A study of Francophone literature: traditional and French influences, structure, relationship between language and message.

FR102, placement test or native fluence required for enrollment; all work conducted in French. In this course, we will discuss narratives produced by francophone authors and filmmakers of Southeast Asian descent, particularly of the Vietnamese diaspora. As we read, we will pay close attention to the ways in which our authors take up exile, displacement, and loss both thematically and aesthetically. With many of our texts foregrounding histories of imperialism, colonialism, and migration in (and out of) the region formerly known as l’Indochine française, we will come to understand how “Indochina,” “Southeast Asia” and “Vietnam” exist in collective memory across national and diasporic contexts. To do so, we will examine how these different spatial imaginaries impact the way our authors represent and reckon with contested identities and fractured memories in their works. Our discussions will uncover expressions of diasporic agency behind textual and visual strategies of representation, resistance, and negotiation as well as practices of resilience and survival in the face of war, catastrophe, and rupture.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills