English

This course aims to educate on the theories and concepts relevant to the field of stratification and inequality. The course covers the following topics:  intergenerational social mobility; educational inequality in comparative perspective; institutional arrangements in shaping educational inequality; education and labor market; the role of social capital and labor market; gender inequality, and racial and ethnic inequality.

While the history of Japan as a modern nation begins in the Meiji era, much of what we recognize as typical of 'modern life' in Japan begins in the Taisho period, or more generally in the 'interwar' period which extends into the early years of the Showa era. This course examines several aspects of this new 'modern life' with particular attention given to the new social roles, new gender roles, new lifestyles, and new forms of culture that emerged among the new middle class.

This course will be conducted as a seminar, but short 'mini lectures' will be given from time to time on several of these topics. Our main text will be 'House and Home in Modern Japan' by Jordon Sand; this book will serve as the basis for weekly class discussions. In addition, students will be assigned a book (on reserve in the library) to summarize (in small groups) in the form of a group presentation. Finally, students will be asked to produce an essay, based either on a topic related to our main textbook, or a topic related to the book they have been asked to summarize.

This course instructs on how corporate finance is being practiced in Japanese corporations. The history and status of corporate finance in Japan will be presented, focusing on the uniqueness of Japanese management from a financial management perspective.

Knowledge of corporate finance is not required; the basics of financial management will be explained in each session. Each session consists of two parts.

The first part of the session addresses the history and status of corporate finance in Japan, such as the history of Japanese stock market, banking systems, how Japanese people behave with regards to asset management, etc.

The second part of the session provides a lecture on the basics of financial management, including various finance theories, e.g. Free Cash Flow, Time value of money, Discounted Cash Flow, Net Present Value, WACC, etc.  Students will be given opportunities to discuss various topics about contemporary finance such as the latest trend of the capital market, M&A etc. For the students who have already studied corporate finance prior to their arrival in Japan, this second part may be a repetition of what they have learned. However, it would aid in the understanding of what is discussed in the first part of the session.

Modern Japanese literature is filled with ghosts and goblins—if you know where to look. This introductory course surveys some of the strangest, scariest, and wildest fiction in modern Japan. The course begins at the “beginning” of modern Japanese literature in the late nineteenth century up through more contemporary works, with the stories ranging from ghost stories and fairy tales to the literary equivalent of the splatter film.

The course addresses the following questions: How did the broad genre of what is today known in Japanese as gensō bungaku (roughly corresponding to supernatural, horror, and fantasy genres), emerge and develop as a set of assumptions about the nature of modern life in Japan? How do these assumptions challenge our way of interacting with the world, with other people, and ultimately with our own sense of self? What kind of new understandings of various boundaries—between the real and the unreal, the present and the past, the foreign and the native, the living and the dead—might these stories suggest? And how are these texts part of a larger global network of weird fiction—what, in other words, does it mean to call a Japanese text “Gothic”?

This class requires a significant amount of reading outside of class.

This course examines, from a philosophical perspective, the ways in which recent developments in genetics and neuroscience challenge our conceptions of what we are — and what we could become.

This course gives an overview of the key arguments in the sociology of religion, including the social, cultural, and political significance of religion to the individual, social groups, and society at a national and global level. The course begins by covering the classical sociological theorists on religion (Durkheim, Weber & Marx) and examines the key debates around secularization and post-secularization. It then considers the social and cultural significance of new religious movements and the rise of spirituality and New Age movements in the West. Finally students consider the growth of fundamentalism around the world and how religion is becoming globalized.

This course  leads students through the scientific quest for the origin of life on Earth and the prospect for finding life on other planets, both in our solar system and on habitable worlds elsewhere in the Galaxy. The course covers diverse topics in biology, geology, astronomy and chemistry, which together comprise the field of astrobiology. The course studies the origins and evolution of planets and life on Earth, and uses this as a framework for how to search for life in our Solar System and beyond, including exploring how science interfaces with society. Due to the wide range of science topics covered, the course is applicable to any Science faculty student. A key component of the course is to examine the scientific method, how scientific theories are developed and refuted, and discuss the burden of proof for extraordinary claims.

The course provides an introduction into monetary and financial history from the 18th century to the present day. It examines the main developments in international monetary architecture and the global financial system since the Glorious Revolution. The course introduces students to major concepts of money and finance (financial development, financial integration, monetary policy, banking crises etc.) and to provide a long run perspective to the current policy debate.

This course examines the ambivalent role of digital technologies in our societies and interrogates the future by questioning their relevance. It considers where we come from and how the pre-web world prepared us for this new reality, notably through science fiction. Then, it discusses what is happening in our daily lives by deciphering the announced technological advances and their effects on reality; in particular, a "synthetic horizon" where the Metaverse, crypto-assets, and artificial intelligence coexist to help humanity meet the challenges ahead. Finally, it considers whether these technologies will really help and explores a horizon that seems the most desirable for all. 

The course explores the history of beekeeping, apiculture legislation, basic bee biology, plant science and pollination, genetics, metabolism and nutrition, pathology, bee welfare, colony collapse disorder, and several aspects of honey production, including its harvest and quality assessment. It includes theory classes as well as practical sessions at the UABee apiary and UAB laboratories.