Major in French at Connecticut College and you will develop linguistic and cultural fluency, regardless of your starting point. The benefits of studying French extend far beyond knowledge of the language and the Francophone world. When you speak only one language, it's hard to grasp the extent to which language itself shapes our thoughts, perceptions and values. As a French major, you step outside your own linguistic framework and acquire a different view of the world. You learn to recognize and value cultural differences and to look at issues from different perspectives. With this understanding, you are well-prepared for advanced studies and career opportunities in a limitless range of fields.
Special opportunities
Many courses are co-offered with other academic departments, including anthropology, film studies, and gender and women’s studies. Classes are small and faculty are attentive. You are challenged to hone your critical thinking skills and augment your language study with the perspectives and analytical modes of many disciplines. Some French majors pursue a certificate with one of the College's centers for interdisciplinary scholarship or with the museum studies program.
International opportunities and study abroad
You can hone your language skills on campus in the language lab or at the French table in Knowlton Language House's international dining room. As a French major, you study abroad for at least one semester and possibly an entire year. Many students go to France, but in recent years, others have studied multiculturalism and human rights in Tunisia and Morocco, literature and native crafts in Senegal and Cameroon, family health and economic development in Mali, and environmental issues in Madagascar.
Learn more about Connections, Connecticut College's innovative new curriculum.
A Glimpse at French
Courses You Could Take
FRH 301 Pensez Français: The French Cultural Experience
Conversation and composition based on modern texts and/or films about France and Francophone countries.
FRH 414 New Wave Film, Then and Now
This course examines the crucial New Wave movement in French cinema, as it is expressed as a historical moment and as an attitude toward making and viewing film.
FRH 326 Civilization through Conversation
Stresses the improvement of oral skills by exploring various dimensions of modern French and Francophone culture.
FRH 329 French Cinema
A study of the major directors and orientations of the French cinema, starting with Lumière and Meliès and including Bunuel, Cocteau, Renoir and "la Nouvelle Vague."
FRH 403 Cities on the Screen: Constructing Urban Space in the Cinema
Focus on urban space as constructed on the screen and the interplay between architecture, sets, cultural memory, and film technologies.
FRH 422 Black Blanc Beur Cinema/ Literature
An examination of how the ethnic makeup of contemporary French society challenges its republican ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Sana Abdi’s research interests include Francophone and Arabophone postcolonial literature, stylistics, bilingualism, and translation. Her current book project “Arabic at the heart of French: Linguistic and Literary Expressions” considers the ways in which Arabic, textually and intertextually, permeates the French verse in North African contemporary poetry. By identifying and parsing linguistic and literary references to Arabic in the French corpus, she explores the stylistic expressions of bilingual writing and its reception. Abdi has published peer-reviewed articles in Expressions Maghrébines and Les Lettres Romanes.
James Austin
Associate Professor of French, Chair of the French Department
James Austin lectures frequently on Proust and on film in the United States and internationally. He is also an associate faculty member in the Film Studies program.
Jacob Levi’s research focuses on questions of language, representation, and translation in 20th century French literature and philosophy, with a focus on Jewish identity in post-war France.
His current book project, Exile, Adventure, and the Book: Judéité in Post-War French Thought, is an intellectual history of 20th century French-Jewish thinkers, specifically philosophers Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, and poet Edmond Jabès. Through their reflections on language and nationality in light of their experiences of exile, anti-Semitism, and the Shoah, the project illuminate the stakes of Jewish affiliation in post-war France through the vector of the “question of the book.” Professor Levi has presented his work at conferences around the United States and Europe, and his research has appeared in English and French in journals including Modern Language Notes.
Q: What made you decide to come to Connecticut College?
A: First, the location of campus—the coastal New England feel was similar to my hometown and not too far away from my family. Second, I found the academics interesting. I was drawn to the strong International Relations department, along with the many opportunities to internationalize my major including CISLA, study abroad, and a minor in French (which eventually became a major).
Q: Why did you decide to study French? What led you to the major?
A: I had studied French since elementary school and actually had my mind set on taking Chinese when I got to college. I quickly realized that Chinese wasn't for me (after only 2 classes), and decided to focus instead on perfecting my French skills. I became interested in the politics and culture of France—issues that I would explore in subsequent French classes and which would become the focus of my senior year CISLA Senior Integrative Project.
Q: What was your most challenging or rewarding class?
A: French 404: The Art of Speaking. I was always timid in classes and not keen on oral participation, especially in a foreign language. It was instrumental in easing my transition into my semester abroad. I would consider it a requirement for students seeking to study in France who plan to take courses in French while abroad. Not only did it greatly improve my speaking skills, but the class also improved my confidence in speaking up in all of my classes.
Q: What types of independent or faculty research did you participate in?
A: I completed two independent studies in my senior year which I cobbled together to form an ad hoc senior thesis or SIP for CISLA. During the fall semester, I studied with Professor Etoke and examined root causes of radicalization in France. Most of this research was done in French though the final product was written in English. During my second semester, I looked at lone wolf terrorism in France, focusing on the Internet as a catalyst for radicalization. This research was undertaken with Professor Rose.
Q: Where and why did you study abroad?
A: I studied in Paris at Sciences Po through the Middlebury School in France. My primary motivations for studying abroad were to gain international experience and improve my French skills. Through CISLA, I also spent a summer interning for the French Ministry of the Interior.
Courses You Could Take
Pensez Français: The French Cultural Experience, New Wave Film, Then and Now, Civilization through Conversation, French Cinema, Cities on the Screen: Constructing Urban Space in the Cinema, Black Blanc Beur Cinema/ Literature
People You Might Work With
Sana Abdi, Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Ph.D., University of Virginia; M.A., University of Manouba, Tunisia, Agrégation, École Normale Supérieure/University of Manouba, Tunisia; B.A., École Normale Supérieure/University of Manouba, Tunisia
North African Literature and Culture; Stylistics; Bilingualism
James Austin, Associate Professor of French
B.A., Pomona College; École Normale Supérieure, Ancien Pensionnaire Étranger, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D., Yale University
Proust; French film
Clara Barbier, Fulbright Fellow
Sharon Butler, Academic Department Assistant
Jacob Levi, Visiting Lecturer in French
Ph.D, Johns Hopkins University, Comparative Literature; M.A, École Normale Supérieure, Philosophy, B.A, Pomona College, French and Philosophy
Robyn Pront, Visiting Assistant Professor in French
PhD - Yale University, Department of French; Master 2 - Université de Bourgogne-Dijon, Lettres modernes, B.A. - Amherst College
20th-century French literature and history, especially representations of war
Timmie Kydd, Academic Department Assistant
East Asian Languages and Cultures, French, German, Slavic Studies
Q: What made you decide to come to Connecticut College?
A: First, the location of campus—the coastal New England feel was similar to my hometown and not too far away from my family. Second, I found the academics interesting. I was drawn to the strong International Relations department, along with the many opportunities to internationalize my major including CISLA, study abroad, and a minor in French (which eventually became a major).
Q: Why did you decide to study French? What led you to the major?
A: I had studied French since elementary school and actually had my mind set on taking Chinese when I got to college. I quickly realized that Chinese wasn't for me (after only 2 classes), and decided to focus instead on perfecting my French skills. I became interested in the politics and culture of France—issues that I would explore in subsequent French classes and which would become the focus of my senior year CISLA Senior Integrative Project.
Q: What was your most challenging or rewarding class?
A: French 404: The Art of Speaking. I was always timid in classes and not keen on oral participation, especially in a foreign language. It was instrumental in easing my transition into my semester abroad. I would consider it a requirement for students seeking to study in France who plan to take courses in French while abroad. Not only did it greatly improve my speaking skills, but the class also improved my confidence in speaking up in all of my classes.
Q: What types of independent or faculty research did you participate in?
A: I completed two independent studies in my senior year which I cobbled together to form an ad hoc senior thesis or SIP for CISLA. During the fall semester, I studied with Professor Etoke and examined root causes of radicalization in France. Most of this research was done in French though the final product was written in English. During my second semester, I looked at lone wolf terrorism in France, focusing on the Internet as a catalyst for radicalization. This research was undertaken with Professor Rose.
Q: Where and why did you study abroad?
A: I studied in Paris at Sciences Po through the Middlebury School in France. My primary motivations for studying abroad were to gain international experience and improve my French skills. Through CISLA, I also spent a summer interning for the French Ministry of the Interior.
Courses You Could Take
Pensez Français: The French Cultural Experience, New Wave Film, Then and Now, Civilization through Conversation, French Cinema, Cities on the Screen: Constructing Urban Space in the Cinema, Black Blanc Beur Cinema/ Literature
People You Might Work With
Sana Abdi, Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Ph.D., University of Virginia; M.A., University of Manouba, Tunisia, Agrégation, École Normale Supérieure/University of Manouba, Tunisia; B.A., École Normale Supérieure/University of Manouba, Tunisia
North African Literature and Culture; Stylistics; Bilingualism
James Austin, Associate Professor of French
B.A., Pomona College; École Normale Supérieure, Ancien Pensionnaire Étranger, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D., Yale University
Proust; French film
Clara Barbier, Fulbright Fellow
Sharon Butler, Academic Department Assistant
Jacob Levi, Visiting Lecturer in French
Ph.D, Johns Hopkins University, Comparative Literature; M.A, École Normale Supérieure, Philosophy, B.A, Pomona College, French and Philosophy
Robyn Pront, Visiting Assistant Professor in French
PhD - Yale University, Department of French; Master 2 - Université de Bourgogne-Dijon, Lettres modernes, B.A. - Amherst College
20th-century French literature and history, especially representations of war
Timmie Kydd, Academic Department Assistant
East Asian Languages and Cultures, French, German, Slavic Studies
