English

Students will gain a thorough grounding in the life cycle of stars. Students learn to describe the stages of nucleosynthesis in stars; calculate the equations of hydrostatic equilibrium; use the equations of energy transport to calculate basic properties of stars; describe in detail the evolutionary stages different classes of stars are thought to go through; and describe in detail the end stages of the life cycle of a star and the different types of stellar remnants.

This course introduces students to North Indian music, in particular, the art of tabla, North Indian drum. This hands-on course covers the techniques of playing tabla and also covers the principles of tala (measured rhythmic count) system, along with notation and various traditional compositions.

This course develops students’ knowledge and understanding of international business. It provides a deep contextualization of contemporary issues and debates within international business. The course explores how the world economy is changing and how international businesses are deeply embedded in a complex web of multi-scaler, multi-form and a multi-causal series of relationships. Drawing on theoretical constructs from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, the course aids the students’ understanding of why and how businesses internationalize, and what happens as a consequence of these complex processes. The course also explains globalization, trade theory and the role businesses can play in alleviating poverty. 

This course introduces students to empirically-based findings of comparative politics and public policy, through a cross-national, cross-temporal approach of case studies of some of the world’s major political units. In doing so, it examines several important empirical and theoretical puzzles including, but not limited to:

(1) What accounts for variance in terms of the extent and quality of governance; 

(2) How and why do different political regime types produce different outcomes such as better or worse socio-economic levels; 

(3) Are some sets of political regimes better at holding political elites accountable?  

(4) What accounts for variance in terms of some political elites leading their countries into costly wars, and others delivering peace and prosperity? 

The goal of the course is to provide the field’s best generalized answers to these questions as well as to facilitate the development of one’s own conclusions. 

This course explores sociocultural, legal and political framings and debates around what constitutes drugs -licit (e.g., alcohol, caffeine) and illicit substances- (e.g., cannabis, cocaine), factors that facilitate drug availability and use in society, drug policies, policing and control, drug-related intoxication and pleasure, drug use and crime, etc., situating these and other related themes within the local and broader societal contexts. It critically examines the nature, extent and impact of drug supply and drug taking and intoxication in Irish society and internationally and how each society responds and reacts to alcohol and other drug taking and those who take legal and illegal drugs/substances.

This course examines popular media texts, genres, audiences and industries and reflects on how they influence our notions of self and society. It draws on case studies from a range of popular media, from film and television to comics, games, popular music, social media and advertising. 

This course critically examines key conceptual frameworks such as decolonization, postcolonialism and anti-colonialism - particularly in relation to art, museums and heritage. Emphasis is placed on challenging Western systems of knowledge and exploring alternative perspectives on seeing, curating and narrating. The course includes guest lectures from scholars and practitioners as well as field visits to museums and exhibitions.

This course explores the social, political, and economic structures that constitute what Elizabeth Hinton and DeAnza Cook describe as “the antiblack punitive tradition in America,” as well as the critique and forms of resistance engendered by this tradition. Students engage with historical sources, theoretical analyses, and cultural productions that illuminate the relation between policing and race more broadly—including their imbrication with issues of class and gender—across US history, from slave codes to ICE raids. Students explore the fundamental questions about the historical roots, structural persistence, and systemic character of racialized state violence.

This course considers the sensory qualities of cinema, a subject which engages variously with the film-as-object, film form and the spectator as active participant. The first half of the course draws on the main philosophical strands used by film scholars to conceptualize the affect of cinema, and then explores the ways film theory and criticism have sought to account for the sensuous or material nature of film. With these perspectives in mind, the second half considers the materialities of film form in more detail. The course explores the topic of filmic affect through a range of case studies and will draw on a diverse mix of references, including interviews with filmmaking personnel.

This course will cover a selection of topics including tea, tea utensils and tea ceremonies, agar wood and incense art, lacquer art, and daily life.