POL3265: Ideas and Protest in French Postwar Thought

France witnessed a number of extraordinary events in the 20th century: the carnage and trauma of World Wars I and II; the Vichy regime’s collaboration with German Nazis; the general strike and student protests of the 1960s; the tensions prompted by anti-colonialism and later decolonization in North Africa; and the challenges of post-colonialism and racial politics. This course will examine these events, the political and ethical challenges they raised, and the intellectuals who shaped the ensuing public debates. It will draw on historical documents, cultural media (e.g. posters, art, film), and philosophical texts to explore contemporary France in its century of politics and protest. Thinkers range from film-maker Gillo Pontecorvo, to philosopher-playwright Jean-Paul Sartre, to philosopher Michel Foucault.

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