English

This course uses postwar Japanese films and animation (anime) as the principal texts and investigates their relationship with contemporary Japanese culture, society and politics. The course introduces the various genre and representative film and anime, together with specific critical writings on these works. The focus is on the relationship between the films and the audience, the impact of the dominance of films and anime in present day Japan and worldwide, and the various social and cultural issues such as violence and globalization that are closely related to the movie industry.

This course develops students' advanced writing skills for academic attainment and employability. Students are introduced to key forms of writing from a variety of professional contexts. An initial focus on the academic essay enables students to develop writing from more familiar experience. Contrasting the academic essay with a variety of journalistic forms equips students with skills in writing to specific guidelines and briefs and craft their written voice. A project involving designing and promoting a virtual exhibition introduces students to the writing skills needed in heritage professions and group work. Real life writing and editing tasks introduced by industry professionals from the world of publishing provides students with practical experience to share with potential employers. Students are also introduced to the requirements of pitches, policy briefs, and the work of writing in the legal professions. 

This course offers contemplative reading and discussion of the works of Copenhagen’s most radical author, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Kierkegaard's thoughts about the struggle for meaning take us through unusual philosophical territory. His works—which are as novelistic as they are philosophical—treat themes like the existential meaning of anxiety and despair, beauty and boredom, humor and seriousness, the sicknesses and health of the soul, the joy and pain of embodiment, and, finally, commitment and love.

This course examines the dynamic microfoundations of macroeconomics, and demonstrates how we can utilize these foundations to understand the trends and fluctuations of macroeconomic aggregates like national output, unemployment, inflation and interest rates, and to predict the outcome of alternative government policies related to current economic problems of New Zealand and the rest of the world.

This course, together with International Relations (I) in the autumn semester, provides an overview of International Relations for political science majors and other interested students. The course aims to provide the following: a foundation in the study of international relations; an ability to apply international relations theory to discuss real-world politics; an overview of global politics; the ability to read academic texts in English, and oral and written communication skills in the English language.

This course address how the economy works and how it affects individuals and society by focusing on a critically important domain of the economy—namely, financial markets. Overall, the course provides a sociological understanding of why we have financial markets, who the key financial actors are, how financial markets are evolving, as well as how finance and financial logics affect individuals and society. More specifically, it introduces recent sociological discussions of two aspects of finance. The first concerns “financialization,” that is, the growing use and importance of financial logics in otherwise non-financial fields. One example of this is when production companies generate more revenue from finance operations than from their core production activities. Another dimension of financialization relates to the everyday life of ordinary citizens who are increasingly embedded in financial logics. For example, the course discusses inequalities pertaining to the ability to obtain loans (credit). The second aspect of the course focuses on the inner workings of contemporary financial markets. In addition to discussing the backdrop to the 2008 financial crisis, particular emphasis is given to understanding how financial markets have transformed in light of automated trading, that is, fully automated algorithms acting in markets without direct human involvement. It covers the main elements in present-day markets, including trading firms, financial exchanges, so-called dark pools, and financial regulation, as well as discusses the kinds of financial crashes automated trading might give rise to. The course draws upon a combination of classical sociological analyses and theories of financial markets (from Max Weber to Wayne Baker); more recent sociological discussions of performativity in markets; financialization literature; and social studies of science-inspired analyses of automation.

The course encompasses a wide range of topics and is inherently interdisciplinary. Fostering a participatory learning process, the course includes lectures with real-time examples of energy issues at the local, national, and global levels while focusing on the policy aspects of energy and their associated environmental impacts. The course acquaints students with various subjects, including energy economics, energy policy, and energy finance. Additionally, it familiarizes students with topics such as renewable energy, sustainable development, and green finance.

Class format: Online (mainly real-time format)

This course explores the key problems that the oceans are contemporarily facing and how global governors, law enforcement agencies, and other actors intend to address them. The course is organized in three blocks. In the first part, it revisits the contemporary foundations of ocean governance, including international organizations and the law of the sea. It then revisits the key contemporary ocean discourses. In part two, the course investigates major issues on the ocean agenda, such as shipping, fishing, piracy, smuggling, or deep seabed mining and how international actors address them. Following an independent writing period, the course concludes with a workshop where case studies are presented. The course is assessed on the basis of participation and the independent project.

This course discusses insights into sustainable corporate communication in the digital age, and stakeholder relations from a sustainability perspective. The course analyzes and evaluates how business environment and sustainability issues affect corporate communication, how companies engage in the best practice of sustainability and corporate communication, and how companies foster stakeholder trust and relationships. Knowledge from this course may be applied to case studies to understand sustainability and corporate communication in the real life. This course equips students who are interested in ESG with skills on sustainability and corporate communication to help them become future leaders of sustainable sectors, industries or companies. 

The lecture series on "Advances in Water Management and Climate Adaptation" is a comprehensive course designed to explore the latest techniques, tools, technologies, strategies, and policies in managing water resources and adapting to the challenges posed by climate change. Tools and technologies will include, among others, advanced modelling techniques, digital technologies, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. Water management and climate adaptation strategies and policies will unpack the intertwined relationship between environmental, technological, societal, and economic stakes, and include topics related to climate justice, multi-objective optimization, risk and conflict management, and multi-sector dynamics under uncertainty. After an introductory session, different early-stage researchers from international universities, research institutions, technology centers, and policy institutes will present cutting-edge research, projects, lessons learned, challenges, and visions on water resources management and climate adaptation. Each lecture will be followed by a class discussion.