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Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité! Join us to study the French Revolution in Paris in this exciting new "Reacting to the Past" Queens College Study Abroad Course!

During our stay in Paris, we will study the background and history of the French Revolution, including the Enlightenment. We will "react" in the historical moment of the meetings held by the National Assembly in 1791. The French Revolution game will plunge students into the intellectual, political, and ideological currents that surged through revolutionary Paris that summer.

Students will become leaders of major factions within the National Assembly (and in the streets outside) as it struggles to create a constitution amidst internal chaos and threats of foreign invasion. They will face questions such as: Will King Louis XVI retain power? Will the priests of the Catholic Church obey the "general will" of the National Assembly or the dictates of the pope in Rome? Do traditional institutions and values constitute restraints on freedom and individual dignity or are they its essential bulwarks? Are slaves, women, and Jews entitled to the "rights of man"? Is violence a legitimate means of changing society or of purging it of dangerous enemies?

Some of the highlights will include walking tours of revolutionary sites in Paris, including The Louvre, Les Invalides, the Bastille, the Palais-Royal, the Conciergerie, and the "revolutionary 6th" arrondissement, and day trips to Versailles and the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau. A special feature will be the opportunity to experience the celebrations of Bastille Day on July 14th, France's national holiday, first hand.

"Reacting" is an innovative way of learning through role-playing and elaborate games. In the French Revolution game, Rousseau, Burke, and the Revolution in France, 1791, by Mark C. Carnes and Gary Kates, students will be assigned roles as historical figures meeting as members of the National Assembly with a "game objective." Students will represent the crowd of Paris led by Danton, the Jacobins inspired by Maximilien Robespierre, the Feuillants or more moderate citizens, the clergy, and the nobility.

At the heart of the French Revolution game, is animated discussion and debating; you must persuade others that "your" views make more sense than those of your opponents. You will have two ways of expressing your views: orally and in writing, and both will be graded and contribute toward your final grade. Writing assignments will include journal notes, newspaper articles, and a final research project. The central texts will include: Rousseau's Social Contract, Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, and various other primary documents such as the Tennis Court Oath and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

Together, we will study the texts, visit all of the sites in and around Paris associated with the French Revolution, and play the game along the way.

Required Reading: please purchase before we leave for France to bring along with you Carnes, Mark C. and Gary Kates. Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution, 1791. Longman Publishers, 2005. "Reacting to the Past" Series. ISBN: 0-321-33229-6. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. Trans. Maurice Cranston. London: Penguin Classics, 1968. ISBN: 0-140-44201-4 Hunt, Lynn and Jack Censer. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0-271-02088-1 "Exploring the French Revolution" http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/ A great website for images, songs, texts, and more. ________________________________________________________________________ Course Requirements:
Participation: (40%) The heart and soul of the French Revolution Game is persuasion so participation is a crucial component. In your assigned role, you will seek to achieve your "game objectives" by expressing your views in the classroom as a member of a particular team (faction) or alone as an indeterminate.
Journal/Notebook/Scrapbook: (30%) The journal will consist of hand-written notes, thoughts, comments, strategies, arguments, postcards, museum receipts, etc. Think of it as a written record of all that you do, see, and learn about the French Revolution when playing the French Revolution Game in Paris. The journal should also include your outlines and notes with arguments and counter arguments to each of the major questions concerning France in 1791 that will come up in the debates. You can and should refer to your outlines and arguments during the debates.
Research Project: (30%) The 10-page typed research project about the French Revolution will be due a few weeks after we get back home from France. The assignment will be handed out before we leave.