In 2005 the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at the College of Liberal Arts decided to create a new type of course, the Capstone Freshman Seminar. The course was to be designed in two parts: a semester-long course followed by a summer session in the country on which the course had focused. The idea was to engage the interest of incoming students, early in their academic careers, in different cultures and the possibilities that study abroad could provide. Two members of the history faculty were invited to launch this initiative. In October 2006 the Departments of History and French and Italian organized an inter-disciplinary conference entitled The Spaces of War: France and the Francophone World. As a result of the interest shown in this conference, and with the aim of encouraging an interest in France and Francophone world, I was invited to create one of these Capstone Seminars. The course, entitled the Spaces and Boundaries of War: France 1870-1962, focused on the Franco-Prussian War, the two World Wars, and the Algerian War of Independence, as the most important example of a colonial war. Although the semester-long course examined the political background and traced the chronology of the conflicts covered, it was essentially about memory and its impact on French society or the society of its colonial territories. The follow-up course in May was designed to visit some of the sites of memory connected to the conflicts taught during the Spring Semester. The sites were not just places, buildings, or institutions; they also included individuals who had been touched in some way by the legacy of these wars. The aim was to teach them about the workings of memory: institutional, national, collective and personal. By immersing the students in the history of France the idea was to make them understand how the memory of the past in another country intersected with their national and personal memories.http://www.esc.umn.edu/SOW.htmshapeimage_1_link_0
Students at the Minneapolis Airport, May 20, 2007
 
HOME PAGE PARTICIPANTS ITINERARY MAY 20: First Evening MAY 21: 1870 MAY 22: 1870 MAY 23: Sites in Paris MAY 24: Paris Mosque MAY 25: Quai Branly MAY 26: Festivities MAY 27: WWI MAY 28: WWI MAY 29: WWII MAY 30: Nancy MAY 31 & June 1: Paris JUNE 2: Limoges JUNE 3: Oradour JUNE 4: Vichy JUNE 5 & 6: Lyon JUNE 7: Henri Alleg JUNE 8: Summing-Up & Farewell dinner JUNE 9: Final photo FUN & RELAXATION SYLLABUS SPRING SYLLABUS SUMMER participants.htmlitinerary.htmlMay20.htmlMay21.htmlMay22.htmlMay23.htmlMay24.htmlMay25.htmlMay26.htmlMay27.htmlMay28.htmlMay29.htmlMay30.htmlMay31.htmlJune2.htmlJune3.htmlJune4.htmlJune5.htmlJune7.htmlJune8.htmlJune9.htmlFun.htmlSpringSyllabus.htmlSummerSyllabus.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6shapeimage_3_link_7shapeimage_3_link_8shapeimage_3_link_9shapeimage_3_link_10shapeimage_3_link_11shapeimage_3_link_12shapeimage_3_link_13shapeimage_3_link_14shapeimage_3_link_15shapeimage_3_link_16shapeimage_3_link_17shapeimage_3_link_18shapeimage_3_link_19shapeimage_3_link_20shapeimage_3_link_21shapeimage_3_link_22shapeimage_3_link_23shapeimage_3_link_24
 
France Culture Podcastpodcast.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities HIST 1910W. BOUNDARIES AND SPACES OF WAR: FRANCE 1870-1962 TRIP TO FRANCE MAY 20-JUNE 9, 2007