NYU Steinhardt: Paris - Topics in Globalization: Creating French Culture

France is at the center of debates about the reach and character of cultural globalization: its government has taken the lead in opposing U.S. efforts to define cultural exchange in purely market terms, even as French publics have often welcomed American popular culture and political ideas. In the meantime, French culture, in all its richness, complexity, and diversity, continues to be produced, reproduced, and transformed.

In this intensive three-week course, the city of light and its environs will be our laboratory as we experience firsthand France’s diverse creative cultures. We will travel across Paris and beyond to meet with cultural professionals, artists, and activists representing a variety of fields and perspectives (music, cinema, philosophy, literature, urban architecture, television, online news, immigrant media, etc.). In so doing, we will deepen our understanding of the global, national, and local processes that shape the making of contemporary cultures.