English

As a result of Chinese diaspora and increasing global cultural interactions, scholars have proposed various analytical frameworks to remap the current field of Chinese-language literature and film. The concept of “sinophone” is such an attempt which celebrates the diverse expressions of “chineseness” and underscores the local particularities in which each Chinese-language or film is produced. This course offers students an opportunity to study selected sinophone literary works (by writers residing primarily in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the west) and films, and to explore and challenge existing notions of nationalism, cultural identity, and linguistic authenticity.

This course introduces the major authors and characteristics of British poetry in the Romantic (ca. 1785-1830) and Victorian (ca. 1830-1900) periods. By analyzing the assigned texts carefully and critically, the course recognizes how the poets experimented with traditional poetic forms and genres to suit their artistic and imaginative vision, and how they critically reflected the political and social realities of their time. The course aids in understanding the artistic and cultural perspectives presented in the poems of each period. Students are encouraged to offer their own interpretations of the works in both oral and written form.

This course deals with some important metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions by looking to philosophers from the ancient Greek tradition. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course offers, through theoretical references and case studies, the basic knowledge on the implementation of a complex urban project. The adopted design approach consists in working on urban space starting from the recognition of the structuring value of open spaces. The perspective assumed is that of the "reverse city" (Viganò) or the "soil project" (Secchi), and the design tools adopted in the urban dimension can be traced back to consolidated international experiences such as "landscape urbanism" (Waldheim) or "ecological urbanism" (Mostafavi and Doherty). Within this theoretical and methodological framework, the laboratory engages with the "Bologna green footprint" proposal, focusing on the dimension of open spaces and the structures of ecological networks across scales. Tools and materials are provided to the students for studying in-depth themes and sites assigned to each group, and developing the urban project. In the end, students learn the adequate knowledge of the principles, tools, and rules of urban planning and they are able to develop protection and transformation plans and projects in urban contexts, identifying the actions to be implemented by the subjects involved. Teaching methods include series of lectures, design exercises, and seminars.

This course raises the question: do we have an ethical responsibility to help migrants and refugees? and develops an in-depth response through Community Engaged Research (CER). It is a multi-disciplinary academic immersion in the topic beginning with workshopping community engagement as a practice. Students work in small groups to undertake community engagement with an organization, movement, or individual working publicly to address migration-related issues.  The written, multi-media, or performative project is completed in close collaboration with that social organization, movement, institution, or individual. By combining academic study and community engagement, students develop their vision and response to the issue of migration, even as they negotiate with the community organization/movement/individual regarding the substance, form, and goals of the project to be carried out. The course builds on several introductory questions: How did we get ourselves into this situation? What is driving migration and what is driving our countries’ policies of inhumanity? Why is this such a difficult and sensitive issue? What responses have there been from social movements, civic and human rights organizations and citizens? How do these draw on and transform much older traditions of sanctuary, refuge, hospitality, and human community?

Geophysics is one of main subjects in earth science using more contaminative and numerical approaches to estimate physical properties of the Earth. This course is designated to understand fundamental concepts in various subdisciplines of geophysics, including gravity, seismology, geomagnetism, geochronology, and geodynamics. With explanations for each field, relationships between the different geophysical approaches will be explored from examples of theoretical and real applications.

This course has no specific prerequisites, but a range of background knowledge and skills in calculus is expected.

In this interdisciplinary course, students are introduced to the risks, hazards, and disasters associated with the Earth’s natural environments and the growing impacts of human activity on them. Students consider the nature of hazards, disasters, risks, and how their impacts can be reduced through mitigation, protection, and adaptation. 

This course reviews the benefits of policy development, planning, and management of the environmental compartments of water and soil. The focus is on the interrelationships between human activities and their effects on water and soil, and the subsequent need and options for integrated water and soil management. It describes the analysis of water and soil systems and their mutual relations, as well as the history, concepts, monitoring, and developments in policy and legislation regarding water and soil management. Acquaintance with practice takes place through guest lecturers from the professional field, practicals, excursions, and student work.

Museums have become one of the most popular ways of telling history. Many scholars argue that museums are not neutral places; rather, they are often used for a wide range of strategic purposes: regulating social behavior, building citizenship and national identity, and expanding state power. But museums also face a variety of constraints and challenges: culture, money, politics, physical space, locating and selecting appropriate artifacts, and forming narratives. This course considers these issues by looking at history museums and heritage preservation in Hong Kong. The goals of the course are to familiarize students with a range of theoretical approaches to museum studies; explore the ways in which museums and heritage preservation can be used to further certain political, cultural, and commercial agendas; and help students learn to write an analytical research essay based on readings and museum fieldwork.

This course provides an understanding of the conceptual framework and skills in health planning and how these can be applied to health systems of developing countries. Developing countries are witnessing accelerated interest in the application of modern management methods to health services, systematic appraisal of health care systems, and their components and rational planning to allocate scarce health resources efficiently according to accepted priorities.