Rethinking the French Classroom: New Approaches to Teaching Contemporary French and Francophone Women

Description

This volume investigates how teaching practices can address the changing status of literature in the French classroom. Focusing on how women writing in French are changing the face of French Studies, opening the canon to not only new approaches to gender but to genre, expanding interdisciplinary studies and aiding scholars to rethink the teaching of literature, each chapter provides concrete strategies useful to a wide variety of classrooms and institutional contexts. Essays address how to bring French Studies and women’s and gender studies into the twenty-first century through intersections of autobiography, gender issues and technology; ways to introduce beginning and intermediate students to the rich diversity of women writing in French; strategies for teaching postcolonial writing and literary theory; and interdisciplinary approaches to expand our student audiences in the United States, Canada, or abroad. In short, revisiting how we teach, why we teach, and what we teach through the prism of women’s texts and lives while raising issues that affect cisgender women of the Hexagon, queer and other-gendered women, immigrants and residents of the postcolony attracts more openly diverse students. Whether new to the profession or seasoned educators, faculty will find new ideas to invigorate and diversify their pedagogical approaches. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of contributors Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: Exploring Identities/Exploring the Self: French Literature and Women’s Studies in the Twenty-First Century 1. Why Teach (French) (Women’s) Literature? Why Study Literature? Why Study Literature in French? Why Study Women’s Literature in French? Coda Notes References 2. Fractured Families: Program Growth through Innovative Teaching of French and Francophone Women’s Autobiographies Why Fractured Families? Notes References 3. Worldwide Women Writers and the Web: Diversity and Digital Pedagogy The Person behind the Text: Image and Intonation Cultural Differences: Reading the Other Learning the Language: From Text to Screen Literature as a Response to Human Experience: Genre Literature as a Response to Human Experience: Activism Juxtapositions: Diversity and Proximity Note References 4. “Representing the Self ”: Contemporary French Lit Meets the Twenty-First-Century Student The Reading List: Pros and Cons of Student Choice Assessment: Group, Objective, Individual, and Creative Assignments Looking Back, Moving Forward Notes References PART II: New Beginnings, New Horizons: Women Writers in Beginning and Intermediate French Classes 5. Teaching French and Francophone Women Authors Online Changing Perceptions Idea for the Course Course Development Description of the Course and the Students Discussion Threads Conclusion Notes Appendix: Course Units, Readings, and Lectures References 6. Integrating Women’s Voices and Contemporary Cultural Materials through E-journaling Approaching Culture Engaging Students through E-journaling Integrating Women’s Voices Learning Outcomes of E-journaling Notes References E-journal Resources 7. Linking Beginner and Advanced Language Learners through Images of Women Preliminary Considerations: The Gap in Contemporary Language Teaching Textual Possibilities for the Advanced Literature Class Coming Full Circle: Connecting Advanced and Beginner Learners Notes References 8. Building Bridges from Language to Civilization through Gisèle Pineau’s Un Papillon dans la cité Theoretical Underpinnings The Course References PART III: Colonial and Postcolonial French Women Writers: Teaching Diversity on Shifting Ground 9. Peoples, Authors, Protagonists: Teaching Francophone Women Authors through Gender Identity Themes Syllabus Week 1: General Background Syllabus, Weeks 2–5: From Acadian to “Cajun” and Return, 1755–80 Syllabus, Week 6: Condé’s Drama of Black Revolution, 1789–1802 Syllabus, Weeks 7–9: Quebec from Church to Factory, 1892–1918 Syllabus, Weeks 10 and 11: The Perils of Independence, West Africa after 1960 Syllabus, Weeks 12 and 13: Caught between Africa and France, Mainly Paris in the 1970s Syllabus, Week 14: Overview of Feminist Authorial Strategies Conclusion References 10. Incorporating Oceanian Women Writers into the Francophone Literature Classroom Notes References 11. Making the Case for French Studies: Strategies for Teaching Gendered Multiculturalism in Contemporary French Literature Teaching Images of Multicultural France Defining French Multiculturalism Representing Gender in Multicultural Productions Notes References 12. Teaching Algeria through the Lens of Feminism Note References 13. Teaching Hélé Béji, Postcolonialism, and the Arab Spring: Perspectives from Baudrillard, McClintock, and Giroux Béji and Baudrillard on History McClintock, Feminisms, Postcolonialism, and Dichotomies Giroux and Béji’s Arab Spring Notes References PART IV: Interdisciplinary Approaches to French Studies 14. Breaking Down Jail and Cross-Divisional Walls: Teaching Simone de Beauvoir and Existentialist Writers in the Twenty-First-Century French and Criminal Justice Classroom Introduction The Value of Language and Cultural Skills in Terrorism Studies Criminal Justice and French Award-Winning Service-Learning Component of Cross-Divisional Courses Conclusion References 15. Francophone Women Writers outside the French Classroom: An Integrated Approach to Exploring Women’s Voices Notes References 16. Pushing Boundaries: A Feminist Interdisciplinary Approach to Team Teaching French and American Women’s Lives during World War II The War and the Humanities Memoir, Film, and Feminist Pedagogy Team Teaching and the Shared Classroom Bringing French Women’s Literature to a Larger Audience Conclusion Notes References 17. Women Novelists and the Music of Paris Introduction Literary-Musical Milieu of the Parisian Salon: Writers and Musicians Representations of Music in Literature and Literature in Music Literary-Musical Milieu of the Twentieth Century Conclusion Notes References 18. Introducing or Expanding Queer Content in the Contemporary Francophone Classroom Setting the Scene: Resources for Providing Background on Queer Studies in France Creating Queer Units for Upper-Level Francophone Courses Conclusion Notes References Index