English

Animals figure in human society and culture in multiple ways, while frequently being marginalized or reduced to commodities, production units, status symbols, and tools. This course offers a critical exploration of how a shifting economic, scientific, political, and media-shaped landscape assigns various roles and values to animals in contemporary Western society and the consequences for the living conditions of animals and humans alike. The course integrates innovative critical animal studies research from a range of areas such as sociology, media and communication studies, philosophy, cultural studies, geography, gender studies, and critical race studies.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the global challenges that the planet's population has been facing since the second half of the twentieth century. Among these, the critical relation with natural resources and with the concept of development and, above all, climate change, with its connections to territorial development, ecological risk, food security and the consumption of natural resources. At the end of the course, the students have acquired the theoretical and empirical tools to critically analyze the global strategies of climate resilience and cooperation and the relation between climate change and tourism. They also have acquired the ability to work in groups and develop class discussions. They are able to communicate both in expert and non-expert groups the global dynamics connected to climate change, globalization, poverty, development and tourism. Climate change offers the opportunity for a multidisciplinary analysis and, during the course, the many topics connected to the phenomenon are discussed, using mainly a geographical approach which means having a focus on territorial impacts, policies, and responses. The course concentrates on three main aspects of the phenomenon. PART 1 introduces climate change as a global phenomenon, with its natural and anthropogenic root causes, positioning it inside the wider perspective of environmental degradation and pollution and analyzing the global debate between climate change activists and deniers. In this respect, several activities are carried out, such as group work, presentation, and class discussion. PART 2 analyzes the Kyoto Protocol and the Post Kyoto adaptation and mitigation strategies, with a focus on the policy-making process but also trying to include it in a theoretical framework of adaptation, PART 3 covers climate change and mobility, including the connections between climate change and environmental crisis with migration and tourism.

This course provides a critical examination of various moral problems raised when considering environmental issues. It explores such questions as the moral status of animals, future generations, and the environment as a whole, as well as the moral aspects of famine relief, population control, and resource use.

This is an introductory-level course, giving an overview of a range of topics, including thermal physics, waves, elementary quantum mechanics, properties of matter, nuclear and particle physics, and astrophysics. The course is designed for those with qualifications in physics and mathematics at SCE Higher level or equivalent. It serves both as a preparation for further study in physics-based degree courses, and as a stand-alone course for students of other disciplines, including (but not limited to) mathematics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The course includes an experimental laboratory element, Experimental Physics 1.

This course provides a comparative approach to European politics, analyzing the interplay between national and EU-level decision-making. It examines how political authority is delegated from voters to representatives, governments, and EU institutions to understand broader European political processes. Throughout the course, it explores the institutional diversity of European democracies, comparing parliamentary, semi-presidential, and majoritarian systems and analyzing how electoral rules shape party competition and voter behavior. It also examines the European Union’s governance structures and how they interact with national decision-making, influencing both domestic policies and broader integration efforts while assessing how different economic models shape national economic policy preferences. 

Additionally, the course investigates the political and social impacts of migration, welfare state reforms, and sovereignty conflicts, as well as the rise of populism and Euroskepticism, exploring how these forces reshape both national and European politics. Rather than focusing on a single-country approach, this course draws on comparative examples from multiple European countries to highlight similarities, differences, and key trends. 

This course analyzes the forms in which contemporary narratives construct social imaginaries that contribute to the development of identities and perspectives, as well as discussing contemporary narrative theories.