CDS 190
Paris Noir

About this course

As the first experience/course you will have at Centenary, this class will be an intellectually engaging (and fun) academic experience that will excite you about the kinds of ideas, issues, subject matters, and critical thinking you will be exposed to over the next four years. This will be a socially engaging experience that will help you bond with your peers and demonstrate to you what the College stands for: Centenary is a small liberal arts college with a global vision. Our motto could easily be: “you come to Centenary; we give you the world.” Paris has been historically one of the great centers of Western culture and today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. France and the U.S., and particularly Louisiana, have had a long and important cultural, political, and economic relationship.

Learning Objectives

History has shown us that people do not always share our values or experiences. At the same time, we are becoming more aware of our interdependent relationship to the world around us. Our challenge, then, is to expand our understanding to promote respectful engagement with a broader world. Learning facts about those who have historically sought a haven in Paris or reading their books might increase your factual knowledge but would not necessarily expand your understanding of the world around you. This is not the subject of this course, even though you will undoubtedly learn a lot of new things. In this class, we will explore Paris as seen through the eyes of a few of the countless individuals who sought refuge there during the nineteenth century. “Paris through the eyes of others” might be one title for the course; as such, this course would constitute a worthy effort to understand French culture through a filter other than your own. While this would be a worthwhile endeavor to “expand one’s circles,” the deeper goal is “other”. All the American ex-patriots who sought refuge in Paris did so because they were born in a country that did not share or value their experiences and that denied them the dignity they found in France. As we look at the lives of these exiles we should ask the questions: “Why did they leave everything they knew to live in a foreign land?” “What did they find there?” “How did they come to see their own homeland, the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave?’” Most importantly, how can we use their experiences to “create the common ground necessary to build mutually beneficial relationships” through respectful engagement with a broader world. The goal is to help you do a better job than many who have gone before you. It is a great responsibility.

Services to Students with Disabilities:

It is the policy of Centenary College to accommodate students with disabilities pursuant to federal and state law and our commitment to equal educational opportunities. Students seeking support services/accommodations for a disability must first register with Disability Services (a division of the Counseling Center, 318-869-5466/5424, located on the ground floor of Rotary Hall) and should begin this process as early as possible. Students with accommodations approved through Disability Services are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first days of the term to discuss needed accommodations. We will gladly make appropriate accommodations based on disability to ensure the playing field is and remains level for all students.
(https://www.centenary.edu/student-life/support-services/)

College Diversity Statement

Centenary College of Louisiana values human diversity in all its richly complex and multi-faceted forms, whether expressed through race and ethnicity, culture, political and social views, religious and spiritual beliefs, language and geographic characteristics, gender, gender identities and sexual orientations, learning and physical abilities, age, and social or economic classes.

Course Policies

1. You are expected to come to class on time every day. Study the material specified on the syllabus or in class! Your attendance and participation will have a definite impact on your grade. This class will require your active participation and obviously to participate you must be present. If you are not ready at the appointed time in Paris you will be left at the FIAP and will be counted as absent. Students who have an absence will have their final grade lowered one full letter. For additional absences there will be a penalty of 10 points per day before the letter grade is dropped.
2. Plan on having a quiz every day, especially during the part of class that will take place in Shreveport.
3. Make ups: No make-ups for an unexcused absence are given. In case of excused absences, I may choose not to give a make-up; instead I may choose not to count that quiz in your average.

5. Please note:

• that policies outlined in the the Centenary Student Handbook, including not drinking or possessing alcohol while under the age of 21 y.o., is in effect for CiP.  Violations may result in suspension, expulsion, and/or being sent home. In addition, you are responsible for all resulting expenses and consequences, including but not limited to failure in this course.
• that it is your responsibility to be at all activities & meeting places on time, and that if you're late, the group may leave without you, resulting in you being responsible for all costs associated with catching up to the group. 

Grading:

Quizzes                 20
Participation         20
Presentations         20
Exam                     20
Journal                  20

You can access the online quizzes on Canvas!

N.B. This course uses a standard university grading scale: 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, 60% = D, below 60% = F.

Leave Shreveport for Paris.

8:00

BREAKFAST: Breakfast will be at the FIAP Jean Monnet. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 6.45 a.m. to 8.45a.m. and on Sundays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The meal is completely self-service.

Musée Carnavalet

Lunch

Notre Dame, Mémorial des martyrs de la Déportation, (open 10-5PM), 7 Quai de l'Archevêché, 75004 Paris
Shoah Memorial, 17, rue Geoffroy l'Asnier 75004 Paris (open 10-6PM)

EXAM DUE!  Looking at Home! "Regime change in Charlottesville"