English

This course examines the historical trajectories and contemporary interpretations of the concepts of race, ethnicity and nationhood. Through critical engagement with classical and contemporary theories of race, ethnicity and nationhood, the course examines the role that these play in the construction of social and political identities, and in the development of the modern nation-state and nationalist politics. The course also investigates the co-constitutive relationship between interpretations of race, ethnicity and nationhood, and historical and contemporary migration. Emphasis is placed on the role of migration in the constitution of the modern nation- state, the relationship between migrant and minority politics, and the manner in which contemporary migration continues to be affected by discourses of race, ethnicity and nationhood.

As a discipline, history is a matter of selecting and shaping historical data. Theory is a meditation upon the discipline and its data. The course is a study of historians, theorists, and their texts. After an introduction considering the Period as the object of historical definition and as the tool of the historian, the course introduces theorists and theories of architecture from Vitruvius to Deconstruction. They are arranged chronologically so that the force of historical determinism and purposiveness of historical reflection may be gauged. The course concludes with a discussion of the proposition that cultural time moves in cycles.

This course examines Plato’s political philosophy through the lens of John Rawls’s distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory. Rawls characterizes ideal theory as assuming full compliance with the demands of justice, while non-ideal theory addresses the conditions under which such compliance fails. By engaging closely with Plato’s Republic and Laws, the class explores how each text embodies or challenges these frameworks in order to achieve a greater understanding of the aims of Plato’s political thought and the merits versus limits of philosophical idealization.

This course introduces the major themes in world prehistory through a global and comparative approach, focusing on the great evolutionary, behavioral, and cultural transitions or “revolutions” in our common past, beginning with the appearance of the first material culture record (the world’s earliest stone tools, dating 3.3 million years ago).  

Considering how power and violence, socio-political stratification, economies and trade, technological innovation, and especially ideology shaped human societies, the course addresses the following periods:  

• The hominin evolution and behavior during the Lower Paleolithic period 

• The first migrations of Homo erectus out of Africa  

• The evolution of archaic humans and their behavior (Middle Paleolithic period), and the emergence of anatomically modern humans and their interactions with archaic humans (Neanderthals and Denisovans). 

• The behavioral revolution of the Upper Paleolithic and the transition from hunting-gathering to village life and farming.  

• The emergence of socio-political complexity, the development of chiefdoms, and formation of state-level societies in the New World and the Old World, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. 

This course examines Australian politics with an emphasis on what makes Australia unique and how its democratic institutions have developed over time. It concentrates on formal political institutions, including the constitution, parliament, the executive, the bureaucracy, federalism and the High Court. It also examines the role of political parties, the Australian electoral system, voters and voting behavior, lobby groups, social movements and the media. It considers the benefits and limitations of the Australian political system in the face of major policy challenges such as climate change, asylum seekers, gun control, marriage equality and economic crisis.

This graduate course varies depending on the research topic but may include weekly lab meetings, presentations of up-to-date research articles, and participation in scientific discussion with the instructor and lab colleagues related to the topic of brain and consciousness.

This is the first of a pair courses that build towards an overarching understanding of cultures of the French-speaking world in their historical and geographical diversity. It focuses on a range of primary materials in French that are diverse in various senses, notably: chronologically, in genre/medium, and in terms of the origins and identities of the authors/filmmakers. Students are expected to read and study these works intensively in order to participate fully in seminar discussion, and to get the most from lectures offering a framework of historical contexts and critical approaches. The course eases the transition from school to university through a focused introduction to materials and skills of critical analysis, in writing and more widely, that forms the basis of more advanced study in subsequent years. It is designed for students who have not reached the equivalent of A-level standard in French, with French-language materials studied in translation.

This course examines the ethical, environmental and social problems associated with consumerism, and examines in detail some of the creative, ingenious and determined responses to these problems.

Originated from Stanford University’s Life Design Lab (Bill Burnett and Dave Evans), this course employs a method called “design thinking” to help students from any program develop a constructive and effective approach to finding and designing their vocation after university. Through small group discussions, in-class activities, personal reflections and individual coaching, this course teaches students to use design thinking to explore many of life’s major challenges, such as pursuing careers they love and finding personal fulfillment. Topics include the integration of work and worldviews, ideation techniques, a portfolio approach to thriving, designing to increase balance and energy, and how to prototype all aspects of life. The course touches on the realities of engaging the workplace, and practices that support vocation formation throughout the career of students. The capstone assignment is the creation of an “Odyssey Plan” focusing on taking actions in the 3-5 years following their graduation. For Engineering students only. Graded P or F.