Histories of Art, Race and Empire: 1492-1865

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 23.01.07

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Content Objectives
  4. Teaching Strategies
  5. Classroom Activities
  6. Appendix
  7. Bibliography
  8. Notes

La Francophonie Diverse: French Adjective Agreement Through Art

Brittany Zezima Dilworth

Published September 2023

Tools for this Unit:

“Dans les décombres du colonialisme, nous avons trouvé cet outil merveilleux, la langue française.”- Leopold Sedar Senghor, founder, L’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie

Introduction

“Only the white kids take French”. I often wonder how cultural theorist Leopold Senghor would feel about this sentiment being expressed regularly in my class. Although the wording may differ depending on the student, the idea is the same: My students of color do not feel welcome in the French classroom. Past experience has led them to feel “othered” in the face of the representations of the French language that they see as Americas. Somewhere amongst a sea of croissants and baguettes, the Eiffel Tower, and one track from the musical Hamilton, they get the sense that French is a cold, difficult language that does not include people who look like them. I was inspired to create this unit in order to allow students greater exposure to Francophone diversity early in their study of French. I want to give my minority students an exhibition to the very wide global demographic of French speakers that more realistically mirrors their own diversity.  Therefore, the goal of this unit is to more heavily integrate francophone Africa and the Caribbean into the curriculum beyond the geographical overview they receive at the beginning of the course.

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