English

This course covers social theories of violence and security in various contexts, paying particular attention to the gendered dynamics of violence. Topics include state violence, torture, terrorism, sexual violence, violence toward children and intimate partner violence. The ethical and methodological issues involved in researching violence and social policies aimed at reducing violence are debated.

This course examines the theory and practice of politics from a gendered perspective. It considers feminist debates concerning women's role in the public and private spheres and asks whether the political process can be complete without women. It then explores women's current involvement in politics and considers a range of explanations as to why women are under-represented, and possible solutions. The course also examines women's political participation within and beyond electoral politics, and asks what difference women can make.

The focus of this course is on the relationship between globalization and major environmental damage issues. National, regional, and international policies and their effectiveness at mitigating adverse effects of globalization are discussed. The course also considers the necessity of regulations and political incentives. The last session of the course is devoted to a Desired City simulation. The course allows students to understand the complexity of society (Global Governance). Students use innovation and creativity to address public policy solutions to local and national environmental issues.

The course focuses on the history of what is now the Czech Republic (Bohemia and Moravia) from the primeval times to the present. The periods covered in the course include prehistoric times, medieval Czech state, early modern ages, Bohemian Crownlands under the Habsburg Monarchy, Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic. The course takes into consideration the historical geographical context of Central Europe. The course also covers the history of the inhabitants of this territory (ancient prehistoric cultures; Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic tribes; and Czechs, Germans, Jews, Slovaks, and others) as well as a description of the general features of their political, social, and cultural life. The basics of Central European history are included, especially those related to periods when historical events of Bohemia and Moravia were closely connected to the contemporary international situation.

This course offers a study of the foreign policies of Southeast Asian countries, their conduct of foreign policies toward each other, and their means of confronting international problems. The course is issue-oriented with the understanding that virtually all issues are interrelated. The focus is on how Southeast Asian nations address the various issues as problem-solving in a given context and as creatively thinking and proposing action about the basic nature of the issues and problems.

This course introduces students to reading, writing, and thinking as a critic. Students develop the abilities and skills of literary criticism and are introduced to the concepts, theories, ideas, and histories that are central to the discipline of English. This course encourages students to think of themselves as active readers and literary critics involved in developing their own interpretations and judgments, rather than passive learners.

The course offers students an introduction to the expanding field of Animal Studies. Throughout the course Students are asked to read texts for seminar discussion, join organized trips to view city-wide collections, and participate in practice-based workshops, and are introduced to working with art materials including demonstrations of welding and casting processes. This course encourages new ways of thinking about animals and supports the student to produce personal visual responses to the subject. Texts cover these subject areas: comparative anatomy and comparative psychology, pets and pet keeping, animal ethics, animal death, animal resurrection, and taxidermy. Texts may take the form of academic journal papers/chapters, other prose, or poems. Observation and training takes place at ECA, NMS, R(D)SVS and includes art material inductions, drawing from live and dead animals, and an opportunity to practice and learn suturing techniques.

The course deals with economic transformation from a global perspective from prehistoric times to present times, but with an emphasis on the development from the European Middle Ages and onward, as well as the economic history of the Western world. The starting point is how the global economy of today is structured and how it works. The global economy is seen as a system, and its different parts from entire continents to local communities are discussed. Theories of which factors that influence economic transformation over time are presented. The economic history of the world is described with help from a number of factors as structuring tools. Concepts that have been used to characterize different periods and parts of the world become central to this description. The course also deals with important aspects of the economic system such as households, companies, and politics. The global economy is seen as a system with interconnected parts from the global to the local economy. Theories about economic transformation are presented. A key question for the course is why some countries are rich and others not.