Syllabus

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COURSE ABROAD LAS 298:
Paris: A Multicultural Perspective: Immigration and Globalization
Director: Evelyne Accad; Assistant: Dinah
The schedule of activities is as follows but is subject to change in order to accommodate invited guests and activities for the course. Your assignments will be due no later than June 15th to be turned in by email earlier if possible (evelyneaccad@aol.com or e-accad@illinois.edu). Keep in mind that it is imperative that you at least take notes throughout the entire course, especially after every class experience and that you keep a daily journal of your activities, impressions, feelings, remarks. NOTE: Your self-discovery activities must be scheduled around these activities. (See syllabus) Pre-departure: Orientation meetings done in Urbana with Dinah and Evelyne. Written reports on the two scheduled conferences due and to be taken into account for your grade.
May 16 – June 3, 2011
Monday, May 16: Leave for Paris from O’Hare at 6:05pm
Tuesday, May 17: Arrival in Paris at 9:30am on United #942, met by Evelyne at CDG airport terminal 1 and taken to FIAP, on-site orientations by Professors and FIAP.
Wednesday, May 18:
10:00am: Sociological study of Barbès, the Marché Déjean, the African immigrant neighborhoods of Paris.
Visit of Fem’Chic en Spectacle, 2 rue Livingstone, Metro Anvers, purchase of attire for dance. Visit of Montmartre. Read Beyala’s Loukoum… in packet.
1:30-3:00pm (13:30 to 15:00) : African dance with Instructor Ousmane from Senegal at Sun City, 2-4 rue de l’Ancienne Mairie, 92110 metro Mairie de Clichy.
Athletic attire suggested. You can also wear an African “pagne” (loin cloth). Shoes are not worn in the studio.
5 :45 pm (17 :45) FIAP: Visit of the quartier around FIAP (district) organized by FIAP, drinks afterwards.
Thursday, May 19:
10am-12pm: Visit to Lycée Marcelin-Berthelot in Pantin / Aubervilliers 111 Boulevard Jean Jaurès, metro: Quatre Chemins (Line 7). This is the lycée where Faїza Guène (author of Kiffe-kiffe demain) was a student.
5-7pm FIAP: Visit of Cheryl Toman, Professor at Case Western Reserve University, specialist on African women, latest book: Contemporaries in Cameroonian Francophone Literature. Read article: “African Women Eliminating Borders” by Cheryl Toman and come prepared to ask questions. Also discussion of Beyala’s Loukoum…
Friday, May 20th:
10-12pm: Lycée Honoré de Balzac, Collège International de Paris, 118 Blvd Bessières, metro Porte de Clichy. Discussion of pertinent social issues with French and International students, their English and International studies instructor Jackie Holland. Please bring English magazines or newspapers to share with students.
Noon: lunch with the Honoré de Balzac students.
1pm: showing of small film on immigration followed by discussion with Honoré de Balzac students.
5-7pm at FIAP: Discussion of Evelyne Accad’s Women of the Twilight. (read particularly the short stories: A woman who wants to live, p. 45, The hijacker, p. 77, A vibrant woman, p. 131, Sexual education and moral instruction, p. 147; read also “Beirut, The City that Moves Me”. Come prepared to ask questions.
Saturday, May 21st: Meeting to begin at 11 a.m (leave FIAP at 10 am (9:30) latest to allow enough time. Visit to Women’s Immigrant Association in Saint-Denis (Femmes du Franc-Moisin).
Lunch and visit of Saint-Denis
3:30- 7:30 p.m. Visit of Charisma Church, 15 boulevard de la Libération / 24 rue Charles Michels, Saint-Denis
Sunday, May 22nd:
2:00pm: Group lunch at Mont-Liban restaurant. 42 boulevard des Batignolles, metro: Rome, tel : 0145223501. (Opportunity for Discovery activity during the day)
Monday, May 23:
Day trip to suburb: Discussion with students from the University Cergy-Pontoise. Métro 6 direction Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, then RER A direction de Cergy Le Haut, to Cergy Prefecture.
7pm (19hrs): Special Dinner at FIAP restaurant.
Tuesday, May 24:
11:30am: Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration, Palais de la Porte Dorée, 293, avenue Daumesnil, metro : Porte Dorée.
5 pm, FIAP: Visit of Julie Assier, Professor specialist of Francophone Vietnamese Literature. Read Slander in packet and come prepared to ask her questions.
Wednesday, May 25th:
10 to 13: Lycée Suger at Saint-Denis, 6 avenue Le Roy des Barres.
Leave FIAP at 9am (15mn might be better) to get there on time (I will meet you at the Guy Moquet station at 9:30): Get off at the Porte de Paris station, about 10-15 mn from school, walk past Casanova hospital, walk along the Parc de la Légion, make a right turn to the high school, you will see a sign “Lycée Suger” (This is not the 1st big street / crossroad on the right in front of the hospital (rue Casanova) but next one (the one at the firelight in front of the park entrance) as you keep on walking along the park down the Paul Vaillant Couturier avenue.)
14:30 or 2:30pm: Visit to the Musée Dapper, art appreciation activity. 35 rue Paul Valéry. Métro: Victor Hugo or Charles de Gaulle-Etoile.
5:30pm (17:30h) Meet with Lydie, an African woman in exile, read Mariama Ba Rejection and Andrée Chedid The Long Trial and come prepared to ask questions. Adress: 13-15 Blvd Barbès (code 24) metro Chateau Rouge
Thursday, May 26th:
10:30am : Visit of the Grande Mosquée de Paris (Place du Puits de l’Ermite, métro: Monge). Souk and tearoom after tour. Followed by Institut du Monde Arabe (métro: Jussieu) for art appreciation activity. Read: "The Muslims of France".
5-7pm at FIAP: Discussion with author Thérèse Kuoh Moukoury and her novel Essential Encounters, come prepared to ask questions.
Friday, May 27th:
Leave FIAP at 9:30am to reach métro Couronnes at 10:30am: Sociological study of Belleville and the market (métro Couronnes) and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. (métro Laumière) Bring maps in course packet.
(Discovery activity opportunity during the day)
Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29th:
FREE (Have you completed your self-discovery activity?)
Monday, May 30th:
10:30 am: Visit of the Vietnamese neighbourhood, metro Tolbiac. Lunch at Pho 14 (voluntary). Bring maps in packet. Visit of a Buddhist temple.
5-7pm at FIAP: Debate on Immigration and Ethnicities, Walls and Globalization. Read Maillard article “The Muslims in France and the French Model of Integration”, Michel Husson, and "How Much More French Can I Be?", "Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots, and finally, "Urban Violence in France" by Paul Silverstein and Chantal Tetreault http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/silverstein_tetreault_interv.htm, Nov. 2005.
Tuesday, May 31st:
14:00pm to 3:30: Middle Eastern dance class at Sun City Gym, at Sun City, 2-4 rue de l’Ancienne Mairie, 92110 metro Mairie de Clichy, with Instructor Nadia from Tunisia. Both men and women should bring a long scarf that can be tied around the waste. Women should wear a long skirt or leggings. Shoes are not worn in the studio.
Self-discovery activity opportunity throughout the day.
5-7pm at FIAP: Visit of Ezza Agha-Malak at FIAP. Read Bagdad: Death Untold and come prepared to ask questions.
Wednesday June 1st:
5-7pm at FIAP: Presentation of self-discovery activity.
Friday, June 3rd:
Departure from the FIAP at 8:00 am. United #943 Plane leaves at 11:15am, CDG terminal 1.

Assignments and Final Essay

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COURSE ABROAD LAS 298: Paris: A Multicultural Perspective: Immigration and Globalization
Director: Evelyne Accad; Assistant: Dinah
May 16 – June 3, 2011
Assignments and Final Essay
By June 15th, earlier if possible, you need to turn in your final 10 to 12 pages final essay by email (evelyneaccad@aol.com or e-accad@illinois.edu). Registrar has asked me to have your grades turned in by June 23rd so please give me time to read and correct them properly. Your final essay should reflect the various parts of the assignments as described below.
ASSIGNMENTS: Note—In addition to the journal topics below, you must also add your three author interviews and a self-discovery activity (please see syllabus description). Your final assignment will consist in a 10 to 12 type written essay covering the various assignments and scheduled activities.
Pre departure assignments. You should have sent to the Prof. before departure reports of the two conferences you attended and were asked to write about.
Journal topics. Keep a diary of the various activities observations and feelings from the moment you step on the plane to come to Paris till you return to the US; you can buy attractive little note books to carry with you at all times. Write down your overall feelings for the day with specific examples from the activities and readings covered. This will help you compose your final essay.
In TWO pages, choose an exhibit at the Immigration museum and comment on it thoroughly. The exhibits at this museum are usually not by one artist, but the display usually tells some kind of personal story or general reality about immigration.
In ONE page, choose one exhibit at the Musée Dapper, and analyze it.
In TWO pages, give your general impressions of the African and Arab immigrant neighborhoods of Paris. Does Beyala give an accurate description of Belleville and Paris in her novel? Explain. How do these neighborhoods compare with immigrant communities you have seen in the United States? Are there problems evident here? Any positive observations? During this visit, did you at anytime feel you stood out as a “foreigner”. Explain.
In TWO pages, compare what you hear in the media and in the city about the perceptions of the youth of the ‘banlieue’ and what actually goes on in the housing developments as explained by the activists running the Women’s Association of Franc-Moisin. In ONE page, tell what draws this diverse group of worshippers to this megachurch and describe your own observations of the interactions of the congregation.
In ONE page, discuss the differences between the various foods you have sampled and tried during your stay. How does Lebanese food compare to other foods?
In TWO pages, comment on the following: From what you learned by visiting the Mosque, what would you say is the biggest obstacle hindering the total acceptance of the Muslim community into traditional French society? What needs to be done to overcome such an obstacle and do you foresee a solution in the near future? What do the two communities have in common? In your opinion, should France recognize polygamous marriages in the Muslim community and should co-wives and children be eligible for the same government benefits as monogamous couples? Explain.
In TWO pages, comment on the following observations you made yesterday while visiting the Institut du Monde Arabe: Look at the outside of the Institut du Monde Arabe and give your interpretation of the architectural style and message of its design. (Be sure to look at the windows closely from the inside looking out as well). Once you have entered, choose one exhibit in the institute and give your impressions of the object. Are you surprised by the representation? Even if you are inexperienced at art appreciation, study closely the object and describe the message it conveys through its shapes, lines, colors, forms, materials, etc.

I. The books that you’ll need to order online are :

Accad, Evelyne. Women of the Twilight. (bilingual edition, Trans. and Introductory critique C. Hahn, Prologue by Michèle Ramond) Paris: Alfabarre, 2011

Agha-Malak, Ezza. Bagdad: Deaths Untold. (Translated from the French by Cynthia Hahn) New York: Linus, 2011.

Kuoh-Moukoury, Thérèse. Essential Encounters. Trans. And Introductory critique C. Toman. New York: MLA Texts and Translations Series, 2002.

FIAP Jean Monnet

Groupe de l’University of Illinois

30 rue Cabanis

75014 PARIS

FRANCE

II. The course packets are ready to be picked up for $28.55 at NOTES & QUOTES in Johnstowne Center at 6th & John streets in Champaign (217-344-4433).

Required Pre-Departure Meetings for the Multicultural Paris Trip, May-June 2011

Bonjour,

Classes begin this weekend. There are 5 required pre-departure sessions, all of which you must attend. You will have three classes Saturdays, April 2nd, April 9th, and April 30th, as well as two conference sessions the weekends of April 1-2nd and April 7-9th.

I. Class sessions:

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM 4/2/2011 1080 (Lucy Ellis Lounge) Foreign Languages Building

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM 4/9/2011 1080 (Lucy Ellis Lounge) Foreign Languages Building

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM 4/30/2011 1080 (Lucy Ellis Lounge) Foreign Languages Building

II. Conference sessions:

As part of the requirements for the course, you will attend one session of your choice for each of the following two conferences (a total of 2 sessions) that you will need to report on:

Iran at Large: The Global Emergence of a Regional Power? April 1-2, 2011 http://www.ciber.uiuc.edu/events/programs/jacs/2011/program.html

Note: The following sessions- 10:20-11:00 am Iran and the European Union and 11:20-12:00 noon Iran’s Strategy in Africa Alex Vatanka (The Middle East Institute), may be of particular interest for this course.

and

New Francophonies and Colonial Language in a Global World April 7-9, 2011 http://www.french.uiuc.edu/conferences/francophonies/Program.pdf

Where we will be staying... F.I.A.P. Jean Monnet

We will stay at the "Foyer International d'Accueil a Paris, or "FIAP", - A dorm-style International Welcome House.