French Crowds, Mobs, and Mobilities
CHUM 310
Spring 2016 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
FRST 310, FIST 310 |
Under the date of 14th July 1789, Louis XVI entered in his diary but one word: "Rien." That day, a crowd of sans-culottes flooded the streets of Paris, overwhelmed the guards, and captured the Bastille. What the king could not foresee is the political power of a mob, a "foule," deriving its etymology and strength from the pressure of thousands of feet pounding the pavement. From this founding event on, the building of the French nation could be read as a history of mobile crowds kept alive today in yearly student and union demonstrations. How does "rien" become the emblematic event of French national identity? What moves a crowd, and what does a crowd move? What do such gatherings accomplish, and how do they form in France and why?
Drawing on French sociology and literature, this course will explore the influence that crowds have exerted on French politics, society, and aesthetics. We will discuss the power of numbers by focusing on major subversive events in French history from the 18th century to contemporary France: the French Revolution, Chouanneries, barricades and the Commune in Paris, and May 1968, but also colonial and immigrant demonstrations in France. Students will be encouraged to relate the course to their own experience of mobile crowds, in concerts or sports events, on more quotidian moves such as commuting, and to draw comparisons with demonstrations across time and space, such as the "Arab Spring." |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (FRST-MN)(FRST)(RMST) |
Major Readings:
Text selections from:
Charles Baudelaire, PARIS SPLEEN
Gustave Flaubert, SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
Victor Hugo, LES MISERABLES
Emile Zola, GERMINAL
Jules Michelet, LE PEUPLE
Gustave Lebon, THE CROWD: A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND
Emile Durkheim, THE RULES OF SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS
Georges Perec, SPECIES OF SPACES
Michel de Certeau, THE PRACTICE OF EVERYDAY LIFE
Alain Corbin, THE VILLAGE OF CANNIBALS: RAGE AND MURDER IN FRANCE, 1870
Leila Sebbar, SHERAZADE
Films:
Gillo Pontecorvo, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1966)
Jacques Tati, PLAYTIME (1967)
Ismaël Ferroukhi, LE GRAND VOYAGE (2004)
Nabil Ben Yadir, LA MARCHE (2013)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will be asked to participate in class discussions and maintain a critical journal about the assigned readings and movies. There will be a web-presentation on a specific topic and two essays. |
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