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2018/19 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

FREN3045 Antiracism in France since 1945

20 creditsClass Size: 24

Module manager: Dr Jim House
Email: J.R.House@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2018/19

Pre-requisite qualifications

Ability to study a module taught in French, usually evidenced by having completed level 2 of a degree programme including French.

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Since the 1970s, questions of racism and antiracism have demanded considerable attention in politics, the media and academic writing in France, most notably due to the electoral successes of the Front national. The innovative antiracist initiatives of the 1980s have given way to divided responses to racism, and, since 2000, debates over France's colonial legacies have further split the Left. How should we situate these recent political developments historically? In the French context, antiracism has brought together various strands of political action: - anti-fascism- anti-colonialism- the opposition to anti-semitism, anti-black and anti-Maghrebian racism. This inter-disciplinary course looks at how these fields have evolved in the context of France's history since 1945, stressing the diverse nature both of antiracism and the ideologies and practices it opposes. After an initial period spent discussing racism, antiracism, nationalism and fascism within a longer-term context, we shall then look at how colonial racism was contested in the late colonial period (1945-62), and the transformations this brought to republican-based antiracism. Course elements then study how antiracism has changed in postcolonial France, looking at the impact of the new antiracist and immigrant social movements to have emerged since the 1970s, and how these movements have dealt with questions of political autonomy. Concepts such as 'new citizenship' are examined, as are sans-papiers movements since the 1990s, opposition to the Front national, recent campaigns against racial discrimination and segregation, and debates on cultural and religious diversity, and France's colonial legacies. This module is taught by a mixture of lectures and seminars. It is assessed by one essay of 6,000 words. For further information, please contact the module convenor Dr Jim House.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- analyse the history of antiracism in France as it has developed since 1945, in the context of a longer-term history of social and political mobilisation.
- examine the place of antiracism within French political culture and French thought.
- analyse and understand antiracism as a diverse social and political process.
- analyse and understand the relationship between colonialism, postcolonialism, racism and antiracism.
- examine the relationship between antiracism and immigrant rights mobilisation.
- understand antiracism in France from the perspectives of generation and gender.

Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate critical knowledge of the various approaches that have been used to study antiracism
- Analyse and interpret critically, primary and secondary historical material.

Skills outcomes
- Enhanced skills in written and oral French in an academic register
- Independent research skills (essay).


Syllabus

- Racism and antiracism within the context of French political culture
- Anti-fascism, colonialism, anti-colonialism and the French Left
- Reading Fanon's Peau noire, masques blancs in a colonial context (1945-54)
- The Algerian War of Independence and its impact on racism and antiracism (1945-1962)
- Autonomous immigrant rights movements, 1968-1977
- A new generation of antiracist campaigning: 1983-1985
- SOS-Racisme and its critics (1985-2002)
- Mobilisations by undocumented residents, 1996-2008
- France's colonial legacies and debates on ethnic discrimination (1998-2008)
- Re-thinking cultural and religious diversity in postcolonial France.

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Lecture101.0010.00
Seminar52.0010.00
Private study hours180.00
Total Contact hours20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

- 50 hours seminar preparation
- 15 hours preparation for seminar presentation
- 115 hours essay preparation (research and writing).

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Students are required to submit an essay plan for written comment
- Oral feedback on non-assessed seminar presentation.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay1 x 6,000 words (in English)100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)100.00

The language of the coursework essay is English.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 23/04/2018

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