Cultural Competence

Internship in Montpellier France

As part of the class which accompanied my internship in Montpellier, France, I was required to complete a research project on French culture and health. Laïcité, is a socio-political, cultural concept integral to the lives of French citizens. This ideal has subtly ingrained itself into every aspect of community functioning across France, including the healthcare system. At its simplest, laïcité is French secularism to the extreme. While America is in theory a secular country, symbols of religion can be seen all throughout our health systems and religious beliefs indoctrinate many of our health care policies. This research paper and presentation allowed me to examine this aspect of French culture through the lens of medicine, and compare and contrast with the American system which I have studied throughout my entire degree. Utilizing foreign sources, presenting in French, and adapting to the world of French academia were necessary for the completion of this project

FR 4120: French Cinema

In my junior year at Clemson, I took one of the most surprisingly influential classes of my college career, French Cinema. Dr. Mai’s course thematically examined some of the most distinguished French films of all time; films I would have otherwise never found on my own. As part of FR 4120, students are required to write multiple mini film reviews and analyses.The film review I have linked as a cultural artifact represents critical thinking and thematic analysis skills I developed when in Dr. Mai’s class. La Noire de… tells the tragic story of a young Senegalese woman working for the French bourgeois. The shattering of her dreams for a better future in France and her decline into despair represent the lives of so many in postcolonial French Africa. Writing about and discussing this film, as well as many others in this course, gave me greater insight into the political and socio-cultural struggles that plague French speaking nations globally while advancing my French language abilities.