Postgraduate Courses in French
Postgraduate courses in French typically cater for graduates who have previously studied French to BA level. Increasingly, MA programmes in French provide opportunities for exciting interdisciplinary study, ranging through literature, screen studies, visual culture, gender studies, and more! Many MA students have just completed their undergraduate degree and are keen to continue their studies, either to gain a competitive edge in the job market , or with a possible view to moving on to PhD study. Potential MA students are welcome who have had professional or other experience since completing their BA degree, as this is very enriching. As well as the academic specialisms, postgraduate courses in French offer a wide range of advanced training, some of which is specifically academic (e.g. researching academic sources), but a great deal of which is also transferable to other environments, such as report writing and giving powerpoint presentations.
Particular specialisms in French Studies at Manchester include: Enlightenment Thought; European Children’s Literature; Theatre, Dance and Performance; Popular Music, Francophonie; Gender and Sexuality; Holocaust Studies; Medieval and Renaissance studies, Text/Image/Book.
Course units on offer in 2006-7 include the following:
French Theatre in the 18 th Century: Theory and Practice;
Diderot;
Women in the 19 th Century Novel;
Dance, Performance and the Body;
The Materiality of Texts;
Trauma and Memory in 20th Century French Life Writing;
Text-Image Studies;
Bodies of Mystery and Imagination: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Medieval and Renaissance France;
Illustrations in Nineteenth-Century Children’s Literature;
Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary French Cinema;
Gender, Sexuality and the Body in Modern French Life Writing;
Instruction and Amusement in Early European Children’s Literature;
Constructions of National Identity in French Popular Music;
In or Out? Inclusion and Exclusion in Old French Narrative;
Meaning and the Translator, with Reference to French and English;
Delacroix and Literary Painting.
You can also combine these with other units from the MA in European Languages and Cultures. For details see our website: http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/PostgraduateStudy/ In addition to increasing your competitiveness in the job market, or preparing for PhD study, the French MA offers you the chance to spend a year in a stimulating and dynamic intellectual environment. Also at Manchester you will benefit from access to the resources of the outstanding John Rylands Library and the rich cultural assets of this vibrant and diverse city (which include the university-affiliated institutions of the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Manchester Museum, and the Contact Theatre): of particular relevance to students of French are the Allliance Française and the Cornerhouse Cinema. Don't delay, apply now for your postgraduate course in French.
