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LA401K: ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES IN FRENCH CULTURE B (2024-2025)

Last modified: 02 Aug 2024 12:46


Course Overview

This course  advocates for greater multiculturalism in how we approach cultural responses to the climate and biodiversity crisis. We will use a range of French-language film, fiction, poetry and theory (though ironically, in English translation!) to investigate environmental themes, genres and strategies in French culture. The focus is on how these texts represent the human subject in relation to the environment of which it is part, shaping diverse narratives of change and agency.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Term First Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Clemence O'connor

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
  • Either Programme Level 4 or Programme Level 5

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

At a time of climate and biodiversity crisis, written and visual texts can play a key role in giving us perspective on our relationship with other species and the planet: they can help to disrupt dominant narratives or re-write the individual and collective stories of societies in need of a change of paradigm. This quest for more resilient values and a re-invented place in the world for humans often follows a transcultural or transnational path, as seen in the many awareness-raising films where an eco-anxious subject takes the viewer to various communities and organizations across cultures from all over the globe, in search of climate solutions that will both educate the viewer and unlock personal growth – almost a cliché of this new genre, of which one pioneer was the French film Tomorrow by Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent (2015). Yet while the environmental humanities have a strong international outlook, anglo-dominance does exist in the field (as an example, Tomorrow was filmed in English, not French). Advocating for greater multiculturalism in our approach, this course uses French-language fiction, theory, poetry and film (though, ironically, in English translation!) to explore how they provide a fuller range of perspectives on our ecological predicament and the social and cultural issues that are entangled in it. We will contextualise and track shifts in the perceptions underpinning French-language culture, exploring how our place as humans is questioned or re-negotiated in our corpus. We will compare the literary and visual genres, strategies and resources deployed to help the reader or viewer to envisage alternative ways of relating to the world, leading from extraction to regeneration and from alienation to fellowship.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Commentary or Creative Piece

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 25
Assessment Weeks 14 Feedback Weeks 17

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Feedback

Word Count: 1,000

If choosing the creative piece, the commentary part should be no shorter than 500 words.

Written feedback in the form of tutors' comments is given within 3 weeks. Additional informal feedback on performance is offered in tutorials. Tutors have office hours at which further feedback may be sought.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseYou will undertake critical analysis and interpretation of a range of visual, literary and cultural forms.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will demonstrate an ability to synthesise material from a range of sources and to take account of the wider cultural contexts of the topic under consideration.
ProceduralApplyYou will develop skills of autonomous learning, independently applying insights gained on the course to unfamiliar material.
ProceduralApplyYou will conduct independent investigations drawing on appropriate research methodologies.
ProceduralCreateYou will articulate your views orally and in writing using the appropriate discourse for the subject.
ProceduralEvaluateYou will select, evaluate and organize primary and secondary materials on the topic.
ReflectionCreateYou will reflect on your own relationship to and use of environmental writings or visual forms.

Oral Presentation: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 15
Assessment Weeks 17 Feedback Weeks 20

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Feedback

Length: 5-7 mins

Feedback in the form of tutors' comments is given within 3 weeks. Tutors have office hours at which further feedback may be sought.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseYou will undertake critical analysis and interpretation of a range of visual, literary and cultural forms.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will demonstrate an ability to synthesise material from a range of sources and to take account of the wider cultural contexts of the topic under consideration.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of key critical approaches to environmental writings and visual forms emerging out of French culture.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of the role, place and function of environmental themes in French culture.
ProceduralApplyYou will develop skills of autonomous learning, independently applying insights gained on the course to unfamiliar material.
ProceduralApplyYou will conduct independent investigations drawing on appropriate research methodologies.
ProceduralCreateYou will articulate your views orally and in writing using the appropriate discourse for the subject.
ProceduralEvaluateYou will select, evaluate and organize primary and secondary materials on the topic.
ReflectionCreateYou will reflect on your own relationship to and use of environmental writings or visual forms.

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 60
Assessment Weeks 18 Feedback Weeks 24

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Detailed instructions and evaluation criteria will be provided in the course guide. Written feedback will be provided in the tutor’s comments.

Word Count 3000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseYou will undertake critical analysis and interpretation of a range of visual, literary and cultural forms.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will demonstrate an ability to synthesise material from a range of sources and to take account of the wider cultural contexts of the topic under consideration.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of key critical approaches to environmental writings and visual forms emerging out of French culture.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of the role, place and function of environmental themes in French culture.
ProceduralApplyYou will develop skills of autonomous learning, independently applying insights gained on the course to unfamiliar material.
ProceduralApplyYou will conduct independent investigations drawing on appropriate research methodologies.
ProceduralCreateYou will articulate your views orally and in writing using the appropriate discourse for the subject.
ProceduralEvaluateYou will select, evaluate and organize primary and secondary materials on the topic.
ReflectionCreateYou will reflect on your own relationship to and use of environmental writings or visual forms.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Take Home Exam

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Take-home exam (2 days) – Length: 3000 words

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ProceduralApplyYou will develop skills of autonomous learning, independently applying insights gained on the course to unfamiliar material.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of key critical approaches to environmental writings and visual forms emerging out of French culture.
ProceduralEvaluateYou will select, evaluate and organize primary and secondary materials on the topic.
ProceduralCreateYou will articulate your views orally and in writing using the appropriate discourse for the subject.
ReflectionCreateYou will reflect on your own relationship to and use of environmental writings or visual forms.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will acquire a knowledge and understanding of the role, place and function of environmental themes in French culture.
ProceduralApplyYou will conduct independent investigations drawing on appropriate research methodologies.
ConceptualUnderstandYou will demonstrate an ability to synthesise material from a range of sources and to take account of the wider cultural contexts of the topic under consideration.
ConceptualAnalyseYou will undertake critical analysis and interpretation of a range of visual, literary and cultural forms.

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