Yes, I am still taking classes. And they remain pleasantly interesting. Here are some highlights:
French Cultural Patterns – For a final project I will have to choose a French person to interview and write a cultural profile on. We’re still getting details on the assignment, but I know we need to go out and find someone beyond our current ring of acquaintances (host family, language partners, basketball teammates, etc.), interview them and write a magazine-style profile of them.
Translation – Each student was asked to pick a portion (roughly 15 pages) of a piece in English that he/she will work on for the rest of the semester, culminating in a presentation explaining why the specific work was chosen, difficulties in translation (vocab, syntax, tone, etc.), and a reflection on the overall process. Everyone chose either poety or fiction, but I’m going to try to translate the U.S. Constitution. The first step to translating something is to truly understand the source text in its original language, so this gives me a great excuse to really familiarize myself with the Constitution, something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’m also quite interested in developing my political/governmental French vocab.
French Society – Each student must pick a topic/issue currently facing French society to research and write a paper about. I’m going to research the history and modern manifestations of anti-religious currents in France. I’m interested in their public perception, goals, strategies and especially their future given the return of religion as an increasingly potent sociopolitical force in Europe. I have an interview set up with an Islamic scholar who emigrated from Algeria to France to help with my research. He should provide an interesting perspective, because he comes to French society from a markedly different culture and is an active, influential member in one of France’s minority faiths.
Immigrant Identities – We are currently in the midst of our second novel, the autobiography of Azouz Begag. Begag grew up in a slum outside Lyon and eventually becoming a minister in the French government. After that, we’ll be reading a collection of poetry written by an immigrant from the French Antilles.
The European Union – Again, I have my choice for an individual project. I’m most interested by Europe’s current struggle to deal with the rise of Islam in its nations. I think I want to focus on the idea of “European Islam,” which has been proposed by EU officials as a potential solution for the apparent incompatibility of many European and Muslim beliefs/practices/laws.
Looks like it’s going to be busy academically from here on out, unfortunately. But at least it’s all interesting.
