Post-War French Thought

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• post-war French thought and society
• the key concepts deployed by Beauvoir, Barthes and Fanon

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate your critical and analytical skills by responding to questions about the validity and relevance of the ideas set out in the texts they have studied
• develop effective reading strategies for dealing with challenging material

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• plan and carry out independent research and learning
• employ correct referencing methods and construct bibliographies

This module will focus on three important texts in French post-war thought, linking these texts to three key themes in post-war history: women and society, the rise of consumer society, and decolonisation. The texts to be studied are Simone de Beauvoir, Le deuxième sexe (Vol.II), Roland Barthes, Mythologies and Frantz Fanon, Peau noire, masques blancs. While you will be invited to approach the texts with an awareness of their historical context, they will also be asked to think about ways in which these texts transcend their context and offer tools of analysis useful to any student of modern culture and society.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

• weekly lecture
• weekly seminar
• individual consultations over essays and feedback from assignments

Learning activities include

• seminar presentations
• independent learning in preparation for weekly classes

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Roland Barthes. Mythologies.

Frantz Fanon. Peau noire, masques blancs.

Simone de Beauvoir. Le deuxième sexe (Vol.II).

Assessment strategy

Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback

• seminar presentations
• individual consultations on essay plans

Assessment by two equally weighted essays

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External