Summer 3 weeks II 2027
4 credits
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Introduction to Global Art through Paris Museums offers undergraduate students an entry point into the history of global art by engaging directly with the diverse collections of major museums in Paris. This course moves beyond traditional, Eurocentric narratives to consider how art reflects—and is shaped by cross-cultural encounters, colonial histories, and global systems of trade and exchange. Through close visual analysis and on-site museum visits, we will examine artworks not only in terms of their geographic origins but also their materiality—investigating how materials and techniques used in art-making are often deeply connected to histories of conquest, commerce, and colonization. We will also engage critically with issues of appropriation and re-appropriation, the complex histories of provenance, and current debates surrounding restitution and institutional critique. Students will gain tools to analyze art within its cultural and historical contexts, understand key concepts in global art history, and reflect on how museums shape our understanding of the past. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify major artworks in Parisian collections, articulate their global significance, and apply art historical vocabulary to interpret the meaning and legacy of visual objects.
This course explores the evolution of Realism in acting and the emergence of Method Acting (also known as The Method), tracing their 19th-century origins in Europe to their enduring global influence on modern theater, film, television, and streaming media. Students will examine key practitioners, historical contexts, and performance techniques that continue to shape contemporary acting and directing across stage and screen. Through lectures, discussions, and film excerpts, students will gain a deeper understanding of Method Acting and how actors and directors apply its principles to create authentic, emotionally resonant performances.
Paris and its surroundings will be used as the model for this introductory painting class. This exceptional setting has inspired artists for centuries, and students will work outside as well as study the wealth of images of Paris to develop their artistic possibilities and choose a direction for themselves. Initially, basic drawing and painting techniques will be taught with an emphasis on how to convey space, light, and volume to capture the beauty of the city. Progressively, students will be encouraged to paint in a more personal and expressive manner. Oil paint is recommended, but other media are welcome.
Step into the heart of one of the largest capitals of fashion with Inside Paris Fashion Industry, an immersive course exploring the dynamic world of contemporary French fashion. The French fashion industry significantly impacts the national economy, generating approximately €154 billion in direct turnover annually and contributing 3.1% to the national GDP. This sector also supports about one million jobs across various domains, including design, manufacturing, and retail. This impact highlights the fashion sector as not only a cultural asset but a substantial economic pillar for the country.
This course offers students a unique perspective on the diverse careers shaping French fashion today, through the experiential exploration of the professional field of fashion, moving beyond the simple myth. Each session combines theoretical classes with practical experiences, including visits to fashion museums, designer foundations, exclusive boutiques, artisan workshops, and vibrant fashion markets.
Through films and documentaries, readings, guided tours, lectures and curated discussions, students will gain insight into the ecosystem of Parisian fashion, from haute couture and luxury retail to emerging trends in sustainable and ethical fashion. How is French fashion organized, designed, made, mediated and consumed, where and by whom? The curriculum is enriched by guest lectures and interviews with industry insiders—designers, produce developers, fashion marketers, stylists, textile experts, and brand managers—providing students with firsthand perspectives on various career paths. Students will also engage in critical discussions on how tradition meets innovation within the Paris fashion scene and the ways in which French fashion continues to influence global markets.
By the end of this course, students will have developed a nuanced understanding of contemporary fashion roles and networks, equipping them with the knowledge to navigate and identify potential career opportunities.
This workshop gives students the opportunity to explore through reading, research and writing assignments an array of creative nonfiction forms, including memoir, travel writing, food and nature writing, and social essays. Assignments help students strengthen their ability to create the self as character, a first-person narrator who leads the reader into the world of personal experiences and research. The course explores narrative structure, description, characterization, dialogue, and tension, all key elements in making writing spirited and appealing. The workshop also includes guest speakers and field exercises in Paris.
Whether a story is an imaginative transformation of life experience or an invention, the writing must be well crafted and convincing, driven not only by plot and theme but also through characterization, conflict, point of view, and sensitivity to language. Students produce and critique short stories and novel chapters while studying fiction techniques and style through examples.
This course focuses on the basic elements of fiction while also taking inspiration from the city of Paris—exploring its streets to spur imagination and reading its varied writers.
Note: this class requires payment of a 25 € course fee.
Through writing poetry and analyzing examples, students become familiar with poetic forms and techniques. This workshop, led by a publishing writer, includes weekly peer critique of poems written for the course. Students explore what makes a poem moving, evocative, and imbued with a sense of music, no matter what the approach: lyric, narrative, surreal, or experimental.
The course is designed to demystify poetic composition, enabling students to apply elements of craft to shape the imagination more powerfully, producing new, original work.
Note: this class requires payment of a 62 € course fee.
The sketchbook is approached, through this course, in all its aspects and as the support of the most varied techniques. The emphasis is on observational drawing throughout Paris. A variety of graphic techniques are covered in this course: drawing with pencil, felt-tip pen, pen, wash, watercolor, colored pencils… that students must apply to concrete reporting projects. A large part of these courses will therefore take place outside the university throughout Paris, in museums and parks.
As in the US, European governance is modeled on capitalism, rights, and democracy. European nations and the European Union, however, approach these topics distinctly. This course, with a focus on the European Union and France in comparative perspective to the US, explores contemporary challenges across three foundational policy fields: governance and citizenship; the environment; and business. Faculty experts and guest lecturers work closely with students to understand the contradictory mechanisms at work in these three policy spheres, querying which political strategies are best adapted for the successful future consolidation of Europe. The aim of the course is to provide students with a sophisticated understanding of European policy modeling and contemporary challenges to the European Union.
This class requires payment of a 230 € course fee.
This introductory language and culture course allows students to acquire the basic elements of spoken and written French. It aims at the A1 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.
Pre-requisites: FR1000I OR FR1100 OR FR1200CCF OR equivalent. This class requires payment of a 230 € course fee.
This elementary language and culture course consolidates students’ knowledge of basic French grammar and broadens their vocabulary. It aims at the A2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.
Pre-requisites: FR1005I OR FR1200CCF OR FR1300CCI OR equivalent. This class requires payment of a 230 € course fee.
This intermediate course reinforces and expands students’ ability to express themselves, defend an opinion, and debate with others. Special attention is paid to increasing students’ ability to form complex sentences, to express attitudes, wishes, necessity, doubt, emotions, to link ideas and to speculate. It aims at the B1 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.
Pre-requisites: FR2005I OR FR2100CCI OR FR2200CCI OR FR2101 OR FR2102 OR equivalent. This class requires payment of a 230 € course fee.
This advanced course reinforces and expands students’ ability to give clear descriptions, express viewpoints on most general topics, without much searching for words, using some complex sentence forms. It aims at the B2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.
American University of Paris
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