Contemporary French Culture and Thought

Objectives

1. To acquire a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relations between history, culture and thought thatmarked France from the second half of the 20th century;
2. To acquire knowledge, theoretical and conceptual tools and methodologies indispensable to the critical perceptionof the problems, debates and challenges of Contemporary France in a global and epistemologically cohesive and open perspective;
3. To develop techniques and models of analysis applied to different types of documents and discursive modalities (political discourse, propaganda, advertising, press articles, iconography, music and literature) in a hermeneutic and comparative perspective;
4. To reflect on theoretical and essay texts relevant to the understanding of the main cultural, identity andanthropological transformations that shaped the French imaginary of the 21st century;
5. To create personal and critical thinking about the main issues that emerge from the program.

General characterization

Code

01106969

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Márcia Liliana Seabra Neves

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

The student should preferably have an intermediate level knowledge of French (level B2 of the CEFR).

Bibliography

Cabral, M. de J.; Carreto, C.; Brilhante, M. J. (dir.) (2019). Le Récit inachevé: études sur Mai 68. Revue Carnets, 16.https://journals.openedition.org/carnets/9588.
Charle, C.; Jeanpierre, L. (dir.) (2016). La Vie intellectuelle en France - T. 2. De 1914 à nos jours. Paris: Seuil
Delporte, C., Mollier, J.-Y.; Sirinelli, J.-F. (dir.) (2010). Dictionnaire d'histoire culturelle de la France contemp. Paris: PUF.
Dosse. F. (2018). La Saga des intellectuels français, II. L’avenir en miettes (1968-1989). Paris: Gallimard.
Garcin, J. (dir.) (2007). Nouvelles mythologies. Paris: Seuil.
Jounet, N. (dir) (2010). Cinq siècles de pensée française. Paris: Sciences Humaines.
Rousso, H. (2012). La Dernière catastrophe. L'histoire, le présent, le contemporain. Paris: Gallimard.
Zancarni-Fournel, M.; Delacroix, C. (2014). La France du temps présent. 1945-2005. Paris: Belin.
Winock, M. (2011). L’Effet de génération. Une brève histoire des intellectuels français. Vincennes : Éditions Thierry Marchaisse.

Teaching method

This course has a theoretical dimension (60%) and a practical one (40%). The first dimension consists in thepresentation, properly contextualized and problematized, of the themes under analysis, seeking to provide thetheoretical, conceptual and methodological bases indispensable to the practical component that will be basedessentially on comparative and critical reading of typologically diverse documentary sources. Wishing to encourageautonomy and a collaborative construction of knowledge, the documents to be worked on will be made available on theMoodle platform, being object of prior preparation by students and of critical presentation / discussion in theclassroom. Themes and issues that arouse more interest in students may be the object of further study in the contextof a final individual work.

Evaluation method

Continuous assessment - Individual essay(40%), Participation in the pedagogical activities developed in the classroom(20%), Written test(40%)

Subject matter

I. War memories and identity fractures

Cultures and ideologies in conflict: the wounds of the occupation
The challenges of reconstruction
Intellectuals in the face of the colonial question

II. The emergence of new paradigms

A new anthropology of everyday life: the consumer society
Rethinking the world: the new artistic waves and the renewal of social and human sciences
May 68: confluences and irradiations

III. Crises and reconfigurations

The end of ideologies: postmodern condition, post-structuralism and French Theory
From visual culture to mediatization of society
The thinkers of a new world: the ecopolitical turn of French thought

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: