Showing 1 - 4 of 4 Items

Date: 2020-01-01

Creator: Fiona Carey

Access: Open access

The baccalauréat exam has played a significant role in the lives of French high schoolers for more than two centuries. Not only does the exam determine a student’s eligibility for university, it is a long-standing national tradition and an important aspect of French identity. The baccalauréat consists of a core curriculum and a choice of specialties, all of which prepare students for the exams that they will take in their last two years of high school. In 2018, Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer announced a reform to the baccalauréat that would drastically alter the content and structure of the exam. Blanquer’s reform offers students a wider variety of specialties and in doing so hopes to eliminate the supposed hierarchies which have historically valued sciences over other subject matters. This reform revolutionizes the system while simultaneously remaining deeply rooted in tradition. While Blanquer’s reform introduces changes to the core curriculum and an entirely new list of specialties, it preserves other aspects of the French education system, particularly the mandatory study of philosophy. This thesis examines the contrasting novelty and tradition of Blanquer’s baccalauréat. In order to understand the intent and implications of his reform, this thesis studies a series of historic reforms, provides a detailed explanation of Blanquer’s changes, and finally discusses a selection of anonymous survey responses concerning its potential impacts. In discussing these survey responses, I highlight three main themes: (1) hierarchies and freedom of choice, (2) collectivity and individuality, and (3) the role of nationalism in the baccalauréat.

• Embargo End Date: 2029-05-16

Date: 2024-01-01

Creator: Stephanie Ruth McCurrach

Access: Embargoed

Date: 2022-01-01

Creator: Reed Foehl

Access: Open access

During the mid-20th century, a new form of Algerian literature emerged, thematically detached yet linguistically tied to France. Novelists aligned with this littérature algérienne de langue française used their narrative power to expose the atrocities of the colonial period, while emphasizing the rising nationalist spirit throughout the country. A peculiar aspect of this national literature is the presence of a child protagonist. Many of Algeria’s most prominent authors centered their first novels on a young boy. This leads to my central question: does the récit d’enfance (childhood narrative) possess certain qualities that lend it useful for representing ubiquitous suffering, as well as an imminent national awakening. My research focuses on two Algerian novelists, Mouloud Feraoun and Mohammed Dib, who employ the récit d’enfance for different aims. In this paper, I first define the récit d’enfance and show how Feraoun and Dib implement this literary style. Secondly, I argue that Mohammed Dib’s trilogy is distinctly political. Employing the critical theories of Frantz Fanon and Benedict Anderson, I contend that Dib’s trilogy, published between 1952-1957, is a littérature de combat (combat literature). Although Feraoun’s publication of Le Fils du Pauvre in 1950 inaugurated Franco-Algerian literature, his work is more reflective than political. Comparing Feraoun and Dib’s early work, allows me to expose the disparate narratives arising in the decade prior to Algerian independence. Their portrayal of colonial oppression, as well as the courage and ambition of an exploited people, remains useful when studying models of colonial and post-colonial nationalism and nation-state.

Date: 2020-01-01

Creator: Elijah B Koblan-Huberson

Access: Open access

L’histoire d’un peuple est en grande partie liée à sa mémoire, aux souvenirs et commémorations des évènements passés et des ancêtres.En raison de la colonisation et ses conséquences, les habitants des îles de la Guadeloupe et de la Martinique vivent un malaise vis-à-vis de la mémoire en tant que peuple antillais.Par conséquent, il est important de se demander comment, après la déshumanisation effectuée par l’extermination des premiers habitants, les Caraïbes et les Arawaks, l’esclavagisation des Africains, et la colonisation des territoires antillais, une nouvelle conceptualisation de la mémoire peut mener à une nouvelle conceptualisation de l’existence et de l’identité pour l’être humain antillais qui provient de ceux qui ont été esclavagisés. Pour répondre à la question nous examinerons les romans de Maryse Condé et de Fabienne Kanor.