FFS 291 - Mapping the Belle Epoque

0.5 unit(s)

The “Belle Epoque” evokes a specific place and time: Paris in and around 1900. The phrase conjures gauzy pictures of smiling ladies in big hats and ruffled skirts, curvy Art Nouveau décors, bicycles speeding through the city, and progressive new technologies and architectures. But the term was invented only after the end of WWI, a retrospective naming that would launch a nostalgic culture industry in the wake of the trauma of war. This intensive reconsiders sites and phenomena associated with the Belle Epoque—the Moulin Rouge, the Paris Metro, Maxim’s Restaurant, for example—but also explores other “sites,” such as the Paris streets where labor protests erupted, press sites like La Revue blanche, which took the side of Captain Dreyfus in the celebrated political scandal, and the Exposition Universelle, which showcased French colonialism in triumphant if, in hindsight, disturbing ways. Guided by cultural historian Dominique Kalifa’s reassessment, La véritable histoire de la Belle Epoque, students select a site to research over the course of the semester and present their findings in an end-of-semester in-class symposium.

Prerequisite(s): FFS 212 or the equivalent or permission of the instructor.

Two hours every other week.

Not offered in 2022/23.

Course Format: INT