English

This course explores the historical development of Korean popular music and Hallyu culture, from the early formation of modern Korean popular music to the global rise of K-pop. It examines how Korean popular music, television dramas, and films have evolved in relation to social, cultural, and media changes in Korea, and how these cultural forms collectively contributed to the emergence of the Korean Wave Hallyu. Through case studies of major artists, cultural texts, and media platforms, students analyze the characteristics of K-pop as well as key Hallyu content such as K-dramas and Korean films, focusing on their production systems and global circulation.  The course provides international students with a comprehensive understanding of Korean popular culture as both a cultural expression and a global phenomenon. 

Evaluation: Attendance 20%, Assignments 15%, Midterms 30%, Final Exam 35%. 

This course introduces Hong Kong popular music and the basic operations of the music industry. It covers a wide range of practical operation of record companies, including Artist and Repertoire Management, production of music and lyrics, marketing and sales, promotion and distribution. Besides the practical and management aspects, it also covers history and issues of popular music in Hong Kong, music commentary and the board theoretical, legal and social implications of the industry.

This first year course introduces fundamental terms and strategies for reading deeply into literature, film, and other texts. Basic theories of literary criticism, film, visual and culture studies are introduced. Students explore different approaches and reading strategies and learn how to apply critical tools to a diverse range of texts and mediums. Topics include the following: Basic and extended definitions of text, author, and reader; cinema, modernity, urban culture; gendered readings; race and ethnicity; popular culture; visuality and materiality; photography; ecocriticism and narratives of travel and migration. Writing assignments are designed to help students secure their knowledge of the vocabulary and tools of analysis necessary for more complex work in the field of comparative literary and cultural studies.

This course is intended primarily for students majoring in Korean Language and Literature, therefore full fluency in Korean is required as the course focuses on structural and analytical understanding rather than pronunciation practice.  

This course introduces the study of Korean speech sounds, covering the phonetic characteristics of Korean using scientific methods, including acoustic analysis with Praat. Students analyze and explore how these sounds differ from those in other languages, especially English. Students also identify and describe the articulatory and acoustic properties of Korean vowels and consonants. Students gain both practical analysis skills and insights into cross-linguistic sound patterns.  

This course is an introductory writing course that combines a creative writing workshop with literary seminar on the short form. Students study and write prose poems, prose sonnets, haiku prose, palm-of-the-hand stories, auto flash fiction, flash fiction, prose portraits, short lyric essays and short stories. Each week, representative works are read alongside critical assessments, followed by discussion and attempts at producing original versions. The course considers the lyrical in short form prose—the use of compression, line breaks, metaphor, analogy, juxtaposition and paratactic structures, the primacy of language over linear narrative, sonic resonances, associative writing strategies, and fragmentation. Class-time is divided between critical discussion and writing workshop.

In the aftermath of the Act of Union with Great Britain, Irish society and its political system was transformed. Change was not immediate however, transformation came slowly. Beginning with Catholic Emancipation and the Ordnance Survey (both dating to 1829) and ending with the onset of the Plan of Campaign (1886) this module explores the relationship between the people and the land on which they lived and labored, and the ways in which they were subject to, and interacted with, the British state. Rural unrest, the tithe war and periodic crises of famine and disease foreshadowed the catastrophe that took place during the Great Famine (1845-52) when the population of the country dropped by over a quarter, from around 8 million to around 6 million. Death and emigration became drivers of change that saw a rise in living standards in the two decades after the Famine ended. Despite this, conflict in the form of the ‘Land War’ (1879-81) erupted, and thus began the decline of landlordism in Ireland. These decades are crucial in understanding the development of Irish society and politics in the period up until independence in 1921.

This course provides a forum for students to develop their own creative voices through the medium of writing. Students write their own creative pieces (short stories, novel extracts, poems, personal essays) and discuss them, along with the work of others, in an encouraging space. Grounded in a philosophy that to write well is to read well, the course also discusses a number of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry texts. By engaging in close reading, editing, and writing exercises, students develop and hone creative skills applicable to a broad range of disciplines, both in academia and the creative arts.

This course begins by considering the Irish context of Shakespeare's The Tempest. It then moves to Ireland itself and examines the many different ways in which Shakespeare's work has been appreciated and appropriated in the country over the centuries. Topics include the history of Shakespeare productions in Ireland; the publication of his plays in the country; appropriations across a broad political spectrum; and the influence of Shakespeare's work on Irish writers. The course includes a number of out-of-classroom sessions at various venues, including Smock Alley and the Pearse Museum.

This course examines ethical considerations and issues central to public health and healthcare. The course analyzes ethical theories and principles and applies them to healthcare and public health contexts. It examines the ethical challenges involved in balancing individual and community interests within healthcare systems that are costly, complex, and increasingly globalized.