Courses

For many Americans, May ’68 is remembered as the French analog to Woodstock: the apogee of social and cultural effervescence brought on by youth rebellion. Idealistic slogans like “sous les pavés la plage” (“under the cobblestones the beach”) and “il est interdit d’interdire” (“it is forbidden to forbid”) are foregrounded in our own nostalgic memories of the Summer of Love or British counter-cultural movements (imported in France Johnny Hallyday) often overshadow the political foundations of the events. May ’68 can refer not only to the events of May proper, but to the preceding and following months, during which squabbles between students and administrators over pool and dormitory usage expanded to include the largest student-worker strike in French history. By May 20th, 1968, wildcat strikes in factories across France temporarily shut down the country, resulting in the dissolution of the French National Assembly and the flight of French President Charles de Gaulle. In this course, we will use literature and film, alongside primary historical sources and theoretical documents to explore May ’68 from multiple angles— as a social, cultural, and political moment that fundamentally marked French history. Beginning with génération de Marxisme et Coca-cola, we’ll consider how a thirty-year period of relative financial stability, called les Trente Glorieuses (1945-1975), fostered a youth culture marked by sexual liberation, anti-consumerism, and anti-Americanism. Fundamental shifts in the postwar French political landscape, such as French Communist Party’s slow demise and several wars of decolonization, paved the way for diverse political movements. Just as France of the 1960s turned inward, coming to terms with its own collaboration in World War II, it nevertheless continued to repress nationalist movements in Algeria and elsewhere. French thinkers turned their gaze to workers’ rights both home and abroad, turning East to Vietnam and China for inspiration. Feminist and gay rights theorists at home also began to organize. Finally, looking at contemporary France and mass movements in France today, such as the 2005 “riots” on the outskirts of Paris, the anti-gay marriage movement “la Manif pour tous,” or the Gilets Jaunes, we’ll consider the “aftermath” of May ’68. Was May a “failed” revolution?    

This course will be taught in English, with readings in English translation. French majors are expected to read the materials in French; other students are welcome to read in French, if able.