Professor: Charlotte FAUCHER Session: July 2021 Language of instruction: English Number of hours of class: 24

Objective of the Course

This course aims to introduce students to the main themes of modern French history, including the significance of the , the Commune, political thought, colonialism, migration, the arts, and the World Wars. The sessions will consist of short lectures, seminar discussions, and museum visits. Occasional walks in specific Parisian neighbourhoods will allow students to reflect on the significance of the for the whole nation and question well-worn literary and cinematographic stereotypes of Paris.

Please note that this is an introductory course to French history. If you have already studied French history at the university level, this course might not be suitable for you.

Summary

This course will offer students an overview of French history since the French Revolution in 1789 up to the present day. The course relies on methodologies of political, social and cultural history. Students will be encouraged to share their views on the development of French history since the French Revolution. This will be done in seminars, but also by field visits and research on the city’s streets and museums.

Organization of the Course

Session one: 3 hours Lecture: Introduction to European and French history and lecture on the French Revolution Visit: Walking tour of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Latin Quarter. Meeting: in our usual seminar room at Sciences Po.

Session two: 2 hours Seminar: France during the nineteenth century: the revolutionary century? Meeting: in our usual seminar room at Sciences Po.

Session three: 3 hours

Visit: Revolutionary, monarchist and Napoleonian Paris: The , Ile de la Cité and the Tuileries Gardens around the Museum and visit of the Museum of the Orangerie (to be confirmed) Meeting: to be confirmed.

Session four: 3 hours Lecture: Late-nineteenth century and Belle Epoque Paris: political, social and cultural revolution. Meeting: in our usual seminar room at Sciences Po.

Session five: 2 hours Visit of the Museum. Walk in northern Paris: in the footprints of the Commune. Reflections on art and architectural changes in the Montmartre area. Meeting: tbc.

Session six: 3 hours Visit: Paris, capital of immigration: visit of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration and the Jardin d'agronomie tropicale. We will then take the metro to visit the Pere La Chaise Cemetery. It is a lovely walk in a green, hilly space and students can visit the tombs of Honoré de Balzac, Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Molière, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde to name just a few. Meeting: tbc

Session seven: 3 hours Visit of the Memorial of the Shoah. Walk in District down to Notre Dame. Meeting: tbc.

Session eight: 2 hours Seminar: The First World War and the 1930s in France. Meeting: in our usual seminar room at Sciences Po.

Session nine: Concluding seminar (3 hours) Lecture: France during the Second World War. Screening of extracts of The Sorrow and the Pity Coursework tips and feedback on essay plan. Meeting: in our usual seminar room at Sciences Po.

Requirements for course validation

 Part of your assessment will be based on attendance and participation in class.  Final assessment (to submitted at the end of the month): One 1,200-word essay or podcast/videocast about a site or Parisian district and its relation to Parisian and French history. Guidelines will be provided in class.

Bibliography

For basic background reading and the final essay, you are recommended to use: On Paris: Colin Jones, Paris. Biography of a City (2004) Kory Olson. The Cartographic Capital: Mapping Third Republic Paris, 1889-1934 (2018) On French history: Vanessa Schwartz, Modern France: A Very Short Introduction (2011) Rod Kedward, La vie en Bleu: France and the French since 1900 (2005). Robert Gildea, Marianne in Chains (2003)

Main Professor Biography

Charlotte Faucher is a historian of Modern France with particular interests in cultural diplomacy and the French external resistance during the Second World War. After gaining her PhD in Modern French History at Queen Mary, University of London, she went on to lecture at the University of Warwick and Manchester where she is currently a British Academy post-doctoral fellow.