English

This course examines the utopian, dystopian, and ambivalent implications of artificial intelligence. Grounded in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies, students will study how bodies, subjectivity, life, households, work, and the environment are being transformed by technoscience and artificial intelligence. It will investigate how artificial intelligence, and technoscience more broadly, blurs the boundaries between humans and machines to equip students with the knowledge and skills to critically analyze historical, social, ethical, economic, and philosophical implications of past, present, and emerging technologies. Topics may include cyborgs, biotechnologies, pharmaceuticals, cyberspace, surveillance, and technosolutionism.

This course investigates the relationship between business and government and the role and influence of corporations as political actors in a globalized world. Corporations have emerged as political actors deeply involved in domestic and international policy-making processes, beyond being mere economic entities. This shifting role of the corporate requires the ability to theoretically and empirically analyze the dynamics of business-government relations, and a critical understanding of corporate status and responsibility in global governance is essential.  

Particularly in the current reality where corporate political influence is increasing in various aspects such as lobbying activities, social responsibility, and tax policy responses, systematically analyzing and understanding these phenomena is an important task in modern political science research.  

This course fosters in-depth understanding of corporate roles and influence in the global era; cultivation of analytical perspectives and research capabilities on corporate-government relations; developing critical and practical insights into corporate political activities; acquiring cutting-edge research methodologies and data analysis techniques; and application of useful theoretical and methodological foundations for students interested in corporate politics and global governance, thereby offering practical assistance for future research and practice in related fields.   

Cultural studies explores everyday life, media and popular culture. It shows us how we can make sense of contemporary culture as producers, consumers, readers and viewers, in relation to our identities and communities. How do cultural texts and practices convey different kinds of meaning and value? Students will be introduced to some key thinkers and approaches in cultural studies and will learn how to analyze cultural forms such as advertising, television, film and popular music.

In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals which provide a roadmap for addressing the key global challenges that the world is facing including, poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. In this course, students are introduced to the SDGs, the practical ways in which policy aims to address them, and how the success of these policies in progressing the Goals can be measured and evaluated. 

This course presents a thematic overview of the global intersections and relationships of Western visual and material culture across a range of historically located examples. Topics are explored in this course under the broad themes of appropriations and the "other" and cultural geographies. Through these lenses students explore topics as diverse as orientalism, photography and colonialism, and globalization and contemporary art, and what they reveal about cultural transmission through the ages.

This course examines the diverse world of microbes and discusses the roles they play not only in causing infectious disease but also in both creating and maintaining life as we know it. Various types of microbes and their basic life processes are described, with the focus mainly on bacteria and viruses. Cell biology principles and roles of organelles in protein trafficking will be discussed. Bacterial genetics and metabolism are explored, with the emphasis on how these areas determine observed behaviors and activities. The components of the immune system are outlined and their interactions and functions described. A central part of this course is outlining some of the strategies used by microbes to cause disease, and the counter strategies employed by the immune system to prevent disease. Other ways of controlling microbes, including antibiotics and vaccines are also discussed. The key roles played by microbes and the immune system in medical and biotechnological research is described. 

Students are introduced to theories and practices in film and screen media industries. Historical and cultural contexts of a variety of creative industries are examined. Detailed case studies of specific productions, from inception and funding/development to production and promotion, are analyzed. Practitioners from the film/screen media industry and from creative culture industries deliver a series of workshops to illuminate contemporary approaches and practices during the course.

This course examines empowering notions of Pacific wellbeing for Pacific individuals, families and communities. Students explore definitions of Pacific wellbeing and the cultural concepts, models, practices and worldviews that have enhanced the overall positive wellbeing experiences of Pacific peoples across the Pacific region.

A hands-on theater course taught by practicing theatre professionals, emphasizing practical and performance-based skills, which develops those competencies acquired by students in previous years. The course exposes participants to a variety of different theater styles and genres, using classic and modern texts while ensuring that these texts are interrogated in a practical way. The course includes a theatrical production of a play, carefully selected to ensure appropriate distribution of roles, including backstage responsibilities. 

Revolutions, revolts, social unrest, strikes, modern street demonstrations and violent episodes are commonplace in the French historical landscape. On the other hand, the French political “laboratory” is remarkable by the number and the diversity of its institutional experiments through political regimes as opposed as Monarchy, Parliamentary Republic, Presidential Republic and even “Empire”' (under the Bonaparte). What is the most relevant feature: Revolution or Reform? People's Power in the streets or Elected assemblies? Popular voice or a sense of compromise driven by official institutions? Where Democracy ought to be situated: on the top of Barricades or within the routine of State-run policies? This course offers an historical journey through the multiple episodes of the French “instability”, from the Revolution of 1789 to our time. The course is open to all students and does not require prior knowledge with French political history.