil selon Julia
Question due
Exil selon Julia
January 21
L’Amour la Fantasia
Question due
L’Amour la Fantasia
First lit. analysis due
January 28
L’Amour la Fantasia
Midterm Exam
Discussion : Chocolat
Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir,
Hélène Cixous
January 7
January 14
February 4
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Claire Mouflard
Union College
February 11
Student presentations
Student presentations
Tu t’appelleras Tanga
Tu t’appelleras Tanga
Second lit. analysis due
February 18
February 25
Discussion : Inch’Allah Dimanche
Shérazade Question due
March 4
Shérazade
Garçon Manqué Question due
March 11
Garçon Manqué
Student conferences
Texts must be read and films must be watched for the day indicated on the syllabus, and you
must come to class prepared to discuss the texts in relation to the theoretical abstracts previously
read and studied in class.
Online message board: each student needs to post one question on the board, and answer a
fellow student’s question regarding the texts, before each class. Participation, quality of
questions and answers, prose and civility are monitored and graded. Failure to participate or
answer adequately will result in a lower grade. Questions will be selected at random for class
discussions. You will post 4 times this quarter, when indicated on the syllabus (“question due”)
Student presentations: on that day, students will come prepared to present and will have
notified me beforehand if their presentation necessitates any technological material (projector,
audio…) Presentation topics will be chosen from a list handed out in class during the second
week. If class size permits, these presentations will be done individually – otherwise, you will
pair up with another student (in this case, the amount of work before and during the presentation
must be split evenly). Before your presentation, the format and content of what you will be
preparing have to be discussed with me during my office hours. This meeting is imperative and
will count towards your grade. After your presentation, you will have to come to my office hours
again to discuss your grade and get feedback. All presentations are in English.
The midterm exam will be a 2-hour, comprehensive test of the concepts, texts and films
approached thus far. It will be composed of 5 questions (each question must be answered with a
minimum of 100 words and reference the literature studied in class) and a short essay (250
words) related to the topic of your individual presentation. You must be in class to take the
midterm exam. There are no exceptions. French majors write in French.
The last day of the quarter, during student conferences, class time and office hours will be used
for you to come and discuss the progress of your final paper, which is due on the last day of
finals’ week. You need to send me by email your topic and a short bibliography by March 4th at
the latest. Final papers must cover at least one of the oeuvres and two theoretical texts studied in
class. You may choose to compare two oeuvres, or one of the oeuvres studied in class with one
of the oeuvres listed in the “additional material” section of this syllabus. French majors write in
French.
For French majors: 10 % of your grade on each paper will be dedicated to the correct use of
French vocabulary, grammar and syntax.