专业描述

Welcome to the Department of French and Italian of The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Welcome to the Department of French and Italian at the University of Southern California. Our faculty members are collectively committed to working across disciplinary and national boundaries—and indeed to rethinking disciplinarity itself in innovative ways. As a department, we emphasize the global resonance of French and Italian Studies in addition to the impact of literature and film on cultural, political, social, and environmental contexts. The interests of our faculty range across contemporary literary theory and philosophy, Francophone cinema and culture, Italian and French modernity, Renaissance intellectual and cultural life, and early modern thought and narrative. For the rest of the Chair's Message, click here. Why study French at USC? French is a global language, spoken by over 200 million people on five continents. France is the world’s fifth biggest economy and the third most important destination for foreign investment worldwide. And French is an official language of the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, and the international courts. Most significantly, studying French opens the doors to a world of literature, film, art, and thought of extraordinary richness and diversity. As a student of French at USC, you will have the opportunity to work closely with our dedicated faculty—including specialists in North Africa and the Middle East, the Francophone Caribbean, and Southeast Asia—on topics ranging from Renaissance culture to French hip hop, French theory to Islam in France. You can study abroad in Dijon and Paris, participate in the French Club, write an honors thesis, and enjoy weekly French conversation at our Pause Café. To see what our alumni go on to do after they graduate, click here. We look forward to welcoming you soon to French studies at USC! Why study Italian at USC? Italy is one of the world’s seven largest economies, and Italian is the fourth most spoken language in the United States. Italian art, language, and culture have had world-changing effects since antiquity, and a knowledge of Italian is vital for serious students of art history, music, film, and literature, as well as for anyone interested in a career in high fashion, culinary arts, design, and museum curating. Italian writers, thinkers, artists, and filmmakers have long had a global influence that is perhaps second to none. As a student of Italian at USC, you will have access to opportunities to study abroad in Rome, and to exciting interdisciplinary courses in everything from Italian film to Renaiassance women’s experience, the role of the mafia in Italy to Italian colonialism. Our instructors are some of the best around, and we offer an Italian Club, a Film Club, and a weekly Tavola Italiana for an informal Italian conversational experience. Our majors and minors have the chance to work closely with faculty, on everything from honing their language skills to individualized research projects.