English

This course students to the study of a rapidly changing Middle East and North Africa from a multidisciplinary angle. The course debunks preconceived stereotypical ideas students might have acquired through the media about a region often typified as a war zone and an area rife with conflict. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of the MENA from multifarious angles including history, politics, and culture.

In this course, major musical styles and genres of the 20th century, within and beyond the Western canon, are presented and discussed from the theoretical, aesthetic, and socio-cultural points of view. The first part of the course focuses on the mutual influences between jazz and classical music in the first half of the 20th century. An analysis of musical ensembles, forms, and other structural elements leads to an understanding of how and to what extent these two distinct musical worlds influenced each other and in some cases even blended, making the stylistic categorization of some works uncertain. The second part of the course provides an in-depth study of musical genres and listening approaches in relation to the radical technological transformations of the 20th century, which leads to a reflection on the concept of art music and the problem of value in music. Students learn to identify and distinguish musical trends; assess how musical movements have informed contemporary society and recent history, and how society and history have fostered certain musical movements and for what reason; and evaluate how the dialogue between music and technology has evolved over the past decades, and predict potential future scenarios. 

This course examines key management, microbiology and food processing concepts used to produce safe high-quality food products. It covers concepts of food hygiene, food safety and food quality; food safety hazards; food hygiene and biological hazards; food processing technology for safe foods; hygiene and sanitary practices; food safety management through HACCP; food safety and quality management systems - ISO 9001 standard, 22000 standard and total quality management; quality control and statistical quality control.

This course provides the theory and practice for students to understand ecodesign and sustainability and its affects on design practice. Students examine the design methods related to ecodesign and sustainable design and its applications. Project work is conducted to provide the bridge to integrate such theoretical knowledge into practice.

This course provides an overview of the evolution of the English language from its origins to the 15th century. Topics include: Britain-- it's cultures and languages and the rise of English; emergence of varieties within Old English; Old English spelling, sounds, and grammar; resurgence of a new English; lexical influx in the late middle ages, innovations, and change; support of a language in the absence of speakers-- English texts from the Late Middle Ages; consolidation of English. 

This course introduces students to some of the key social theories and thinkers from the global South. The course's starting point is that classical and mainstream social theory has emerged and evolved in a particular context, and as a result of colonial and imperial power relations. The course is divided into two main sections as well as an introduction and a conclusion. The first section focuses on four theories which originated as a collective endeavor of a number of scholars in the South: postcolonialism, subaltern studies, dependency theory, and decolonial theory. In the second section, students focus on a number of individual social thinkers from different parts of the global South, their stories and social thoughts: Ibn Khaldun (Tunisia), Paulin Hountondji (Benin), Ali Shariati (Iran) and Veena Das (India). 

This course examines an aspect of Thai social life often overlooked although central to the everyday practical lives and visual experiences of Thais. The Buddha image presiding over the Vihara, or Ubosot of a temple, almost always has a name and a story connected to it. The belief and ritual practices surrounding the image make it a practically central component of the life of a Buddhist community.  

And yet such images have scarcely excited much interest beyond the descriptive art historical approach. This selected topic explores the Buddha Images of Thailand and evaluates the power that these images have over what it means to be a member of a community, of what it means to be Thai and what it means to exert power, how they connect the faithful not only with a Buddhist past in northern India but with histories of local communities and great kingdoms alike.  

Above all, Buddha Images of Thailand offers another way to view the landscape of Thailand as sacred geography or Buddhascape. Although an art historical approach is utilized, this course foregrounds and examines the social and political aspects of the image, placing it in its wider historical context. 

This course covers the principles of rock deformation and the tectonic processes that drive this deformation. The goals of this course are the development of skills in the structural analysis of rock bodies to gain an understanding of the geometries, sequencing, and kinematics of deformational features; and understanding of tectonic principles and controls on rock deformation and mountain building. Students learn how to quantitatively evaluate strain distribution, stress fields, and the failure envelope; how to evaluate structures arising from polyphase deformation; and how to use these skills for geotechnical engineering applications. The course may include compulsory field trips.

This course explores a series of key issues related to the spatial production and negotiation of socio-political power in early complex societies in Western Asia and the East Mediterranean between ca. 3500 and 330 BC. The course draws primarily on archaeological survey evidence and historical and iconographic sources to examine the spatial constitution of political power in comparative cases of state-formation and imperial expansion and resistance.