FREN 285C – Tissu Urbain: Narrating Cityscapes in Occitanie

Four credits, EXP, FDR - HU
Four weeks in France
Professor Kelley Cordova

During this four-week program in Toulouse, France, students will take intensive French language classes at a local language school, live with host families, and participate in a Washington and Lee course designed to hone oral, written, and cultural proficiency. The course, Tissu Urbain: Urban Storytelling in Occitanie, invites you to explore what the city’s urban fabric reveals about its past, present, and future, and encourages you to tell your own stories inspired by Toulouse’s rich cityscape.

According to Le Trésor de la langue française, tissu urbain is “the ensemble of architectural elements in a given space, the organization of which produces the specific configuration of a city.” Whereas on a map a city may appear as a single entity, it is an assembly of disparate parts, each bearing traces of the eras and people who have shaped it over time. In Toulouse, this mosaic stretches from the vestiges of Gallo-Roman society at Purpan to the cutting-edge, eco-conscious Grand Matabiau quais d’Oc initiative. Together, these layers form a living palimpsest, or what philosopher Olivier Mongin calls “an adventure that never stops reshaping and restaging itself.” Part seminar, part flânerie, our course blends classroom learning with informed strolls through Toulouse’s neighborhoods and historic sites. Architecture and urban planning will serve as gateways to historical, cultural, and sociological inquiry, supported by readings from literature, urban studies, history, art history, and ethnography, as well as maps, photographs, films, and artwork. As we move through the city, we will ask: how do the curation and use of urban space shape Toulouse’s identity and French identity more broadly? How have temporal, morphological, and human changes transformed the metropolis we see today? Which features of the cityscape resonate most with you, and what stories do they inspire? The course culminates in a collaborative project in which students work together to decode and convey Toulouse’s extraordinary urban stories. Two excursions to the neighboring cities of Albi and Carcassonne will expand our exploration of the region’s cultural and historical landscape.

Your homestay will be central to your immersion, offering not only daily opportunities to refine your language skills but also a unique window into the city’s rhythms, habits, and hidden treasures. Many students discover favorite spots and local connections through the recommendations of their host families.

This is a language-intensive program that requires active engagement: regular writing assignments, in-class discussion, and field observations will all be conducted in French. You will be encouraged to make connections between our course materials and your personal experiences, whether that means photographing an intriguing façade, noting a particular neighborhood’s atmosphere, or linking your discoveries to broader conversations in France today about history, memory, immigration, identity, social change, and other topics that reflect your unique interests. More than become more skilled and confident in French, by the end of the program you will also have learned to read and analyze a city like a text, to interpret its layers, and to craft your own narrative as a veritable Toulousain•e.

Prerequisite: FREN 162, FREN 164, FREN 200 Placement, or consent of professor.

Program fee (paid to W&L): $2,849
Includes programming, room, many meals (breakfast and dinner nearly every day with the host family and ~7 lunches), and most in-country transportation.

Additional costs: airfare, books, some meals (~5 breakfasts, ~23 lunches, and ~5 dinners), cell phone, spending money, passport, and visa fees (if applicable).

For further details, please reach out to Professor Cordova.

The information session for this course will take place on October 2, 2025, at 7 pm in Reid Hall, room 211.