English

This course introduces students to the history of political thought, with a focus upon the ancient world of classical Greece. Topics include the birth of politics in ancient Athens; Plato’s critique of democracy; the justification of political rule; the role of virtue in political life.

This advanced topics course covers neuro- and neuroscience-related topics via a combination of 1 hour lecture and 1.5-hour student discussions. The weekly topics are presented by the professor and guest lecturers. Topics may include Neuroscience Research and Treatment of Brain Disorders, Sensory Processing and Integration, The Neurobiology of Cancer, Cell-cell Interactions in Neuroimmunology, Panel Discussions, etc. 

This course examines the relationship between public opinion and international politics in democratic societies. Students explore fundamental questions about how ordinary citizens' attitudes influence foreign policy decisions, how political leaders respond to public preferences, and how media and elites shape public opinion on international issues. The course examines how people form opinions about key areas of international politics, including trade policy, immigration, military intervention, economic sanctions, international organizations, and climate change. Drawing on insights from political psychology, students learn about important concepts such as cognitive biases, framing effects, and motivated reasoning that influence how citizens think about foreign policy issues. Through careful analysis of research studies, surveys, and real-world examples, students develop both theoretical understanding and practical skills for analyzing global public opinion. The course emphasizes critical thinking about current events and policy debates, helping students become more informed citizens and consumers of political information. Students apply course concepts through case study analyses, policy briefs, and a final research project that allows them to investigate a topic of particular interest within the field of public opinion and international relations. By the end of the course, students have a solid foundation for understanding how democratic publics think about international affairs and why this matters for foreign policy outcomes.

This course provides a fundamental introduction to a wide range of modern biophysics. This is a multidisciplinary scientific area where a number of theoretical and experimental methods from physics are used to understand and examine biological systems. The course begins from the fundamental biological building blocks, including proteins, DNA/RNA, and membranes. It discusses their structure and interactions both on a molecular level and their role in large systems such as the structure of the cell, the movement of organisms and the signaling of nerves. The course describes the fundamental physical mechanisms for interaction and transport that biological organisms use, and introduces modern experimental techniques for obtaining structural and thermodynamical biophysical information at the nanoscale.

This course is the first semester of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, one of the oldest languages in the world. This class focuses on Middle Kingdom hieroglyphs (2055-1650 BC), when many scribes were trained and the writing was notably clear and grammatical. Students begin by learning the ancient Egyptian alphabet and how to write the letters, and go on to learning vocabulary, writing and translation. By the end of this class, students are able to understand, read, and write basic ancient Egyptian sentences; understand basic ancient Egyptian grammar; and read ancient Egyptian historical and biographical texts.

The first part of the course focuses on historical development to illustrate how history matters to understand economic development by examining the forces that kept economies in a long period of slow growth during pre-modern and pre-industrial times, and the mechanisms that enabled some economies to exit stagnation and ultimately embark on a path of sustained economic development. The second part covers fundamental determinants of differences in economic performance. It considers in more detail how and why history matters for economic development, going beyond answers at a proximate level, and studying reasons and mechanisms that explain differences in economic performance at a deeper level. For this, the course relies on the most recent research literature on the impact of historical events on comparative development, and on the economic impact of differences in fundamental characteristics across countries and subnational regions. For example, it examines whether specific dimensions of climate and geography, certain characteristics of culture and institutions, or the coevolution and interdependence between these different types of fundamental determinants, can explain why some economies have been able to build larger stocks of human and physical capital, innovate and adopt new technologies faster, and maintain a trajectory of sustained development more effectively than others; and whether this type of analysis can also illuminate on the reasons behind underdevelopment. The final part of the course explores recent policy debates, including the effectiveness of development policy tools such as foreign aid, the role of industrial policies and active state interventions to promote economic development, and the causes, consequences, and policy demands to address different types of inequality.

This course is an anthropological account of the culture and social organization of the people of the Middle East, with a special focus on the Arab world. Drawing on ethnographic accounts, visual representations and fieldtrips, it looks into how anthropologists have analyzed the transformation of the various structures – economic, political, social, and cultural – that are taking place in the contemporary period. The course analyzes of contemporary debates in anthropological engagements with and in the Middle East and North Africa. It explores the histories of ethnographic research in the Middle East and North Africa, colonialism and post-independence experiences, power and representation, performance and the arts, religious sensibilities, gender and kinship networks.

This course provides an in-depth treatment of selected issues of contemporary international law. It provides an understanding of specialized areas of international law including the use of force and dispute resolution, acquisition of territory, state succession, law of the sea, and international human rights law by focusing on specific issues relevant to the Middle East.

Food is far more than sustenance; it is a lens through which we can understand culture, identity, power, and meaning. This course introduces students to the anthropology of food by examining how what we eat, how we eat, and who we eat with shape and are shaped by broader social, political, and economic forces. Drawing on ethnographic studies and classic anthropological theory, the course explores food as a marker of identity and kinship, as a medium for healing and belief, and as a site of moral debate, political struggle, and cultural memory. Through weekly themes, including food and identity, healing, material environments, belief systems, kinship, politics, knowledge, language, science, and conflict, students engage with a range of case studies, from koshary in Egypt to bread and nationalism, from veganism to GMOs, from honey in healing practices to food wars. Readings pair theoretical texts with ethnographic accounts, encouraging students to think critically about food in both global and local contexts.