Course Descriptions

ENV 221 - Water

Mni Wiconi - water is life. This course focuses on how water movement, water hazards and water resources affect human societies, ecosystems, and our changing planet. Students will learn about broad topics in water science, including oceans, rivers, ice, hydrology, and aquatic ecology. Case studies will look at recent destructive floods, river restoration projects, and agricultural water use. Interactive labs and field trips will include projects on groundwater contamination, delta development, and river hydrology.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major  and minor requirement- Natural Science, Humatities, and Social Science Tracks.
Satisfies Natural Science Ways of Knowing requirement.

ENV 225 - Physical Geography of the Southeast

This course works to help students understand the physical diversity of  North Carolina and the southeast by looking at the earth processes that create various terrains. Specifically, we break down the region into physiographic provinces: the coastal plain, the Piedmont, and the Blue Ridge. Then we examine how different surface processes worked to create each of those regions. In the coastal plain, we examine how beach processes shape the landscape, transport sand, and move barrier islands. In the Piedmont, we examine how a relatively inactive landscape comes to be dominated by weathering and soil processes. In the Blue Ridge, we look at the ways that gravity impacts landscapes by driving landslides and rivers. Along the way, we examine the ways that landscapes impact human populations.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement

ENV 232 - Introduction to Environmental Health with Community-Based Learning (=HHV 232)

Students will apply biological, chemical and epidemiological content to environmental health case studies and community-based learning projects. This is an introductory course designed to expose students to different scientific disciplines within the context of environmental health.

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Public Health.
Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in Natural Science Track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies the Liberal Studies requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 232 may not be taken for credit after ENV 233.

ENV 233 - Introduction to Environmental Health with Laboratory-Based Learning (=HHV 233)

Students will apply biological, chemical and epidemiological content to environmental health case studies and laboratory projects. This is an introductory course designed to expose students to different scientific disciplines within the context of environmental health. ENV 233 may not be taken for credit after ENV 232.

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Public Health.
Satisfies the Natural Science requirement.
Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in Natural Science Track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.

ENV 235 - The Ocean Environment

Covering 71% of the surface, yet mostly unexplored, the Earth’s oceans are a source of food, hurricanes, used as a wastebasket by human kind, and a great unknown in our climate future. This introductory course covers the formation of ocean basins; the composition and origin of seawater; currents, tides, and waves; the ocean-atmosphere connection; coastal processes; the deep-sea environment; productivity and resources; marine pollution; and the influence of oceans on climate. The class will focus on how oceanic systems work with class discussions, demonstrations, and exercises providing opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and practice analytical techniques.

Satisfies depth and breadth course requirement in the Natural Science track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
 

ENV 237 - The Interdisciplinary Use of Geographic Information

Geographic information is not bound to any particular way of knowing and can be used to visualize and  analyze spatial information of any type. This course will teach methods for using geographic information that will be applicable across the liberal arts. This course serves as an introduction to the ArcGIS software and will explore its abilities in a combination of inclass exploration, explanation, and exercises that teach the functionality of the software using interdisciplinary examples with a primary, but not exclusive focus, on environmental issues. For instance, we can visualize issues of environmental justice by mapping demographic data. Conservation issues can be better understood through mapping environmental data. Land use history can be explored through a blending of narrative, historical maps, and modern satellite imagery. In the later part of the course, we will spend time exploring and learning about some of the more interesting geostatistical tools available with the ArcGIS software. All skill levels with computers are welcome. Some comfort with PC-based software will be helpful at the start.

Counts as an Applied Environmental Science course in the Natural Science track of the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary major.
Counts as a methodology or elective course in the Environmental Studies major.
Satisfies the Mathematical and Quantitative Thought requirement.

ENV 238 - Environmental Pollution +Lab

This course is designed to allow students to have a fundamental understanding of environmental pollution in air, land, and water. Furthermore, the course gives insights about the fate, toxicity, and biomagnification of emerging contaminants in the natural food web in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Satisfies Environmental Studies (Natural Studies) major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Natural Science Ways of Knowing requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students who take this class cannot also take ENV 239.

ENV 239 - Environmental Pollution

This course is designed to allow students to have a fundamental understanding of environmental pollution in air, land, and water. Furthermore, the course gives insights about the fate, toxicity, and biomagnification of emerging contaminants in the natural food web in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Satisfies Environmental Studies (Natural Studies) major and minor requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students who take this class cannot also take ENV 238.

ENV 240 - Environment and Ecology of India

This course introduces students to major environmental issues with both local and global impacts.  Through lectures, research, and field visits, students will analyze key questions of ecological integrity posed by the Earth Charter Commission, specifically the importance of biological diversity, best practices for environmental protection, methods to safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, and the study of ecological sustainability.  The course will give particular attention to sustainability, food security, and food sovereignty.

Satisfies depth and breadth course requirement in the Social Science track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.

 

ENV 241 - Globalization, Sustainability, and the Environment

The course will study the issues and science driving the international environmental and climate change policy agenda and the governance architecture that has developed around these, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. Students will develop a nuanced understanding of the social, political, and economic drivers of these issues, and the diverse contexts in which relevant policy is formulated. The course will sample the rich and novel repertoire of policy instruments available to tackle environmental issues globally, and will dig deep into the complex and fluid dynamic between the public and the private as it relates to sustainability.

Provides social science track depth component credit in the Environmental Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies Political Science major requirement.
 

ENV 242 - Political Ecology

Political ecology is an interdisciplinary field that explores the social, political, economic, and ecological processes underlying resource conflicts. By adopting political ecology as an explanatory framework, we will unpack how knowledge and power, operating under specific political-economic systems, interact to shape resource access, use, control, and management. We will draw on specific case studies of resource conflicts, such as: wildlife management and conservation, conflict minerals and resource curses, immigration and climate change, population pressure and resource scarcity, oil infrastructures and indigenous livelihoods, poverty and environmental degradation, and green energy transitions to ground our readings and discussions. Case studies are primarily drawn from the Global South. Throughout, we will pay attention to how interacting social positions shape the ability of individuals and communities to control and manage resources, answering the following, enduring questions of the field: What are the implications of understanding ecology as explicitly political? How do common assumptions about the nature of nature shape how we interact with and make decisions about the environment? And how do power and difference shape how and who can access, use, and control resources, and to what effect?

Satisfies Social and Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

ENV 244 - South Asian ENV Issues

The goal of this course is for students to learn how to analyze South Asian environmental issues from a social science perspective, including the impacts of those issues, the factors that cause the issues, and the consequences of their potential resolutions. Students will integrate a variety of social sciences into their analyses so as to gain a broader perspective of the rich social nature of South Asian environmental issues than a single discipline would offer. South Asian voices will dominate the materials we use in class. Fulfills the Social-Scientific Thought requirement. Counts as an Environmental Studies social science course. Counts as a South Asian Studies course focusing on a theme, topic, and perspective.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity requirement.

ENV 247 - Critical Perspectives of Environmental Health

This course will critically engage students in the study of the relationships between environment, health, and society. This course is designed around contemporary environmental issues, such as climate change, pollution and exposure, environmental monitoring, population growth, hazards and disasters, waste, resource extraction, food systems, and other, special topics. Throughout, we will pay special attention to how intersecting social positions shape the distribution of environmental health inequities in particular places, especially in the context of globalization and development assistance. Themes include, but are not limited to: bodies and embodiment, syndemics, the politics of knowledge, metrics and standardization, categories and boundaries, infrastructures, and the Anthropocene. We will also begin to explore how (humanistic) social scientists are increasingly working with environmental health practitioners and researchers to develop critical perspectives for understanding and resolving environmental health problems using theoretical frameworks from decolonial, indigenous, and feminist studies. What is the benefit of engaging with these theoretical perspectives when conducting research on environmental health topics? How do these different disciplinary perspectives resolve longstanding epistemological tensions and contradictions? What are the possibilities and limits of interdisciplinary practice? This course will draw from science, technology, and society studies, environmental history, medical anthropology, and political ecology to explore these issues, themes, and questions.

This is a reading, writing, and discussion intensive course. If you are not willing to deeply engage with theoretical readings, complete biweekly written reflections, and actively participate during class and in discussion forums, this may not be the course for you.

All readings for this course will be made available to you via the course’s Moodle page. You will not be required to purchase any reading materials for this course.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites: Knowledge of at least one of the following fields is highly recommended, but not required: science, technology, and society studies, environmental history, medical anthropology, environmental health, and/or political ecology.

ENV 255 - Health and Reproduction

ENV 256 - Environmental History

Satisfies depth and breadth course requirement in the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a major requirement in History.
Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement.

ENV 272 - Nutrient Cycles and Environment

In this course we will explore how the environment is shaped by the elements (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other rock-derived elements) and, in turn, how elements are shaped by life. We will consider these nutrient cycles across freshwater, terrestrial and marine ecosystems. A major theme for this course is the effect of human activity on global biogeochemical cycles and environmental change. The foundations for the course are lectures, readings from the scientific literature, discussions, and independent research projects.

Satisfies Biology major requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites: ENV 201 or CHE 115 or instructor permission

ENV 273 - Art, Activism, and Environment

In this course students will explore environmental themes in American visual culture. Taking the art related to the environmental justice movement as a point of departure, students will be exposed to a broad range of visual material that offers insight into how humans have advocated for a wide range of political opinions through their painting, sculpture, memorials, historical markers, roadside and yard installations, printmaking, murals, and the natural environment. Students will gain a strong sense of how this visual material not only has been used as important tools in inspiring political action but also how these materials also serve as important “texts” in documenting and preserving less well-known environmental perspectives.  

Satisfies the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

ENV 274 - Biogeochemistry

In this course we will explore how the environment is shaped by the elements (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other rock-derived elements) and, in turn, how elements are shaped by life. We will consider these nutrient cycles across freshwater, terrestrial and marine ecosystems. A major theme for this course is the effect of human activity on global biogeochemical cycles and environmental change. The foundations for the course are lectures, readings from the scientific literature, discussions, and independent research projects.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites: ENV 201 or CHE 115 or instructor permission

ENV 275 - Urban Ecology

The world is becoming more and more urban, with over 80% of the US population and half of the world’s population living in cities. This trend (and the environmental problems it creates) will only increase throughout the 21st century, yet ecologists and sociologists are just beginning to understand humans as organisms that influence their environment. Cities are hubs of activity that influence the physical structure, climate, element and energy cycling, and plant and animal communities within the urban footprint. However, these urban environments are influential well beyond their perceived borders. Urban ecologists are expanding their focus from ecology in cities, where they studied urban plants and wildlife, to the ecology of cities, where they consider human-biological interactions with increasing their attention to the complex interplay among people, society, and environment. This course examines current developments in urban ecology and looks at the role it can play in planning and managing urban environments. We will use our campus as a “living laboratory” and apply these concepts to field observation, case studies, and research on urban sustainability.

Satisfies a major and minor requirement in Environmental Studies.
Satisfies a major requirement in Biology.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

ENV 278 - Natural History

Natural history is the close observation and detailed recording of the natural world.  This course explores the history, culture, and artistic productions of natural history, with an emphasis on the United States.  In addition to studying natural history, students will also become natural historians by developing their own skills of close observation and detailed recording of a local natural environment, in writing, sketching, and specimen collecting.

Satisfies a requirement in the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.

ENV 283 - Global Food Systems

Creating a sustainable world food system requires that we address both food security and sustainable food production in tandem, a clear case of intersecting challenges or “wicked” problems. Wicked problems are those issues that have so many relationships of causality and correlation that researchers and policy-makers sometimes do not know where to begin to address them. In this course, we will begin to investigate some of the ways we can understand and address the challenges of producing and provisioning food using the lens of sustainability.

Satisfies depth and breadth course requirement in the Social Science track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.

ENV 284 - Latinx and Environment (=LAS 284)

In this course, students will examine a broad range of Latinx environmental experiences across time and place in the United States.  Taking the environment as a key category of analysis, students will explore the ways that the natural and built environments shape, and are shaped by, Latinx culture.  Looking to important rural, urban, suburban, and wilderness sites across the United States, students will construct a nuanced “picture” of how Latinx environments have changes over time.  With our methodology placed squarely in historical and visual analysis, we will frequently engage interdisciplinary approaches to enhance our understanding of key issues including: labor, migration, public health, community and neighborhood building, transportation networks, natural resource development, education, and tourism.  Students will be exposed to a wide range of human expressions of place, such as art, literature, and activism, to gain a better understanding of how Latinxs have represented their environmental experiences.

Satisfies the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major and minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Latin American Studies major.
Fulfills the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
 

ENV 295 - Independent Study

Under the direction of an ENV Core faculty member, the student learns environmental studies material through a structure that primarily resembles a typical course or through independent research at an introductory level.

ENV 300 - Special Topic: Issues and Institutions Shaping Global Food and Agricultural Systems

A. Tutwiler 

Issues and Institutions Shaping Global Food and Agricultural Systems

The environmental activist and farmer, Wendell Berry said that ‘Eating is an agricultural act”.  Michael Pollen, environmental activist and food writer has gone one step further to add “Eating is also a political act”.  This seminar will focus on controversial issues shaping the personal and political debates about food and agricultural systems (conventional versus regenerative agriculture; gene editing versus conventional breeding; land sharing versus land sparing; local versus global food systems; large versus small farms; meat versus vegan diets; etc.) The course will help students understand the complexities behind these ‘either/or’ debates illuminated by speakers from major global organizations (the United Nations, farmers’ organizations, business associations, science and research entities, international finance institutions, etc.) and to understand the role of the many different organizations that shape global food systems governance.   There are no prerequisites for this course, as leaders from every discipline will be needed to address these multifaceted challenges.

ENV 303 - Research Seminar in Food and Agriculture Studies

In this course, you will gain hands-on experience conducting social science research in the discipline of food and agriculture studies. Our research site is The Farm at Davidson College. Our goal is to design and implement a group study that measures the Farm holistically along the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social sustainability. As a student in this class, you will be held to high expectations. Not only will you be responsible for reading assigned materials, you will be expected to conduct yourself as a professional scholar responsible for developing research questions, collecting, analyzing, storing and presenting data in an ethical, confidential and transparent manner. Our course will culminate in a presentation of our findings to the Davidson College community. Students in this course are expected to already have a working knowledge of the Farm at Davidson College. Please contact the instructor if you would like to enroll in the course and need extra material to familiarize yourself with the Farm.

Satisfies a requirement in the social science track in the Environmental Studies major.
Satisfies the social science breath course in the Environmental Studies Interdisciplinary minor.

ENV 315 - Analytical Chemistry I (= CHE 220)

Topics in chemical equilibrium, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, chromatography, and nuclear chemistry, with applications in biological, environmental, forensic, archaeological, and consumer chemistry. Laboratory experiments include qualitative and quantitative analyses using volumetric, electrochemical, chromatographic, and spectroscopic methods.

Satisfies the Natural Science requirement.
Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in Natural Science Track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
Counts as an Applied Environmental Science course in the Natural Science track of the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary major.

ENV 320 - Race, Gender, Nature

We will examine race, gender, and nature through the interdisciplinary frameworks of science studies, critical geography, and allied fields (GSS, anthropology, sociology, history). By paying attention to the processes of knowledge production, circulation, and application, we will trace how the colonial sciences-many of which form the foundations for the disciplines and majors of higher education today-understood, produced, and utilized categories of race, gender, and nature to enable extractive violence and colonial rule, setting the conditions for what has been taken for granted as “legitimate” bodies, practices, and knowledges. We will then trace the afterlives of these processes and practices to ask questions about how these legacies have shaped how we know (epistemology) and what we assume to know (ontology) about the relationships between race, gender, and nature today.

Exciting new literature has been produced on these topics, and we will emphasize much of this new literature that is increasingly produced by scholars who have historically and systematically been excluded from institutions of higher education

Satisfies Environmental Studies -Social Science track major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.

ENV 330 - Surface Geology and Landforms

A detailed survey of processes in surface geology including weathering, soils, landslides, stream systems, glaciers, and climate as well as differences between these processes in various environments.  The class will split time between learning and discussion of geomorphic principles and practicing them in the field.  The class will be roughly based around the collection of new field data for an overarching class project.

Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in the Natural Science Track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
Counts as an Applied Environmental Science course in the Natural Science track of the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary major.

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 120 or ENV 201 or instructor permission.

ENV 331 - Natural Hazzards

Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and other geological forces shape the physical environment on Earth’s surface. This class focuses on our changing planet and how geological processes interact with land-use to shape the natural and built environment. Learn how to survive or avoid tsunamis, wildfires, and other natural disasters and how societies can prepare for and minimize the effects of natural disasters.  

ENV 335 - Soil Science

Understanding geologic landscapes and surficial processes requires a multidisciplinary understanding of soils.  This course will examine soils with a focus on soil-forming processes and morphology.  In the classroom, students will learn the terminology and concepts of soil genesis, soil taxonomy, and soil morphology.  These concepts will then be applied in the field so that students can learn to identify and interpret horizonation and morphological characteristics. 

Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in the Natural Science Track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.
Counts as an Applied Environmental Science course in the Natural Science track of the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary major.

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 120 or ENV 201 or instructor permission.

ENV 339 - Ecosystem Processes and Biogeochemistry

This course is intended to provide students with a thorough understanding of the essential ecosystem processes and the related biogeochemical processes of major biologically important elements (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) in different ecosystem types.

Satisfies Environmental Studies (Natural Science) major and minor requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 201: Environmental Science, or Ecology, or equivalent, or permission of the instructor

ENV 341 - Political Ecology

The interdisciplinary field of political ecology examines relationships between social and ecological systems to interrogate how politics and economics are shaped by nature and how nature is shaped by politics and economics. This course interrogates how political-economic processes drive environmental change and how conceptions of nonhuman nature are created through power and culture. The course introduces students to key theories in political ecology that explore ideas about capitalism, colonialism, and racism and investigates case studies of environmental issues and struggles over land and natural resources in the global South and North. This is a seminar designed for upper level students, but first-year students can contact instructor for permission.

Fulfills social science track depth component in the environmental studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

ENV 343 - Geographies of Place

This course serves as an introduction to the geographic study of place. Broadly, critical human geographers study the spatial dimensions of power. Therefore, rather than treating space and place as simply material things where social, political, and economic processes take place, geographers examine how, for example, seemingly neutral and apolitical things like urban planning and design, architecture, and infrastructures are both socially produced and can work with other sociological factors, such as class, race, gender, sexuality, ability, and age to influence our sense of self, belonging, and community, our livelihoods and opportunities, and our abilities to access, manage, or control resources. Throughout this course, we will examine the dynamics of power that are embedded within how we understand and represent space (e.g., with maps) and how we might better represent space in ways that are attune to the lived experiences of marginalized or marked communities. This course will focus primarily on urban and suburban space, with an emphasis on measures to enclose and privatize public space, increase surveillance and security, exclude others, or improve, erase, or reconfigure “wasted,” “underutilized,” “uninhabited,” “blighted” or other forms of problematic space. Topics we will explore will include, but are not limited to: redlining, food deserts, public housing and housing insecurity, parks, highways, transportation, health care, pollution and hazardous waste facilities, power plants and energy justice, privatization, and gated communities. We will also explore other spaces, such as: rural spaces, vertical space and the underground, and outer space to expand our theoretical foci and application.

This is a reading, writing, and discussion intensive seminar. You will be responsible for critically and deeply engaging with the reading and the thoughts and questions of your fellow classmates. Please come to class fully prepared.

This course fulfills breadth and depth requirements for the ENV major and minor.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
Satifies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students are not required to purchase any of the course materials; all readings will be made available on the course’s Moodle page.

There are no prerequisites for this class other than an open mind and a willingness to challenge and be challenged.

ENV 345 - Politics of Waste

Waste is often understood as a technical problem, one that requires the application of good science and innovative technologies to address effectively. Throughout this course, we will query that assumption through an examination of how waste is categorized, how it shapes societies, how it is mis/managed, how it is a part of our everyday lives, and how it fits into our value systems. We will expand our understandings of waste by examining theories of waste and waste infrastructures, acknowledging how both are “drenched” in politics, enrolling and enacting political agendas, participating in the transformation of nature into resources/waste, and justifying forms of control or negligence over those peoples, places, and objects categorized as “waste.” Finally, we will pay attention to cases of environmental injustice in the U.S. and the Global South and query how a focus on waste indicates blind spots and new directions for a growing environmental justice movement, as we explore emerging technologies for better waste management.

Satisfies Social and Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

ENV 351 - Environmental Social Movements

This course traces how and why environmentalism emerged, particularly in the U.S., and how social movements for environmental protection have changed over time with different social and political-economic contexts. Highlighted are the frequently overlooked histories of environmental activism from people of color, immigrants, workers and labor unions, people in the Global South, and Indigenous communities. The course examines core questions about social movements and social change: How do people perceive socio-environmental problems? Why do people take and sustain political action? What strategies are successful and why does change happen? This course focuses on relationships between marginalized communities and those in power - the state, corporations and scientific experts - as well as dynamics of power and privilege between environmental organizations. Case studies of environmental movements will range from early conservation activism in the 1900s through contemporary protests around climate change and fossil fuels.

Satisfies a depth and breadth course in the Social Science track of the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary major and minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought Ways of Knowing requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

ENV 351 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies

Special Topics in Environmental Studies

ENV 365 - Disasters

How do we define a “disaster” and how do we know when it is occurring? This team taught course answers these enduring questions from two perspectives: geoscience and critical disaster studies. Geologists examine how geological forces shape the physical environment on earth’s surface and the resulting changes in climate, natural resources, and natural hazards. Social scientists working in the field of critical disaster studies treat “disasters”–and their attendant vocabularies of risk, vulnerability, and resilience-as a social construct that shape how people see and understand environmental change and appropriate responses. By doing so, social scientists examine how the analytical category and language of “disaster” shapes critical decision making about resource distributions, equity, and justice.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement.

ENV 366 - Disasters

Coming Soon

ENV 366 - Renew Natural Resources: Science and Policy (= BIO 366, ANT 382)

This interdisciplinary seminar course focuses on developing a scientific understanding of renewable natural resources such as fisheries and forests and how resources are then used, overused, managed, and conserved by humans.  The course primarily consider smodern methods of resource management, including adaptive and ecosystem-based management.  The course builds upon knowledge gained in the foundation courses of Anthropology, Biology, or Environmental Studies.  It addresses natural resource and environmental issues from ecosystem and policy perspectives.  Through case studies, readings, class discussions, and knowledge construction, students gain deep knowledge of ecosystem ecology and management policies and approaches.  Students then apply their knowledge to identify management principles that are consistent with a more holistic ecosystem approach and develop a case study of one natural resource and how it is managed.

Satisfies depth or breadth course requirement in Natural or Social Science track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor or the breadth requirement of the Humanities track.

ENV 385 - Group Investigation - Environmental Humanities

Satisfies the depth or breadth requirement in the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major.
Counts as an additional course in the environmental humanities in the Environmental Studies interdisciplinary minor.
 

TOPIC - Environmental Justice Art
Instructor - Garcia Peacock

Description: The field of Critical Environmental Justice Studies has emerged in recent years to thoroughly interrogate the ways that ability, class, gender, race, and sexuality shape environmental experience globally. Increasingly interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary, Critical EJ Studies aims to build on earlier Environmental Justice foundations to offer a dynamic analysis of the biological and climate crises underway in the twenty-first century. In this course, students will explore the visual archive of Critical EJ Studies, looking back over time and place to understand how art and activism have been utilized to offer alternative histories and possibilities to these issues. Students will have the opportunity to conduct original archival research in this course, centered on their self-designed research project.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 203 or permission of the instructor

ENV 395 - Independent Research

Worl J

Under the direction of an ENV Core faculty member, the student engages in independent research at an advanced level.

ENV 401 - Interdisciplinary Capstone Seminar

This senior seminar encourages students from all three tracks within the major to collaborate in order to better understand an issue. The issue examined will vary through time and is up to the instructor. 

Satisfies Environmental Studies major requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Juniors who have completed 201, 202, and 203 are welcome to take the course provided there is space. 

Priority is given to seniors who will need the course to graduate.

ENV 495 - Independent Research

ENV 497 - Honors Research

ENV 498 - Environmental Studies Capstone

In collaboration with their capstone mentor, students will formally propose and carry out a project based on fieldwork and/or substantive library research in the area of the student’s depth component track - Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, or self-designed.  Projects will demonstrate an integration of the methods and theory appropriate to the student’s depth component by investigating a question or problem that is significant, situated, and original in its application within the context of Environmental Studies.

Satisfies major requirement in Environmental Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 201, ENV 202, ENV 203. Offered in the Fall. 

ENV 499 - Environmental Studies Seminar (= ENV 401)

The goal of this seminar course is to integrate the depth and breadth components of the Environmental Studies major. Students will examine a special topic through an interdisciplinary lens, accounting for a variety of perspectives.

Prerequisites & Notes
ENV 498. For seniors only.

FMS 220 - Introduction to Film and Media Studies

An introduction to the history and analysis of screen media, with an emphasis on film (feature films, documentaries, animation, and experimental) together with an examination of ways cinematic techniques of storytelling do and do not find their ways into later media like television and video games. Lectures and discussions supplemented by theoretical readings and weekly screenings.

Satisfies a requirement in the Communication Studies interdisciplinary major and minor.
Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts requirement.
Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies Interdisciplinary Minor.

FMS 311 - Advanced Filmmaking

This course is focused on the development of a filmmaking practice. Students learn the iterative process of audiovisual storytelling by embracing risk, failure, and constructive feedback among peers as necessary to the creative process. Students will learn to construct short films through all three stages of production, building skills in camerawork, editing, use of artificial lighting, and sound design. Students also learn traditional three-act structure as part of larger scale works. Assignments include progressively complex short films and video art.

FMS 321 - Interactive Digital Narratives

A close study of selected video games using an interdisciplinary blend of methodologies culled from cultural studies, film and media studies theory, literary criticism, and history.

Satisfies a requirement in the Communication Studies interdisciplinary major and minor.
Film and Media Studies Interdisciplinary Minor Credit.
Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
FMS 220 or ENG 293.

FMS 323 - Special Topics in Digital Media and Film

An intensive investigation of digital media and film production.  Screenings, discussions, and readings will explore the theory and practice of a selected cinematic tradition.  Significant production component will include videography, non- linear video editing, lighting, and sound recording.

Satisfies Film and Media Studies Interdisciplinary Minor requirement.
Satisfies Visual and Performing Arts requirement.
 

FMS 385 - Video Game Music (= MUS 385)

Historical, stylistic, and analytic study of video game music from its origins in the arcade games of the 1970s to the present. Emphases on close readings of music in relation to gameplay, and vice versa. Includes training in digital audio manipulation to create sound design and musical sequences.

Satisfies the Liberal Studies requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Normally offered in alternate years; not offered in 2016-17.

FMS 421 - Seminar in Film and Media Studies: Horror Film

Horror films present visions, ideas, and arguments that probe and play with deeply rooted fears and anxieties of the Other, of the transgressive, and of ourselves. This seminar will survey significant horror films from the earliest moments of the genre (e.g., Nosferatu, 1922) through to contemporary examples (e.g., Get Out, 2017), with careful attention given to the historical development, rhetorical potency, and ideological significance of various cinematic elements, particularly cinematography, editing, sound, and music. Assignments will include readings and films, and graded projects will include scholarly writing responding to films and assigned readings as well as production exercises.

NOTE: This seminar will fulfill the 400-level capstone requirement for the FMS minor in 2019-20.

Prerequisites & Notes
FMS 220.

AFR 306 - Frantz Fanon [=FRE 379]

Frantz Fanon is considered one of the most influential postcolonial thinkers of the twentieth century. This course will serve as an introduction to the theorist, focusing on his Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth. Employing primarily close reading, this course will engage students in examination of the evolution of Fanon’s ideologies and the connections between his work and relevant social movements. This is a seminar course and students will be required to participate actively in discussion. Students may read the texts in French or English.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric

FRE 101 - Elementary French I

Introductory French course developing basic proficiency in the four skills: oral comprehension, speaking, writing, and reading. Requires participation in AT sessions twice a week.

Prerequisites & Notes
Normally, for students with no previous instruction in French. (Fall)

FRE 102 - Elementary French II

FRE 103 - Intensive Beginning French (2 credits)

FRE 201 - Intermediate French

Satisfies requirement in foreign language.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 102 or 103-104 at Davidson, or placement exam.

FRE 205 - Intermediate French II - The Francophone World without Borders

This course advances students’ proficiency in existing language skills. Requires participation in AT sessions once per week.

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 201 or above (placement test) with approval from the instructor.

FRE 212 - Oral Expression, Listening Comprehension and Practical Phonetics

Discussion, continuing oral practice, and corrective pronunciation. Requires participation in weekly AT session.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 201, placement examination, or permission of the instructor. (Fall and Spring)

FRE 220 - Francophone Humanities: Decentering the Francophone world

This course provides a foundation for students to pursue advanced courses in French and Francophone Studies. We will begin the course with a critical discussion of the concept of la francophonie along with the historical events that contributed to the foundation of the francophone world. Next, in an overview of five francophone regions, we will consider how these geopolitical forces have impacted different areas of the francophone world as well as how various thinkers, writers, artists, filmmakers, and activists have responded to them. Finally, the second half of the course will focus on one particular region determined by the instructor’s area of specialization in order to deepen students’ understanding of its unique cultural, aesthetic, and geopolitical position within this framework.

Assignments are designed to build competence in the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) as well as critical textual analysis and research skills. They include short textual analysis papers, a group presentation, a midterm exam, and a digital research project. The course will also include two library visits and tutorials to guide students in their discovery of research methods within the field of French and Francophone Studies as well as digital scholarship methodologies.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric
Satisfies requirement in Cultural Diversity
Satisfies requirement in Foreign Language
Satisfies requirement in Global Literary Theory

Prerequisites & Notes
French 205

FRE 221 - Visions of the City

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 210 or above. (Not offered 2016-17.)

FRE 222 - Narrating the Self

Postoli S

In this course we will explore examples of fully-fledged autobiographies, as well as other versions of autobiographical writing or films. Students will be invited to consider how autobiographical elements are conveyed in each work and, more importantly, how they differ from the model exemplified by Rousseau’s Confessions. These differences will then be analyzed in their relation with pertinent social, cultural, and political circumstances of the period, as well as with questions of identity as they become important, particularly otherness in the colonial context, gender, and sexuality. Students will be continuously asked to reflect not simply on what is being said, but also how and why it is being said in that way. Although material will mostly be presented chronologically so that we may trace the development of autobiography and its offshoots, students will also be expected to make connections across time and space in ways that relate seemingly disparate figures, periods, works, and circumstances.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 201 or above. 

FRE 224 - The Return in Francophone Literature

Is it possible to go home again?  Through poetry, novel, graphic novel, and film, we examine how francophone authors try to answer this question.  Readings and films from Césaire, Laferrière, Mabanckou, Teno, Gomis, Belkaïd, and Burton.

FRE 225 - Rich and Poor

FRE 226 - Mapping Desire (Cross-listed with FRE 326)

Desire is a passion that has driven men and women to build and destroy empires, and has thus been a topic and subject in French literature since medieval times. This course examines the various forms of desire, and maps the spaces and places in which it is expressed, from France to the confines of the colonial Empire and more recently the Francophone world.

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory major and interdisciplinary minor.

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 201 or 212.
FRE 226 is cross-listed with FRE 326.  Students who have completed FRE 220 or above must enroll in FRE 326.

FRE 227 - Outliers in Francophone Lit

No previous experience in reading French literature is required.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 201 or above.

FRE 228 - Introduction to Francophone Literature Abroad

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

FRE 229 - Introduction to French and/or Francophone Literature Abroad

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

FRE 230 - Contemporary France

FRE 242 - Autobiographies, Journals, Diaries (=FRE 321)

Reading and discussion of first-person narratives from a variety of periods. Typical authors: Diderot, Guillerargues, Graffigny, Camus, Gide, Duras.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 201 or FRE 212. Students who have completed FRE 220 or above must enroll in FRE 321.

FRE 259 - Haiti Through Film

Haiti fascinates as much as it perplexes. Stunning the society at the time with its successful slave revolt to become the first black Republic in the New World in 1804, Haiti is now viewed as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere riddled with political instability, social injustices, and underdevelopment. Yet it boasts a diverse and dynamic cultural heritage expressed through various artistic media. This course introduces students to major events and conflicts (Haitian Revolution, dictatorships in the 20^th century, US interventions, and the 2010 earthquake) that have shaped Haitian history, politics, society, and culture, and analyzes them for the ways in which they contribute to the creation of Haitian cinematic traditions. Filmmakers include Noland Walker, Raoul Peck, Jonathan Demme, Arnold Antonin, and Maya Deren. Coursework will be done in French. All films will be subtitled in English.

Satisfies French and Francophone Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Visual and Performing Arts requirement. 
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
This course is open to students who have completed FRE 201 or its equivalent.

FRE 287 - Studies in Civilization and Culture Abroad

FRE 288 - Studies in Civilization and Culture Abroad

FRE 291 - Black France

Black France is a course that provides an overview of France’s socio-historical relationship to Blackness within its borders and with migrants of African descent. Starting with colonial history and the exploitation of Africa and the post-colonial era, we study France’s complicated and problematic relationship to the concept of race, and to Blackness more specifically. The students in the course will gain knowledge and a critical understanding of how France has dealt with its Black population and what the current racial landscape looks like. While conservative factions argue for the preservation of France’s old social fabric, the course pays particular attention to the contributions of Black artists, politicians, and activists to the country’s well-being and development, and to the work of Black and anti-racist scholars and activists who bring to light the inequalities rooted in the Hexagon’s structural racism.

Because the course is taught in situ, students will have the unique opportunity to visit sites that play a critical role in France’s racial history, and will also have access to resources that are dedicated to issues discussed in the course.

Assignments are designed to impart historical knowledge of France’s racial and colonial history and to develop critical analysis of primary sources produced by artists, writers, and intellectuals of African descent. They include short analytical papers, a presentation, a midterm exam, and a final research project.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
The course is a dual listing that allows students to take the course in French or in English.

FRE 295 - Independent Study for Non-Majors

Independent Study for Non-Majors

Prerequisites & Notes
Permission of instructor required.

FRE 295, 296, 297 - Independent Study for Non-Majors

FRE 313 - French for the Professions: Advanced Grammar for Global Affairs

This course provides a comprehensive overview of French grammar through rigorous practice in writing. Beyond bringing students’ proficiency in French grammar to an advanced level, FRE313 will help them develop their professional writing skills and their knowledge of the Francophone professional world. Written assignments will include technical translations, summaries of meetings and work documents, note-taking, creating a CV and a cover letter, designing a marketing campaign, email etiquette, etc. Each prompt will provide an opportunity to reflect on topics such as intercultural communication, marketing, sustainability, diplomacy, and economic development, through the lens of global French language and Francophone cultures.

Prerequisites & Notes
French 220 or above. (Spring)
 

FRE 315 - History of the French Language

In this course, we will investigate the French language from a very wide point of view, looking at its structure from a linguistic point of view (that is, descriptively and systematically). We will explore the way French was born historically to reach what we call “contemporary” French, not only the “standard” language, but also its diverse geographical and social varieties. Some of the questions we will grapple with are, but not limited to, how did French develop from spoken Latin into its form more than 1000 years ago? What were the factors that influenced the development of various regional (in France) and global dialects of French; in what ways are they unique? What is sociolinguistics and how does it apply in studying the evolution of language?

Satisfies French and Francophone Studies major and minor requirement

FRE 320 - Husbands, Wives, and Lovers

FRE 321 - Autobiographies, Journals, Diaries (=FRE 242)

Reading and discussion of first-person narratives from a variety of periods. Typical authors: Diderot, Guillerargues, Graffigny, Camus, Gide, Duras.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any course numbered French 220 or above, or permission of the instructor. (Spring)

FRE 326 - Geographies of Desire

Desire is a passion that has driven men and women to build and destroy empires, and has thus been a topic and subject in French literature since medieval times. This course examines the various forms of desire, and maps the spaces and places in which it is expressed, from France to the confines of the colonial Empire and more recently the Francophone world.

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory major and interdisciplinary minor.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any French course numbered 220 or above.
Cross-listed with FRE 226.

FRE 329 - Camus, De Beauvoir & Sartre (in translation)

This course will give an overview of the lives, thought, writings, and political engagement of three important literary and intellectual figures of 20^th-century France: Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre. As contemporaries, these figures contended with similar waves of thought and social or geopolitical changes in France and more broadly. As individuals from different backgrounds, however, their varying concerns before questions surrounding these changes and events often led them to different or even opposing positions.

By looking at a selection of their autobiographical, literary, and philosophical works, students will acquire a general understanding of these writers’ thinking, motivations, and contributions to important intellectual and moral debates concerning contemporaneous ideologies, geopolitics, conflicts, and the role of violence in shaping history. During classroom discussions, students will be expected to engage with the material at hand, but also step back in order to define moments of congruence or contradiction within each writer’s corpus, as well as across their separate bodies of work. Because of the historically situated nature of the debates these writers engaged in, significant events such as World War II, German Occupation, the Cold War, and the Algerian War will function as important backdrops to our discussions.

By the end of this course, students will be able to define, distinguish, utilize, or provide context and nuance to important terms and phrases like existentialism, absurdity, feminism, radical freedom, rebellion/revolt/revolution, bad faith, responsibility, engagement/commitment, colonialism and anti-colonialism, concentrationary universe, justice/Justice, etc.

Possible readings include (in whole or in part):

Camus:

The First Man, The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, Man in Revolt, Exile and the Kingdom, etc.

De Beauvoir:

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, The Second Sex, Pyrrhus and Cinéas, Les Belles Images, etc.

Sartre:

The Words, Nausea, Existentialism Is a Humanism, What Is Literature?, No Exit, etc.

Satisfies the ways of knowing requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

FRE 331 - Francophone Caribbean Literature

In this course, we study classic works of literature and film produced during the twentieth century on the Francophone Caribbean by some of its most prominent writers and filmmakers. Sharing a common history involving French colonial rule, the Francophone Caribbean comprises primarily of the French Départements d’outre mer (DOMs) of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana, and the Republic of Haiti, which has been independent since 1804. However, these territories also diverge economically, culturally, and in terms of their political status. This course introduces students to the Francophone Caribbean’s complex history as well as its fascinating and dynamic culture in novels by Jacques Roumain, Marie Vieux Chauvet, Dany Laferrière, and Maryse Condé, poems by Aimé Césaire, and films by Raoul Peck and Euzhan Palcy. We also extend our exploration in the Francophone Caribbean world to other artistic expressions, such as paintings by Edouard Duval-Carrié and Frankétienne. In examining these cultural productions, we analyze representations of race, class, identity, gender, sexuality, politics, and exile. We additionally learn about crucial theoretical movements that have shaped the Francophone Caribbean intellectual thought, which begins with Césaire’s Négritude, moves through Glissant’s Antillanité, and leads to Créolité.

Prerequisites & Notes
This course is taught in French and is open to advanced undergraduate students.

FRE 332 - The Hidden and the Forbidden

In this course, we will study the literary and artistic representation of facts of life that were considered against the “standard” and therefore scorned, repelled, rejected and punished in Medieval France. The purpose of this study is to determine what inclusion and diversity, as we perceive them today, meant then and to understand why certain aspects of our contemporary society are still perceived as threatening or taboo.

Two main themes will be approached: homosexuality and religion. We will study primary texts outside of the main stream of literary production, and accompany them by secondary readings of articles/books addressing our main theme.

Satisfies a requirement in the Gender & Sexuality Studies major and minor.
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
One French coruse numbered 220 or above.

FRE 333 - Camus, The Artist at Work

This reading- and discussion-based course will introduce students to the thought and works of French-Algerian author Albert Camus (1913-1960). The guiding theme for this course will be Camus’s constant negotiation between his work as an artist and his perceived duty to the public as an intellectual. Students will become familiar with the tradition of the committed writer (écrivain engagé) in the history of French letters, its evolution from the Enlightenment through the mid-twentieth century, and Camus’s own understanding of the writer’s role in the historical factors before, during, and after World War II. Because of Camus’s close engagement with the historical events of his day, students will inevitably engage with the contemporaneous politico-intellectual currents in Europe; with crucial events like the rise of fascism, colonialism, decolonization, World War II, the Algerian War, and the Cold War; as well as with numerous ethical questions, including the use of violence as a means to an end. Readings will include selections from his journalistic writing in Combat and from his philosophical essay L’Homme révolté; his novels La Peste and La Chute; the collection of essays about colonial Algeria and the Algerian War titled Chroniques algériennes; the collection of short stories titled L’Exil et le Royaume; as well as speeches and interviews in which he discussed his work as an artist and his responsibility to the public debates of his time as a well-known writer and intellectual.

Prerequisites & Notes
This course is open to students who have completed FRE 220 or its equivalent.

FRE 334 - Immigration and Identity

This course will explore the relationship between immigration and identity in cultures across the Francophone world, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean route to Europe. We will start by critically examining the European discourse surrounding the 2015 “migrant crisis” that continues to impact policies related to immigration. We will then challenge the narrative of the “migrant crisis” by examining different aspects of the migration journey through texts and films that represent travel across borders, refugee camps, detention centers, and the experience of women. Finally, in order to further complexify our understanding of the subject, we will consider the “dream” of life in France that leads many to undertake such a perilous journey along with the disappointment they encounter when faced with roadblocks to integration. Assignments will include an oral presentation, weekly discussion board postings, analytical papers, and a community engagement-based final project.

Satisfies the Literary Thought, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement

FRE 335 - French Colonial Empire

This course focuses on literature written in the colonies under French colonial rule. France’s colonial history started in the 16^th century and ended with bitter defeats in Vietnam (1955) and Algeria (1962). With focus on a specific region (North Africa, Asia, Africa, or the West Indies) and/or time period, the students will examine texts produced by writers in the colonies and in France to understand the complexities of oppression and intricacies of colonization, and how the texts subvert or reinforce colonial power.

Satisfies a requirement in French and Francophone Studies major and minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major.
Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Global Literary Theory.
Satisfies a Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.

FRE 359 - Haiti Through Film

Haiti fascinates as much as it perplexes. Stunning the society at the time with its successful slave revolt to become the first black Republic in the New World in 1804, Haiti is now viewed as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere riddled with political instability, social injustices, and underdevelopment. Yet it boasts a diverse and dynamic cultural heritage expressed through various artistic media. This course introduces students to major events and conflicts (Haitian Revolution, dictatorships in the 20^th century, US interventions, and the 2010 earthquake) that have shaped Haitian history, politics, society, and culture, and analyzes them for the ways in which they contribute to the creation of Haitian cinematic traditions. Filmmakers include Noland Walker, Raoul Peck, Jonathan Demme, Arnold Antonin, and Maya Deren. Coursework will be done in French. All films will be subtitled in English.

Satisfies French and Francophone Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Visual and Performing Arts requirement. 
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students who have completed 220 or above must enroll in FRE 359. 

FRE 360 - Québec Through Film

An introduction to contemporary Québec society as portrayed in film, with a focus on questions of individual and collective identities.  Students will develop critical skills as readers of film as they examine feature films, documentaries, and animated short subjects.  Typical directors include Arcand, Dolan, Jutra, Pool and Vallée. 

Satisfies a requirement in French and Francophone Studies major and minor.
Satisfies requirement in Visual and Performing Arts.

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 201 or FRE 212.
FRE 360 is dual-listed with FRE 230.  Students who have completed FRE 220 or above must enroll in FRE 360.

FRE 362 - Gender and Sexuality in Maghreb

This course will explore texts, films, and issues related to gender and sexuality in the Maghreb. We will therefore be looking at literary, critical, and cinematographic from Francophone Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian writers and directors. Our goal will be to understand how gender and sexuality are conceived of and represented, and how they operate in these societies across different periods. At the same time, we will consider salient socio-cultural, historical, religious, and political factors in order to better understand their dynamic with questions of gender and sexuality. Readings will come from the works of writers such as Tahar Ben Jelloun, Kamel Daoud, Assia Djebar, Frantz Fanon, Leïla Sebbar, Leïla Slimani, etc.; and films will be selected from Francophone North African movies of the last three decades.

Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric Ways of Knowing requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any course numbered French 220 or above.

FRE 363 - Québec: Literature, Society, and Culture

Note- For Spring 2022
This course includes an optional DRI group investigation project in Montreal and Quebec City in May.

FRE 364 - Paris Noir

This course examines the lives and works of artists and intellectuals from Africa, the African Diaspora and the US in Paris (1920-1960).

Satisfies a requirement in French & Francophone Studies major and minor.
Satisfies ae requirement in Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America). 
Satisfies a cultural diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 212 Oral Expression or FRE 222 Introduction to Literature or FRE 260 Contemporary France

FRE 366 - Africa Shoots Back, in transl. (=AFR 266)

Africa Shoots Back examines West African cinema from its beginnings in the early 1960s to today.  The selection of films exposes students to new voices, perspectives and representations of Francophone West Africa from a West African perspective.  We will discuss issues of decolonization and post-colonial cultural economy, as well as analyze traditional African narrative strategies and new and unconventional images.

Counts towards the French & Francophone Studies major and minor.
Fulfills a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: Africa).
Fulfills a requirement in the Film & Media Studies interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies requirement in Visual and Performing Arts.

FRE 368 - France and Métissage

Course explores the concept of métissage in the contemporary French literary context.

Fulfills a requirement in the French & Francophone Studies major and minor.
Fulfills a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: Africa).
Fulfills a requirement in the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any course numbered 220 or above.

FRE 369 - Contemporary African Women Writers

An active, project-based course, organized around different cities of the francophone world: Dakar, Montreal, Paris, Algiers. Through cultural events, newspapers, music, film, and literary texts from each city, students will produce cultural critiques for our course site, in written, video and audio formats.

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any course numbered French 220 or above.

FRE 371 - Memorializing Decolonization: Focus on the Algerian War

On the 60th anniversary of the Algerian independence, this course will give particular attention to key French-language cultural contributions that participated in the representation and memorialization of the decolonization process in Algeria. As the largest settlement of the French colonial empire and the stage of a brutal and traumatic war, Algeria constitutes a microcosm of choice to examine the historical and political impact of colonization in the past and in the current Francophone World. By comparing works produced during the war and its aftermath with more recent ones, students will engage in contrapuntal dialogues that reveal the multifaceted aspects of memory about the Algerian revolution. In addition to reflections on the use of particular creative genres, such as novels, comic books, films, poems, or paintings, students will explore this historical event from diverse critical frameworks, including ecology, gender, race, and sexuality.

Satisfies a major requirement in French and Francophone Studies
Satisfies a minor requirement in French and Francophone Studies
Satisfies the Literary Thought, Creative Writing, & Rhetoric requirement
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement

Prerequisites & Notes
FRE 220

FRE 379 - Frantz Fanon [=AFR 306]

Frantz Fanon is considered one of the most influential postcolonial thinkers of the twentieth century. This course will serve as an introduction to the theorist, focusing on his Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth. Employing primarily close reading, this course will engage students in examination of the evolution of Fanon’s ideologies and the connections between his work and relevant social movements. This is a seminar course and students will be required to participate actively in discussion. Students may read the texts in French or English.

Satisfies requirement in Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric

FRE 385 - Climate Catastrophes

Note: This class is taught in French

This interdisciplinary course will explore climate catastrophes in the francophone regions of Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. It will begin with theoretical frameworks of environmental disaster and its relationship to (neo)colonialism in the Francophone context, including Malcom Ferdinand’s decolonial ecology, Isabelle Stengers’ Au temps des catastrophes, and the popular notion of la collapsologie. The second part of the course will highlight those groups that are most affected by climate catastrophes, yet far too often remain invisible, due to race, gender, species, or wealth. This will allow us to consider perspectives from postcolonial studies, ecofeminism, critical animal studies, and indigenous studies. The last half of the course will apply these frameworks to specific cases from the Francophone regions of Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. We will study issues as diverse as nuclear testing in French Polynesia to deforestation in the former colony of French Indochina. Assignments will include weekly discussion board postings, analytical papers, an oral presentation, and a final project.

Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.
Counts in the Environmental Studies major and minor.
Satisfies French and Francophone Studies major and minor requirement.

FRE 389 - European Union Politics

European Union Politics counts an an elective for the Political Science major.

FRE 390 - Studies in Civilization and Culture Abroad