This course is designed to fulfill the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement. The primary goal of this course is to develop students' reading and writing skills through a series of assignments that will provide them with the opportunity to formulate observations made in class discussions into coherent argumentative essays. Emphasis will be placed on the refinement of effective sentence, paragraph, and thesis formation, keeping in mind the notion of writing as a process. Other goals in this course are a familiarization with French literature and the specific questions that are relevant to this field. In addition, students will be introduced to different methods of literary and linguistic analysis in their nonliterary readings.

In 2020, the International Olympic Committee made waves by declaring that breakdancing (also known as “b-boying” or “b-girling”) would be an official event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. While the decision was met with support for the sport’s legitimization, it was equally met with resistance due to its associations with the “low-brow” genre of Hip Hop. The decision further illuminated a longstanding concern from Hip Hop fans and practitioners alike; what happens when art from an oppressed group—in this case, Black Americans—is rendered legitimate, palatable, respectable, or marketable for a global audience (and what do these terms mean)? To what degree do institutions appropriate Hip Hop art forms such as dance, visual art, music, or experimental poetry for symbolic and monetary gain? What is so perverse about Tiffany and Co.'s use of art from late Haitian graffiti artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat? What’s strange about krumping becoming a staple at the Paris Opéra? And, of course, what will happen to the life of breakdancing during and after the 2024 Olympics? Considering that France is one of the world’s fastest-growing Hip Hop markets, this class will trace the history of Hip Hop and its five central tenets—graffiti, MC’ing, breakdancing, scratching, and knowledge—in the Francophone world. From its roots in the Bronx to its proliferation in the Parisian suburbs and beyond, we will come to understand Hip Hop’s life in both musicscapes and broader sociopolitical landscapes. We will pay special attention to the institutionalization of the genre and the risk of “selling out” (in the French, “trahir” or “betray”), especially at the expense of Francophone Black, Arab, and Asian contingents. In doing so, students will work with secondary literature in tandem with television, film, music samples, spoken-word poetry, and visual artifacts in the creation of an arts-based research project of their choosing.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills