Modernity Studies
Modernity Studies introduces political, social, intellectual, artistic, and literary developments in French and Francophone culture from the French Revolution to today, taught entirely in French.
Summary
Past student reviews · Florence Vatan
One student, who described themselves as fluent, rated the course as one of the harder French classes they had taken and noted it was a tough grading environment.
What you’ll be able to do
Identify key political, social, intellectual, artistic, and literary developments in French and Francophone culture from the French Revolution to the present day.
Analyze and discuss contemporary documents - such as official documents, newspaper articles, paintings, caricatures, posters, songs, literary texts, and film clips) - within their historical context.
Draw connections between France’s historical past and current issues in the French and Francophone world, as well as in the global context.
Develop cross-cultural awareness by gaining an understanding of contemporary France and connecting the French and Francophone world with other global cultures.
Develop your listening, writing, speaking, writing, and critical thinking skills.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapFRENCH 271
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
FLORENCE VATAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Florence Vatan
Students found the material interesting and appreciated the instructor's supportive demeanor when answering questions, despite the class being perceived as challenging.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.74 GPA, 82.4% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.72 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 82.4% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Florence Vatan
One student, who described themselves as fluent, rated the course as one of the harder French classes they had taken and noted it was a tough grading environment.
Past student reviews · Florence Vatan
The instructor was described as super nice and caring in class, particularly when students had questions, which helped balance the rigorous academic demands.
Topics
- Political, social, intellectual, artistic, and literary developments in French and Francophone culture
- Historical period spanning from the French Revolution to the current era
- Connections between France's historical past and current global issues
Skills
- Listening, speaking, writing, and critical thinking in French
- Analyzing and discussing contemporary documents within historical context
- Developing cross-cultural awareness between French/Francophone and global cultures
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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