Global Francophone Cities (FREN20025)

Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5Not available in 2025

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Overview

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This subject offers an overview of the history, geography, and culture of a range of cities across the French-speaking world. Students will be introduced to key concepts and debates in Urban Studies and Globalised City Studies and will apply them to a Francophone context. Each city will be analysed through a different lens, allowing students to reflect on how themes such as memory, migration, language, and religion have an impact on the cityscape in the Francophone world. Cities to be explored include Algiers, Fort-de-France, and Montreal.  Students will examine a range of contemporary, multimedia material set in different Francophone cities, including novels, films, images, comics, and monuments. The assessment tasks will allow students to apply their theoretical knowledge of Urban Studies and Globalised City Studies as developed throughout the subject to a range of Francophone cities through written, oral, and digital assignments. The subject will be taught and assessed in French.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should:

  • Have demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the history, geography, and culture of a range of Francophone cities
  • Have gained overview of key concepts in Urban Studies and Globalised City Studies and be able to apply them to the Francophone context
  • Have reflected critically on the legacies of French colonialism and its impact on the built environment of different Francophone cities
  • Have learned to analyse closely a range of material in French in different media and genre and carry out their own research on these sources
  • Have learned to write and present in French for different audiences, thus developing their French-language skills at B2/C1 level of the Common European Framework for Languages
  • Have developed multimedia skills to produce a webpage in the form of an online exhibition.

Generic skills

At the completion of this subject, students should:

  • Be able to communicate knowledge articulately and concisely through tutorial discussion, essay and assignment writing, and in-class presentations
  • Have developed written communication skills and learnt to write for general and academic audiences through essay and assignment writing
  • Have developed oral communication skills and gained in confidence when speaking in public through tutorial discussion and in-class presentations
  • Have learnt critical thinking and analytical skills through assignment preparation and completion
  • Be able to use multimedia skills to design and create a webpage through assignment preparation and completion
  • Be able to plan their work and use their time efficiently through managing and organising workloads.

Last updated: 4 March 2025