France-Asia: Cultural Transfers and Translations in a Globalized Context

This class explores the dynamic contemporary Franco-Asian dialogue with a specific focus on China, Japan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Seeking to go beyond the East-West divide, the seminar investigates the current stakes of this dialogue, given its growing complexity after 1945. It examines the postcolonial legacy of France's occupation of Indochina, and how East Asia has also often been viewed as an 'Other,' serving to crystallize French anxieties over political and cultural power. It uses an interdisciplinary perspective encompassing novels, cinema, dance, visual arts, and critical theory to trace a web of exchanges in a globalized context. Taught in French.