English

Climate change exemplifies the sort of planetary challenge facing humankind in the 21st century. In this course, students explore how that kind of challenge can be understood as a scientific, political, social, and moral problem, to better understand our place in the world under conditions of multiple and interlocking crises. The course introduces the Anthropocene, as both a proposed geological phenomenon and a critical tool to rethink the relationship between humans and the planet. Pursuing this question require students to question some established distinctions—between human/animal, nature/culture, biology/society, life/nonlife, and Globe/Earth. Through anthropological materials, historical and contemporary accounts of life in the aftermath of industrial transformation, colonization and anthropogenic change, the course considers the types of knowledge, forms of collaboration, political engagement, and social practice that might help us better apprehend the fragility of the planet and articulate a shared responsibility to its future.  

This course focuses on the biology of viruses, main viral agents, and their interactions with organisms. It examines the characteristics of viral particles from a structural perspective, the replication strategies of different groups of viruses, and the routes of transmission of viruses in their hosts. 

This course highlights behaviors such as learning, sociality, territoriality, predation and defense, courtship and communication, with examples from across animal diversity. Students examine how behaviors have evolved to fit specific ecological conditions. Students gain an understanding of and empathy for animals and examine how animals live and survive in their environment.

This course examines the body as a concept, idea, and practice within the field of performance studies through the targeted lenses of gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, critical race theory, and disability studies. Students are introduced to historical and contemporary debates regarding the “body” in terms of artistic practices including but not limited to performance and also engage with how the “body” on individual and/or collective levels is created and controlled through law and public policy in diverse social, cultural, and political contexts. 

From brand campaigns to social issues, digital marketing has played a vital role in generating brand and message proliferation around the world. This course looks at marketing strategies used to build and grow brands and messages, with a heavy emphasis on how to drive brand awareness, preference and loyalty through digital marketing. A large part of this course is case-based. 

This course locates marriage as a key historical arena where politics and economics intersect. It examines how men and women imagine their nation through marriage and understand their rights and duties in 20th-century Egypt. It demonstrates how marriage is a lens that reflects and critiques larger socioeconomic and political issues. This course provides a history of marriage and nationalism in modern Egypt, rather than just a legal, political, or women’s history. It also contributes to our historical understanding of the marriage crisis, which continues to dominate public debates.

In this course, students will focus on the design and fabrication of functional and/or wearable objects in response to architecture and interior spaces. Students will apply jewellery and metal fabrication skills and small-scale production methods to develop a series of designs that engage with spatial and conceptual relationships between architecture and the body. The designs outcomes will be contextualized by contemporary practices in Jewellery and Object Design.

Nature of Iceland: Students learn about the weather and climate, geology, vegetation, and animal life. They attend lectures about the geology of Iceland and go on fieldtrips to see volcanoes, hotsprings, and lava, and they study the geography of the country. Environmental problems and nature conservation in Iceland are discussed. Field trips are an important ingredient of this part of the course, including birdwatching. Cultural legacy: The course gives an overview of Icelandic history and culture from medieval times to the present. Field trips are made to historical museums and art exhibits.

This course examines health and illness from a cultural perspective. Specifically, we will analyze the social meanings associated with health and illness, medical knowledge production, medical decision-making, and global health in cross-cultural contexts. The students will have a chance to delve into issues related to the social processes of framing illness, the medicalization of life, the complexity and uncertainty surrounding medical decisions, and the cultural aspects of health practices across the globe.