FREN 3444
FREN 3444: Archives of the French Empire
FREN3444 is a Special Topics course on Francophone Culture. In Fall 2025, we are
focusing on the history of the French Colonial Empire.
This seminar will approach French colonial history through the lens of the “archive” as a
site of knowledge and power. How do objects, monuments, and artworks preserve history
differently than written texts? We will develop research skills to be able to interact with
the French–speaking world (in West Africa, North Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific)
through online catalogues, websites, digitized resources, and contemporary media. We
will also take fieldtrips on campus to the Joyner Library and the Gray Gallery to make
material connections to the Francophone history here at ECU.
For their final Digital Humanities projects, students will produce an interactive itinerary to
visit 5 historical sites or “lieux de mémoire” in a Francophone city of the former French
colonial empire.