Global Paris: Culture, History and Identity in the French Capital

This course will explore the city of Paris as historical artifact, artistic hub and lived reality, to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the city's complex history and its role in constructing, reinforcing and revising French cultural and political identity. Taking the city as analytical object, the course will be composed of seminars, visits to cultural sites including museums, monuments and châteaux, collaborative workshops and guided walking tours of historically and culturally-significant districts. The course will critique the dominant narratives and myths surrounding the city, studying Paris's reputation as a global capital of art, literature and politics. Yet it will do so while also exploring under-examined and forgotten parts of the city relating to colonial history, revolutionary history, the legacy of slavery and the evolution of the Republic. The analyses undertaken in this course will equip students with the knowledge and language to understand core concepts surrounding French history, culture and identity, studied through the prism of Parisian cultural heritage. Ultimately, the course will provide students not only with an understanding of Paris's past, but a deeper insight into France's complex present and the tools to understand France and French influence in the world into the future. Students will only be permitted to travel upon completion of ANU required documentation, including, where required, the travel to a high risk destination form and the approval of all documentation by the relevant delegate. Disclaimer: Applicants are advised that due to circumstances beyond the University's control (for example, specific international security concerns and international health crises) it may not be possible for students to commence or complete this course as advertised, in which case an alternative lesson plan will be arranged to fulfil the course requirements.