English

This course explores Korean literature from the perspective of performativity. Although many literary works that have been passed down to us exist in printed form, examining their production and distribution processes reveals that their original forms were quite different. We particularly focus on works based on orality that have gone through performances, reinterpretations, and recreations. Through this exploration, we come to understand that the creation and enjoyment of literature have not been limited to "writing" alone but have continuously evolved within diverse cultural ecosystems. As a way to produce new understanding beyond what is stored in traditional, text-centered archives, we look into the intertextual relations between the performative dimension and literature, and seek to produce robust knowledge about human agency and creativity. Along with reading literary canons of Korea, we examine how their aesthetic, social, and political significance of performativity have documented and transformed literary history of Korea. Topics include the following: (1) Traditions of oral literature and their modern revival, (2) Poetry in performance: recitation, slam poetry, and hip-hop, and (3) Literature as an interruption in the quotidian or an intervention into the political.

Self-identified indigenous peoples inhabit all continents except Antarctica and struggle against oppressive inequality, ethnocidal assimilation and genocidal extermination by the settler societies, colonial/neocolonial/postcolonial developmental states and national populations that surround them.  Nevertheless, the local/global contexts of their struggles differ substantially.  What are the political consequences and effects of grouping together into a global category, for example, the Saami in Scandinavia, the Yanomami of Brazil, India’s adivasi, and Australian Aborigines?  This course will survey the global history of the discourse of indigeneity and some local political contexts of indigenous peoples.  The aim will be to try to understand relevant commonalities and also important differences among indigenous struggles across the world, though our primary focus will be on indigenous peoples in Brazil and Latin America.  Themes will include racism and ethnic discrimination, extractivism and clashes over large-scale economic development projects, human rights and international organizations, and political self-determination and the politics of state recognition.  As this semester coincides with COP30 in Belém, Brazil, we will spend some weeks on questions of eco-politics and indigenous participation in climate change negotiations. 

This course covers an in-depth understanding of the physics and principles behind lasers. The course covers the theoretical foundations of beam optics, cavity optics, light–matter interaction, laser amplifiers, and laser systems. Furthermore, the course aims for the student to gain both fundamental knowledge and practical skills necessary to study and apply lasers in scientific and technical contexts.
 

This course introduces the role of psychological theory, research, and practice in understanding and addressing contemporary social issues. It explores how psychological perspectives inform our understanding of social problems such as prejudice, inequality, violence, climate change, and mental health. It emphasizes critical thinking, empirical analysis, applied psychology, and hands-on experiences in promoting social justice, well-being, and policy change.

This course examines how normal processes of the earth-atmosphere-hydrosphere-space systems result in events that are capable of dealing disastrous blows to humans on the scale of individual lives to civilizations. It focuses on the geologic processes of events such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tsunami, tornadoes, climate change, and asteroid impacts, and their local, national and global repercussions. In particular, It looks at the spatial and temporal occurrences of these hazards, methods and processes for hazard preparedness, response and recovery, and the social, economic and policy aspects that affect and, in many cases, compound the magnitude of the disasters associated with these natural phenomena. 

This course provides an overview of a wide range of analysis methods for biomolecules (mostly biological macromolecules) such as proteins and DNA/RNA, and covers methods of current research of diverse fields in biochemistry 

Topics include Biomolecules, Preparation/separation (chromatography, electrophoresis), Detection (western blot, IP, ELISA, etc.), Imaging I (fluorescence, super resolution, AFM), Scattering (SAXS, DLS), Sequencing (NCS, single cell sequencing), Mass spectrometry, Structure determination (X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM), Interaction (SPR, ITC), Single molecule techniques (FRET, magnetic tweezer. 

While there are no prerequisites for the course, coursework in Biochemistry I, Physical Chemistry I & II may be helpful. 

This course explores the complex regulatory environment of AI systems, which ranges from regulations and governance instruments to ethical principles and industry standards. It starts with an introductory session explaining what AI technologies are, zooms in on their benefits and the novel risks they give rise to, and investigates the role different legal modules can play in regulating them. At the end of the semester, it explores the question of whether the race for AI will thwart regulatory efforts, and to what extent ethical principles can serve as a complement to legal and industry norms.

This course examines the central role and distinctive value of ethnographic fieldwork in the practice of anthropology and generation of new knowledge, as well as how socio-economic, cultural, historical and political contexts shape the practice of ethnographic fieldwork in different settings. It covers the role and contribution anthropologists make to public, private and non-governmental sectors. 

This course is separated into two parts, covering monetary and financial policies, and monetary policy and growth. At the end of the course, students are able to interpret the evolution of the economic situation on the basis of a plurality of macroeconomic frames, in order to use the knowledge acquired relating to the design of monetary and financial policies to maximize the usefulness of the information available, minimizing time and optimizing the use of one's energies; and better use two indispensable professional resources: logic and precision. Pre-requisites: macroeconomics and microeconomics.