English

The course examines how values, social relations and institutions have changed in European societies. Are there similar trends in all or at least most European societies? Have European societies converged, i.e., become more similar over time, or are there persisting divergences and cleavages? The course identifies the forces that drive changes in values, social relations, and institutions in European societies and the structures that shape particular regional and country-specific responses. It deals with a variety of topics such as religion, gender relations, and friendship patterns. While the course does compare a few countries at one point in time, it tends to look at many European countries (and occasionally countries beyond Europe) for longer periods to identify common patterns and the main differences between them.

This course covers the topic of food to explore the history of Mexico and its diaspora from the time of the Conquest, with a particular focus on food as national and cultural identity as reflected in cinema and literature. It will also explore how food provides a multifaceted lens through which to examine issues such as food and poverty, food as a transnational site of both community and exclusion, and ecological issues, such as control of natural resources essential to food production and security. Students examine the topic of food as both a political issue and a source of creative inspiration through our analysis of texts, art, films and television series.

This course covers the human microbiome and the interactions these microorganisms have with the human body and with disease. Students explore the pathological mechanism of disease by learning about the morphological and functional changes in each organ tissue due to the cause, developmental mechanism, and progression of diseases occurring in the human body.  Topics include the microbe-human ecosystem, microbial interactions, host-microbe interactions, normal microbiota, the formation of the human microbiome, maternal microbes, gut microbes, digestive infection systems, pro- and prebiotics, etc. 

This seminar provides students with a greater understanding of the scientific study of the politics of international economic relations, in particular the politics of trade. The course emphasizes seminal as well as cutting-edge academic scholarship on a number of substantive topics, incl. the distributional consequences of trade and domestic sources of trade policy, the design and evolution of global trade governance under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and World Trade Organization, the politics of preferential trade agreements, as well as the relationship between trade, conflict, international investment, migration, and the global environment.

This course examines the fundamentals of mixing and audio production through lectures, workshops and creative participation. Weekly assignments may include the analysis, mixing and remixing the music of a wide variety of artists ranging from Radiohead, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Linkin Park and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Queen, the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. The course also introduces the students to the industry-standard Digital Audio Workstation software (e.g. Logic Pro X) and makes regular use of the School of Music’s own cutting-edge music technology labs and other facilities. 

This course takes a sociological approach to study events that get termed, in a contested manner, as revolutions; it focuses on cases from the contemporary Middle East and North Africa region. The first two sessions of the course provide the sociological tools to study social movements. The rest of the course is divided into three parts: first, the socio-political factors that lead to a revolution; second, living in the revolution; and, third, the afterlives of the revolution. Overall, the course ask questions like: What socio-political context pushes people to protest? When do protests get termed a "revolution"? What are the differences in the experiences of the revolution along gender, socio-economic class, migrant-citizen, and racial lines? What type of afterlives do the revolutions take in terms of the discourses about them as well as the socio-political trajectories of the states experiencing them? A basic knowledge on the politics and societies in the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as knowledge of Arabic and French languages, is helpful but not required.

This course offers an understanding of techniques in computer systems with a focus on correctness and adherence to system properties, such as modularity and atomicity, while at the same time achieving high performance. It highlights various system mechanisms, especially from distributed systems, database systems, and network systems. Topics include system abstractions and design principles; modularity with clients and services; performance; atomicity and transactions; concurrency control and recovery; reliability, fault-tolerance, and redundancy; distributed protocols for replication; and large-scale data processing. Prerequisites include basic principles of operating systems and/or databases and working knowledge of a standard programming language (Java, C#), including concurrency and communication mechanisms.
 

This course analyses a selection of poems written by authors in English, with special emphasis on the literary and linguistic aspects of the language. It also involves the analysis of poems, the theories that feed poetic creation and its critical reception. The course will consider the status of lyric poetry in Western culture, and the history of the form in English poetry.

This course seeks to immerse students in a professional work environment. Students have the opportunity to observe and interact with co-workers, and learn how to recognize and respond to cultural differences. Students compare concepts of teamwork and interpersonal interactions in different cultures as experienced on the job. Seminar work helps students apply academic knowledge in a business setting and identify opportunities to create value within the company. Students research a specific topic related to their work placement and present their findings in a final research report.

This course examines the creation and the reception of the work of art. It commences in 15th century Italy with an examination of the organization of artists' workshops and concludes by analyzing the relationships between contemporary artists, their materials and markets. Topics in the subject are varied but will focus around certain key issues: the changing status of the artist, the determination of authenticity and value, and the role of materials and markets in the construction of meaning.