English

This course introduces the highly dynamic economic transformation of the city of Berlin since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The course examines how Berlin has tried to turn its weakness (i.e., lack of financial capital) into a strength (i.e., wealth of cultural capital) by focusing heavily on "creative industries," tourism, and its world-famous club and art scenes. This course studies the transformation in all its economic and cultural ramifications: from the vibrant start-up culture and precarious employment patterns to the city's rapid growth and discontent with gentrification.

This course examines the major conservation issues facing threatened marine wildlife globally with a particular focus on Australia. It covers how marine wildlife research, management and conservation is conducted using ecological, population and life history data, and how threats may be managed. 

This course covers historical and thematic aspects of popular culture studies by raising some essential questions via a deep dive into a significant popular culture sphere: popular film.  

This is a “one-film-course" centering uponThe Greatest Showman, 2017, through which ten important themes of popular culture studies are critically examined: Being popular (History); Showman (Producer); Freak (Genre;) Fake (Authenticity); Dream (Consumption); Material (Infrastructure); Conflict (Humans); Class (Relations); Diversity (Community); and Happiness (Future). 

This course examines urbanism transnationally with a focus on the Global South cities to expose students to the accelerating rate of urbanization in fundamentally different urban settings. It unpacks complexities of urbanism specific to the Global South including but not limited to enormous rate of urban transformation, massive infrastructure gaps, ubiquitous informality, confronting inequalities, and exponatial rate of climate change. In doing so, the course sheds light on the historic, socio-economic, and geo-political setting behind the complexity of urban challenges and opportunities in unfamiliar geographies. This will provide students with provocative and productive urban frameworks for all cities, informed by an ability to transfer learnings from the Global South to the local context and unpack some of the growing concerns about widening inequities, infrastructure lags and others.

This course helps students to understand theories of comparative religion, placing religious expression and the formation of religious community and social choices in dialog with myth, ritual, politics, and science. The course examines concepts of God, purity, and the structuring of religious worlds.

This course examines the physics of the Universe from scales ranging from our Solar System and extrasolar planets to the origin and fate of the Universe. It covers astronomical techniques, history of astronomy across cultures, beginnings of the Universe, formation and evolution of galaxies, origin of life on Earth and search for life elsewhere, stellar structure and evolution, planet formation, black holes, and compact objects.

This course examines normal cognition and the cognitive neuropsychological approach to brain-behavior relationships and cognitive processes and the cognitive and behavioral consequences of brain damage and models of cognitive rehabilitation.

This seminar is an introduction to the world's geopolitical reorganization around the Sino-American strategic competition and the resulting repositioning of the other actors, all falling within the constrained context of climate transition. What does this reorganization mean in a world of interdependence like ours? It puts an end to the so-called period of “happy globalization” (1990-2020). Facing a rising level of risks, States are reintegrating the economy and trade into national security to reduce vulnerabilities. This seminar is focused on strategic issues, linking geopolitics, economy, and technology to bring a horizontal perspective to what are the core challenges of the 21st century. Methodology learning is an important part of this seminar, putting emphasis on the studying of the rivalry taking place while developing writing and presentation skills.

This course examines the historical, social and cultural implications of the wastes generated by human society. Dimensions and topics you study include: life cycles of materials, how we make knowledge about waste, the social implications of waste management technologies, 'legacy' issues and the 'colonization of the future' by wastes. Our waste stream examples include plastics, water and sewage, nuclear materials, industrial sea dumping, international trade in toxic wastes, domestic landfill, and the creation of 'wastelands' and contaminated sites. Students explore solutions to the generation of wastes by studying the precautionary principle, environmental justice, international waste conventions and treaties, and regulatory and community responses to waste.