English

This course examines environmental issues with the aid of economic theory. Topics include sustainability of economies; pollution as an externality; approaches to dealing with pollution in different countries; methods of valuing the environment and environmental damage; effect on future generations; environmental amenity as a public good; and the environment and economic development.

This course examines the idea of family as a social institution that is both historically and culturally situated and investigates how the family unit both shapes and is shaped by transformations in the economy, the state, and other social institutions, as well as the systemic forces of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, nationalism, and other structural factors.  

The course critically evaluates theoretical frameworks and current research on family dynamics in the West and examines the challenges encountered by contemporary families in Korea. Moreover, it facilitates reflection on the underlying structural factors contributing to and potential resolutions for other social problems unique in the Korean context. 

Some topics covered in the course will include: how the nuclear family came to be treated as natural; how the concept of family has historically evolved; how contemporary sexuality and dating has transformed family formations; the inequality of race, gender, and class in family forms; the emergence of diverse families and changes in the roles of family members; an increase in small households and single-person households; the rise in the age at first marriage and the decline in birth rates; the dynamics of parent-child relationships, parenting practices, household labor, and the distribution of household chores; population aging; transnational and immigrant families; and other related topics. 

This course examines geology, paleontology and Earth’s systems. It covers plate tectonics, the formation of rocks and minerals, the evolution of the atmosphere, and the origin of the hydrosphere. Students will gain knowledge about the evolution of life and what the fossil record tells us about past climates and ecosystems. The course will provide a basis in advanced measurement techniques using ground-, aircraft-, and satellite-based systems. Students will also learn how to use their understanding of geological processes to investigate and manage environmental issues. A comprehensive understanding of Earth’s processes is critical for the development of sustainable societies, protecting our ecosystems, sourcing materials for modern technologies, and economic growth.

This course examines contemporary international debates on the social discourses and practices that perpetuate injustice and inequality and their relevance to understanding South African society. The literature may include debates on the way discourses create centers and margins, resulting in social differences which, in turn, have a significant impact on people's life chances. The literature may also include debates on the changing patterns of urban and rural inequality. Who are the winners and losers in today's society? What are the causes of new patterns of social injustice and inequality? In reading a wide range of literature, students are provided with comparative concepts with which they can begin to interpret the emerging patterns of social justice and inequality in South Africa. DP requirements: Completion of all written tests, essays, and assignments. Assessment: coursework (50%) and final two-hour exam (50%).

This course introduces some of the major questions and historical debates that continue to surround the origins, implementation, and aftermath of the Holocaust—the systematic, industrialized mass murder of an estimated six million European Jews, as well as homosexuals, communists, Roma and Sinti, handicapped, and other victims by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during WWII. The first part of the course focuses on the historical context, planning, and execution of the Holocaust. The second part of the course introduces the major historiographical debates in the post-war period. The third part of the course focuses on memorialization and the politics of memory in contemporary Germany. Special attention is given to issues in Holocaust studies that are peculiar to Germany as the country of the perpetrators. The course examines domestic German controversies about Holocaust memorialization, the place of the Holocaust in German national self-understanding, and more broadly the concept of "coming to terms with the past" (Vergangenheitsbewältigung).

This course, relying on economic frameworks, explores historical and contemporary Indigenous populations and these peoples’ participation in and marginalization from the contemporary Australian economy and society. Incorporating First Peoples ' diverse perspectives, we consider contemporary First Nations’ and other Indigenous peoples’ economic activities in an historical context. Students have the opportunity to develop insight into First Nations perspectives on economic development, wellbeing and prosperity. We explore First Peoples' innovative responses to contemporary challenges borne of the ongoing impacts of colonization and systemic bias. Topics change each year, and include the continuities of First Peoples’ practices in resource management and communal sustenance; innovative engagements with the settler and global economy; demographic and population change; land, water and sea rights; human capital development; income and wealth; participation in the labor market; and, entrepreneurship. 

In this introductory course students will experiment with the efficiency and creativity of the design process based on an understanding of data and artificial intelligence. Students will explore methodologies for utilizing AI in the design process, including generative design based on AI. 

This course provides an introduction to and examples of AI applied design, overviews of various AI topics in design, opportunities to talk with designers in AI and data science/tech professionals, an examination of how design and AI with emerging data technologies affect each other, future directions and impacts of the field, and more. Open to any undergraduate student interested in design. First-year students and non-design majors are also particularly welcomed. No prerequisites required. 

This course examines the city of Rome itself, its turbulent history, its empire and its vibrant culture. 

This course studies contemporary economic changes of city-regions by focusing on urban and regional development. Focus is on the rise of the post-industrial knowledge economy and the new economic and social geographies, the new divisions of labor and social classes, and how these are linked to urban restructuring.

This course examines the history of philosophy across several traditions, as well as contemporary research, to explore questions such as, what is the relationship between happiness and pleasure? Is happiness an emotion, a mental state, a social construct, or an objective condition? How is well-being/happiness pursued across different cultures, including Australian Indigenous cultures? And what does happiness have to do, if anything, with the philosophical idea of a well-lived life? This course doesn’t promise to make you happy, but it will certainly help you to clarify your thinking about happiness and the meaning(s) of life.