English

This course is a continuation of the course, Critical Social Issues I. This course is focused on the social issues facing contemporary Japan, covering topics such as war responsibility and memory; nuclear energy and waste; issues involving 3/11; media, the imperial family; yakuza, and education. As the course progresses, student interests are expected to generate additional topics for discussion.

Students will be required to do background reading for the class and come to class prepared to discuss a particular issue (or set of issues) each week in the first part of the course. In the second part of the course, students will suggest and present on topics on contemporary Japan for presentation. Each student must participate in these discussions and the assessment will be based on the discussions and written reflections on the issues after each class.

This course provides students with a broad overview of violence and harm as committed by individuals or groups within society. Several forms of violence are examined within the course including but not limited to intimate partner violence, stalking, sexual violence, and elder abuse. In addition to examining the nature and prevalence of violence and harm, the course also examines the ways in which violence and harm are assessed, managed and communicated by professionals who work with perpetrators and victims of violence. Concepts related to violence or the prevalence and nature of violence such as psychopathy and gender are also examined. 

This course explores different sub-disciplines in the field of humanities. Its main focus is concerned with the understanding of human beings and being a human through different disciplinary lenses. This course thematically covers different aspects in humanities with a relevant introductory overview.

This course delves into the process of language acquisition. The course looks at different models and theories that have arisen from the different schools of thought. It explores the different processes of first language acquisition and stages of development (phonological, lexical, syntactical), before moving onto the cognitive framework of language processing (parsing). The next area of focus is bilingualism and second language acquisition. Students are introduced to different forms of bilingualism and the issues raised in second language acquisition. They are also introduced to language in the brain, speech pathologies, and other communication systems.

This course offers students a unique opportunity to spend a whole semester reading one single poem, albeit a very large one: John Milton’s PARADISE LOST (1674). One of the greatest works of English literature, this epic consists of twelve books, most of which we will devote a whole week to reading and talking about. Taking in a range of issues including love, marriage, religion, politics, education, freedom of speech, and the rights of rulers and citizens within a free commonwealth, students see why Milton still has so much to say to us. 

This course covers the main authors, concepts, and theories that structured questions related to technology. It begins with the historical figures (Plato, Descartes, Marx, Bergson, Heidegger) that laid grounds for more contemporary theorizations. The course focuses on the “founding myths” related to technology in philosophy, as well as how the 19th century contributed to several shifts from these very myths by bringing forth its own questions. It then explores the diversity of contemporary issues related to technology from a philosophical perspective (Ellul, Sloterdijk, Stiegler, Hottois, Simondon). The course covers issues that range from what technology is for humans, for societies, as well as for itself once removed from the human-centric perspectives on technology.

This course engages critical and creative discussions about the various aspects of Jerusalem as a rallying point for the contesting groups in the Middle East. Topics include competing narratives; the clash of ethos; city boundaries and territory; demographic and social challenges; citizenship rights; the national and religious character of the city; Islam and nationalism in the local, regional, and international realms; the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa controversy and the future of the Old City and the Holy Basin; Arab neighborhoods and the security barrier; and the struggle for sovereignty and negotiating the Jerusalem issue in the peace process. The course provides an opportunity to conduct a simulation of negotiating the future of Jerusalem within the framework of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This course is about the security of networks of computers and their communications. It describes network fundamentals, and the security of Internet protocols, including wired, wireless, and mobile communication networks. It also describes network attacks and countermeasures, particularly focusing on intrusion detection and prevention systems.

This course explores the complexities of multinational financial management, ranging from the management of foreign currency exposures (to determine a subsidiary’s capital structure or to value an investment in a risky country) to the managerial and environmental considerations that make multinational financial decision-making so challenging. Financial decision making in the multinational setting requires a sound understanding of: 1) the extension of traditional finance considerations to a more complex global setting (i.e. Exchange Rate Effects, Global CAPM); 2) how institutional constraints can create obstacles and opportunities for multinational firms (i.e. Opportunities created by different markets); 3) the managerial objectives that can often limit the relevance of traditional financial objectives or institutional opportunities. The framework developed in the course suggests how to balance these three relevant factors: complex financial incentives have to be integrated with institutional obstacles and opportunities and aligned with managerial objectives. The goal then offers both a clear framework and a set of operative tools to understand the relationship between multinational firms and international financial markets. The whole structure of the course is applied, involves several real-world cases that are discussed in class, and is oriented to develop capabilities to understand and use international finance methodologies and practices used around the world. The course requires students to have familiarity with basic topics of corporate finance and a basic knowledge of concepts like risk, return, capital structure, and the CAPM as a prerequisite.

This course requires students to put theory into practice by cultivating a sense of the history and theory of documentary alongside the chance to make a short documentary film. The first part of the course requires students to produce a short documentary film. The second part of the course charts the historical development of documentary filmmaking through the examination of a number of case studies ranging from the early 20th century to the present day, giving further opportunity to examine the inter-relatedness of theory and practice in the work of well-known documentarists.