English

This course is designed for students who are not yet familiar with modern Japanese literature and literary analysis. The course provides an opportunity to read a selection of texts (novels, poems, and essays) on the class theme, with the hope of offering students a glimpse of the breadth and richness of Japanese literature. Additionally, the course considers these works within the historical/social context of modern Japanese society, especially in relation to processes of modernization and Westernization.
 

By the end of this course, students will be able:

1) To become familiarized with modern Japanese literature through reading a selection of literary texts.
2) To learn about Japanese history, culture, society and gender, from the Meiji era until the present, focusing on how historical events have shaped the works we read in class.
3) To analyze the relationship between history, gender, and literature.
4) To improve students' ability to articulate and develop their own ideas about literature.
5) To learn how to write an academic paper on literature. Students will learn how to structure their paper, how to support their argument, how to use academic language, and how to cite and reference other research.

This course examines the foundations of geopolitics as a discipline and the main theoretical-methodological approaches of geopolitical studies. Topics include: global geopolitical theories and systems--from imperialist to Cold War geopolitics; geopolitical issues in the contemporary world-- the post-Cold War era and the multi-polar world; geopolitical approaches to conflict-- cultures, natural resources, and the state system. 

Administration is the study of administrative operations and management. It is a very important part of government operations; government operations largely rely on administrators and the administrative system to operate stably. The course covers various theories of administration; the structure and characteristics of the administrative department; the input and output of administrative operations (such as personnel administration, financial administration, and public policy, etc.), and the relationship between the administrative department and other departments (including political with administrative relations, governance, with non-profit organizations, etc.). This course also tries to bring in relevant practical cases so that students can understand theory.

This course teaches students the basic structures and syntax of a common programming/scripting language Python. Programming is at the heart of the human control of the digital world; through the use of programming and scripting languages, we can gather, manipulate and share data, create new applications and extend the existing ones. Further, learning the logic, possibilities and limitations of programmatic structures allows us to better appreciate and understand the technology within the greater digital world.

Are time and space substances, or is there nothing more to them than the relations between objects or events? How is time different from space? Does time have a direction? If it does, what gives it its direction? If it doesn't, why does it seem to us that it does? Does space have a direction? This course investigates the nature of time and space and objects (including persons) within space and time.

The cities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries surged with light, money, ideas, and people. New aspects of city life included the arrival of electric modes of mass transit, new technologies of communication, luminous arcades filled with consumer goods, and opulent palaces for commercial entertainment. Successive waves of newcomers sought a better life amidst the bright lights, swelling the cities with restless endeavor. Photographers, artists, poets, journalists and others looked to capture this era of rapid urban change, and make sense of the metropolitan spaces unfolding outwards and upwards before them. Where there was illumination there was also shadow. Amidst the dazzling opportunities offered by the metropolis could also be found its benighted citizens, those whom fortune did not favor. Outcasts and malcontents shared the city’s public spaces, from time to time terrorizing middle-class imaginations. It is this tension of extremes – between the city filled with prospects and the city as the terminus of hope – that this course explores. Focusing on four cities where the possibilities and pitfalls of modernity were felt especially keenly, weekly readings and discussions seek to comprehend what it was like to experience profound transformations in urban living. Rather than try to understand the four case study cities in totality across more than half a century, the course offers specific excursions into the social and cultural histories of London, Melbourne, New York, and Paris.