FREN 20.03 Long Live the Revolution

This course is a study of the French and Haitian Revolutions through cultural artefacts: films, novels, plays, history textbooks, public debates and even video games. Ever since Revolutions ricocheted from the Americas to Europe and back, artists and writers have crafted versions of their legacy in a variety of venues and media. We will begin the term with an overview of the French and Haitian Revolutions. This course, however, is not about the history of these Revolutions. Instead, we will examine how French and Haitian cultural artefacts craft different versions of their founding moment in an attempt to construct Republican identities. During the term, we will encounter Republican identities that are nationalist, egalitarian, communitarian and post-colonial. By comparing the quantity and type of representations between the Haitian and French Revolutions, we will also interrogate how cultural artefacts are constantly re-imagining the past.

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT or LIT; WCult:W

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.