English

This course looks at the political, cultural, and religious translation undergone by the Roman empire - and with it classical civilization - in Late Antiquity (ca. 300-ca. 800). How did the monolithic late Roman state give way to Germanic kingdoms in western Europe, and develop into the Greek-speaking Byzantine empire of the eastern Mediterranean? And how did the monotheistic religions, Christianity, and Islam, establish themselves and impact politics and everyday life across the Mediterranean and Near East? The central themes of the course are understanding the political transformations of the period in relationship to profound social, cultural, and religious change, and preparing students for specialized courses at a higher level.

This course examines the ways in which Paris has, more or less successfully, upheld its position as the fashion capital of the world, through corporate strategies and government policies to bolster an industry, which faces issues related to environmental sustainability and labor ethics. Besides a critical understanding of the economics and politics of Parisian fashion, the class equips students with a thorough knowledge of the social significance of fashion which, in French 19th century author Balzac’s words, “is an expression of society”. How then, has French society shaped and been shaped by fashion? Through lectures, site visits and urban walks through the streets of the city, the students discover the creativity of Parisians, who have mobilized fashion as forms of political and aesthetic expression during some of the most important events of the city, including the 1789 French revolution, the industrial revolution, May 1968, and more recent youth culture and social movements. Students reflect upon historical and current regulations and norms around covering and uncovering our bodies with textile, and what they say about living up to or disregarding social identities and inequalities related to sexual and gender identities, religion, class and racialization. What are the societal consequences of shifting ideals of beauty and style? What does it mean to shop, thrift or mend clothes in Paris today? Whose labor matters and why? And how may one of the World’s most polluting industries evolve to the better in the near future?

This course covers African American movements including CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality (1942), which concentrated on strategies such as sit-ins and picket lines; the SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957); the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement dedicated to put an end to segregation practices and offer alternate means to achieve somewhat similar ends: the transformation of American democratic institutions. It addresses the movement from litigation and nonviolent action to a more radical approach, and later from black power to black politics and the Black Lives Matter movement. The course also covers the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, a multifaceted cultural movement which arose from the Civil Rights struggle and the Black Power movement. It included all the arts – music, literature, theater, dance, the visual arts – and relied on regional cultural infrastructure built after the major riots which erupted during the first half of the 1960s. It was embodied by African American artists and intellectuals, and deeply influenced American culture, in particular the relationship between popular culture and “high” culture, as well as other minority arts in the same period. The course looks at its history, its different forms, its sources and its heritage.

This course examines the main methods of alternative dispute resolution practiced within the Commonwealth Caribbean, by examining the theoretical constructs, the legislative framework, and the proposals for reform. 

This course examines liberalism, socialism and nationalism as a complex set of very powerful ideologies that have influenced the political, economic and cultural development of Europe, and, subsequently, the world. It explores the intellectual mainsprings
of these movements through excerpts from their writings, as Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Smith, Rousseau, Burke, Montesquieu, Kant, Hegel, Mill, Tocqueville, Marx, Lenin, Nietzsche, Schmitt, Heidegger, Kojeve, Strauss, Schumpeter, Keynes, Friedman, Hayek, Nozick, Rawls, Marcuse, Foucault, Isaiah Berlin and Mark Lilla. 

This course introduces a wide range of repertories within the history of music. It stimulates students to relate features of musical compositions and performances to their wider historical contexts and gives students a fundamental knowledge of specific musical cultures. It provides students with opportunities to develop skills in research and information retrieval and in critical reading of primary and secondary literature, to receive formative feedback on those skills, and to build a foundation for higher-level study. 

This dynamic course provides students with an opportunity to learn about some of the key legal skills which are used in practice to become a successful, ethical lawyer and professional.  It helps students understand the theory behind these skills within the classroom and participate in practical workshops and activities where they use and develop certain skills.  There are also three practical activities where the students will see legal skills in practice and have an opportunity to reflect on the skills presented. Some of these skills include; client interviewing, drafting, case file management, principles of privacy and confidentiality, the ethics of lawyering, team work, advocacy, presentation and facilitation skills, researching the law, legal design, reflection and being a life-long learner. 

This course encourages students to critically engage with key concepts and historiographical issues in the social and cultural history of the transitions from war to peace in the post-1918 and post-1945 period. It considers the complexity of French, British, German experiences of the transition from war to peace and the differences between the aftermaths of the First and Second World Wars. Students assess primary sources, particularly ego-documents such as letters and diaries, and interweave primary and secondary sources in arguments and discussions. 

A broad-sweep survey across of Greek literature. All readings are in translation. Topics included vary slightly from year to year. Authors and genres covered may include the following: Homer; lyric poetry; Herodotus and Thucydides; Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides; Aristophanes; Plato and Aristotle; Hellenistic poetry; and ancient prose fiction. The course provides basic information and a chronological and thematic framework and is intended as an introduction to ancient Greek literature and theoretical approaches to literature.