English

Recent decades have witnessed China’s rapid growth and its massive infrastructure finance in the developing world. This brought a new round of discussion on what development is. How should we understand development policy in the context of a changing world order? This course provides students with the historical, political, economic, and institutional context to understand international development policy. The course aims to give students exposure to on- going policy debates on international development as well as the conceptual and theoretical framework to understand development issues. The course allows students to discuss and explore China’s changing role in international development and its impact on regional and international orders. Topics to be covered include (but not limited to): history of development, industrialization, poverty reduction, aid and development finance, energy and environment, international development institutions, South-South cooperation, and China and global development order.

Ecology explores how organisms interact with each other and their environment at the molecular, individual, population, community, ecosystem, and global levels.  This introductory course covers basic ecological concepts and their applications in conservation, agriculture, habitat/ecosystem management, and climate change mitigation. Led by multiple professors with their extensive expertise in ecology, the course instructs on why ecology is the "user manual of the Earth" (Ho 2018) and how ecological processes play their role in maintaining biodiversity richness, ecosystem functions, and the overall health of our planet.  

In this course, students develop a wide and deep understanding of contemporary Africa, drawing on the multi-disciplinary approach of African Studies. Students learn about the historical roots of modern phenomenon on the continent and situate these within a wider global context. They develop expertise about particular countries and regions as well as on particular themes, depending on the focus of the course for the year. The substantive content of the course changes each year depending on topical issues and is taught by experts on the issue itself or on particular approaches/methods from amongst permanent and postdoctoral staff. 

This course studies experimental zoology describing interactions between animals and the environment. Emphasis is given to how living organisms obtain resources from the environment, gather information of environmental changes via sensory structures, and respond to adversities of environmental changes by adjusting their body physiology and biochemistry. Topics include energy metabolism, respiration, circulation, photoreception, color change and background adaptation, thermal regulation, muscle contraction and animal movement, and environmental stress and stress responses. 

This course discusses the problems and challenges inherent in the analytical framework of studying social movements and transnational actors (TNAs). It examines contemporary struggles covering diverse social mobilizations based in different parts of the world. This course explores differences and commonalities in selected fields of social justic struggles.

The course has its starting point in yesterday's raw materials and describes the development of the petrochemical revolution to the chemical process industries of today. The course contains the following sections: historic development of the process industry, catalysis, common feedstocks in the process industry, refinery processes, production of organic and inorganic chemicals, specialty chemicals, biotechnical processes as well as paper and pulp production.

The course provide students with a comprehensive view of the global Christian movement in time and space. Considers the period from its Middle Eastern and European origins in theological and sociological/political terms to the Inquisition (50.CE to 1500). It looks at the origins and growth of Christianity in the Mediterranean world and beyond, from the first generation of Christians to the fall of Constantinople (50CE to 1453CE). The course covers Christianity's role in and interaction with the various cultures of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, the early and medieval Islamic states, and the emergent civilizations of medieval Europe, looking at persecution, education, mission, monasticism, piety, orthodoxy, and heresy and other major themes. 

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to analytic political theory from the 1970s to the present day, with a focus on leading liberal theorists and their critics. It does so via a discussion of normative theorising around key topics and themes, and shows how these theories bear on various applied questions. 

In this course students learn about the atmosphere, ocean, and land components of the carbon cycle. The course covers global issues such as ocean acidification and how to get off our fossil fuel "addiction," as well as how to deal with climate change denialists.

This course explores and enjoys how film makers across the globe have adapted short stories into remarkable and compelling films that stand apart from the sources as works of art themselves. We will start with the stories but look at how the films go beyond fidelity to the original to create works with their own aesthetics and integrity. Films will include Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast, the Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami's heart-warming Where is the Friend's House?, the sci-fi thriller Total Recall, and the Korean hit film Burning. All films will be viewed during class, so attendance is mandatory.