Tufts in Talloires 2023 Course Listing

For course distribution and SHU information please visit "Browse Course Catalog" in SIS

CEE 59: The Emerging Global Health Crisis

Find out why the control of emerging and re-emerging disease requires not only solid science but also effective public policy and politics. This course examines the growing health challenges posed by predominantly infectious diseases associated with environmental degradation, global climate change, and changes in host factors. We probe the pathologic basis of diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, HIV/AIDS, malaria, anthrax, Ebola, smallpox, “Mad Cow” disease, avian flu, and the drug-resistant strains of diseases such as tuberculosis, and review how they are transmitted and distributed globally by person, time and place. Students utilize the resources of the many international health and environmental organizations in Geneva to gain a more “hands on” appreciation of how global intervention strategies are conceived and implemented.  David Gute

CH 01: Introduction to Community Health

Why is there stark variation in life expectancy across individuals, communities, populations, and the world? Why does where you are born predict when you die? How can we create a more healthy and equitable society? This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles and methods used in community health. We will explore theoretical concepts that are key to understanding community health, such as the meaning of health, the origins of illness, the concept of community, and ways that community health problems are analyzed and framed. We then apply these concepts to specific areas of community/public health concern, such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, both in the U.S. and globally. Within each area, we discuss the social, cultural, historical, economic, political, environmental, and biomedical aspects of health and illness ("social determinants") that give rise to inequities in the health of individuals, communities, and populations. We will also explore evidence-based programs, policies, and practices (or “interventions”) designed to improve health at the community and population level and discuss how the effectiveness and acceptability of these approaches may vary based on social determinants. Jennifer Allen

CLS 149: Gauls, Greeks, and Romans and The Origins of France

The historical identity of France owes much to the contact, interaction and accommodation that took place between the peoples of ancient Gaul, the Greeks who settled along its Mediterranean shore, and the Romans who conquered and ruled Gaul for almost five hundred years. This course will explore this rich process of cultural creation and identity formation through an exploration of the following questions: Who were the Gauls? How did they express their identity culturally, ecologically politically, socially in cult and ritual, and in material culture and productivity? Why did the Greeks migrate to and settle in southern Gaul? What did it mean to be a Greek in Gaul? How were the Greek poleis or city-states different if it all from those in Greece, southern Italy and Sicily, and Asia Minor? How did Greeks and Gauls interact and find a middle ground? How did the Romans become involved in Gaul? How did they engage with the Greeks and Gauls? Who were the Romans in Gaul? Why did Rome eventually conquer all of Gaul? And how did Roman, Greek, and Gallic culture combine to shape the early identity and cultural legacy of France?

To answer these many questions, the course will draw on the richness of recent archaeological discoveries, the diverse accounts of ancient writers, the exciting new research and analyses of modern historians and archaeologists, and a study tour of the great Gallo-Roman town, Vienne. The course will begin with an overview of the history of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Roman Republic and Empire. Bruce Hitchner

ENV 105: Flowers of the Alps

“Flowers of the Alps” presents the floral richness and diversity of alpine spring, leveraging the value of scientific names for identifying plants throughout the world. Plants living in full flower are the crucial foundation for any plant taxonomy course, including ours. The timing of Tufts in Talloires coincides with world-renowned spring wildflower season in the Haute Savoie. Having personal experience with the vibrant floral diversity in this alpine landscape and biological hotspot is a life-affirming event for our students, one they communicate with their French families, and take with them for years. Even locally, people of the region often take notice of our class during field trips, commenting how important it is for young people to know something of nature. Alpine communities cover more than 25% of the earth’s land surface and have captured about one-fourth of the world’s pool of soil carbon. Today, alpine species are called upon to make climate-proof landscapes and urban pollinator gardens. In this course we devote at least six hours per week studying the Talloires region's world-class display of montane and alpine floral diversity. Lectures (two per week) are devoted to plant structure and life history in enough detail to make use of professional dichotomous keys for identifying plants. Sessions highlight salient features of major plant families, important representatives of those families, human foraging of edible plants, pollinator ecology, and the design of dichotomous keys. Outdoor (field) sessions (4-5 h per week, including travel time) involve recognizing alpine species in their native environment, evaluating shifts in alpine vegetation, keying out new plants to the family level, and visually celebrating the alpine Spring. George Ellmore

FR 21 or FR 22: French in the Alps: Composition/Conversation

Experiencing full immersion in a French-speaking region is the best way to improve rapidly and discover a new culture. The course aims to promote oral and written fluency in French. Thus, careful preparation of written assignments for the course and active class participation are essential. Consistent application in spoken and written French is the focus of the continuing grammar review at this level. Students will cover the grammar lessons of French 21 or French 22 separately but will work together on readings, discussions, and projects. For insight into contemporary France, the readings will come primarily from the local media to highlight the historical, social, and cultural aspects of the Alps region as well as the rest of the country and nearby Switzerland. Through weekly writing assignments, students will report on their experience and reflect on their observations. The term project will be to produce a newspaper or magazine, based on the students’ study of the various newspapers and materials discussed in class. Other course work includes reading articles and a short novel, written and oral grammar exercises, weekly papers, occasional short oral presentations, a mid-term exam, and a final exam. Taught in French. French 4 prerequisite. Marie-Pierre Gilette

HIST 80: Stranger in the Village: African American Expatriates in France

Through the lens of African American expatriates in France—epitomized by James Baldwin’s classic 1953 essay, “Stranger in the Village”—this team-taught course explores constructions of racial and national categories and identities in the long twentieth century. Looking back from our present historical moment, incorporating biography, memoir, literature, and film, we will explore the historical experiences, creative production, and identifications of African-descended writers, artists, and exiles in France. While our sustained focus will remain on the life and writings of James Baldwin, additional figures will range from the late nineteenth century to the present, from W.E.B. Du Bois, Josephine Baker, and Eugene Bullard to Ta-Nehisi Coates. Ultimately, we return to our current moment, employing the past as the foundation for interrogating contemporary questions of race, nation, and belonging, including present-day experiences of travel, migration, and diaspora.  Kendra Field and Khary Jones

MUS 29: French Popular Music

Édith, Johnny, Serge, Booba. These popular music icons are household names in France, but are virtually unknown in the U.S. This course offers an accessible and engaging exploration of French culture through a survey of commercial popular music produced in France and the francophone world from the 1930s to the present–––with an emphasis on the links between landmark musical genres, cultural trends, and critical socio-political issues at stake in each era. Topics include the relationship between French language and cultural identity; protest and change after May ‘68; transnational influences and the authenticity debate; public and private negotiations of race, immigration status, and religious difference; colonial and postcolonial transformations; evolutions in conceptions of gender and sexuality; and the role of technology in shaping musical values and communities. Students will develop a critical toolbox for analyzing French popular music in its cultural contexts through a close reading of primary sources (songs, albums, lyrics, music videos, music journalism) and secondary literature drawn from the interdisciplinary field of French Studies. Over the course of the semester, students will become better listeners–––for understanding popular music and the richness and diversity of French culture. Melinda Latour

REL 63/HIST 09:  Global History of Christianity through the Middle Ages

This class will examine the origin and development of Christianities from antiquity through the medieval period. We will encounter key Christian figures, texts, theological debates, and religious practices alongside political and historical events from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Rome, China, and southern Europe. Central questions we will confront include: Who defines Christianity? Can we speak of Christianity in the singular? How do religious practices and beliefs become localized as they spread from region to region?

As a class taught on the Talloires campus, we will pay particular attention to an early theologian in France, named Irenaeus, who contributed to the formation of Christian “theological correctness” (also called orthodoxy) and heresy (the condemnation of competing forms of Christianity). We will take trips to local churches to look at saints relics and learn about how early Christians turned to their holy dead for divine protection and healing. We will also examine the development of Christian monasticism (monks and nuns) as the “superheroes” of the Church—most notably St. Benedict, whose monastic order founded, in 1018, the monastery that would later become the Tufts Talloires campus.  Jennifer Eyl

PS 168: International Law

This course provides the basic introduction to international law and the international legal system, and surveys several substantive areas of international law, including international human rights law, international humanitarian law (i.e., the international law of armed conflict), and the rules regulating recourse to the use of force. The first half of the course is aimed at developing an understanding of the overall structure and processes of public international law and of the political context within which international law operates. It will examine foundational issues, including the nature and structure of the international legal system, sources of international law, states and other actors in the international system, and methods of dispute settlement. Building upon this foundation, the second half of the course will provide a survey of several different substantive areas of international law, with a focus on international human rights and humanitarian law. Case-studies will include the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the status of Palestine in the UN system, the multilateral negotiation of the Optional Protocol to the Women's Convention, and France's restrictions on the wearing of religious head-coverings.  John Cerone

Soc 149: Sociology of Travel and Tourism

Travel and tourism are more than experiences of personal value; they have profound social, economic, political, historical, and environmental significance. They are of particularly great consequence for France, which attracts more tourists than any country in the world. This course will introduce students to sociological perspectives on travel and tourism by blending theoretical and empirical readings with opportunity to reflect on our surroundings. We will explore questions such as: What motivates people to travel? How do meanings get ascribed to places? How are tourist attractions created, sold, and consumed? How does tourism re-inscribe or erode inequalities of race, class, gender, and national origin? What are the costs and benefits of tourist-driven economies? The course will provide students with a new lens for understanding tourism as a global phenomenon, and for understanding their own experiences – as routine behaviors such as taking photographs, buying souvenirs, exploring new foods, interacting with locals, and sightseeing become imbued with new significance. Sarah Sobieraj