Denmark

This course provides insight into three interconnected fields of inquiry: the study of Scandinavia and the larger Nordic region; the analysis of film and audiovisual media; and an understanding of how film reflects past and present transnational and transcultural relations in a globally interconnected world. The interdisciplinary course relates close readings of films to discussions of the larger socio-political and media-aesthetic context. This context is marked, among others, by the global circulation of ideas and cultural products, by the Scandinavian welfare state and issues of gender equality, migration and diversity, environmental concerns, and decolonization processes. The course responds to contemporary shifts in Nordic self-imagining and closely examine the ways in which film mediates notions of imagined communities at local, national, and regional levels. Students are presented to a variety of audiovisual material, including documentaries, feature films, TV series, web-based series and short films. Apart from internationally renowned Scandinavian film directors, the Nordic screen milieu has in recent years been very successful in producing transnational TV and web-based series that have travelled globally. Another recent development reflected by the course is the strengthened voice of contemporary film from Greenland and Sápmi (the traditional lands of the indigenous Sámi people on the northern Scandinavian peninsula) that has so far not necessarily been marketed or seen as “Nordic” but circulates as “Indigenous cinema.” This diverse internationally circulating body of contemporary film helps to explore and expand the notion of “Norden” to understand better the region’s ethnic and cultural diversity and its transnational connectedness as reflected by contemporary audiovisual media.

This course explores how the conceptualization of migration is related to ideas about citizenship and belonging, and to the racialization of those positioned as foreign. It draws together theorizations, historical background, and concrete examples of contemporary politics to discuss what migration is and who is considered a migrant. It considers the political effects of conceptualizing migration, such that although each state sets immigration rules, the making of migrants is at the same time impacted by how global politics is regulated and imagined, including international norms on refugees or states’ self-perception as open to the world. This interactive course includes group work and lecture-style elements, interacts with a variety of texts, and provides opportunities to reflect on and learn about writing.

This course provides an overview over the literature in economics on topics related to gender, work, and the family. The course covers topics such as female and male labor force participation, the gender wage gap, marriage and divorce, fertility, domestic violence, women’s empowerment within the household and societies. 

This pre-semester course offers an exciting and comprehensive introduction to the history of Copenhagen and to the Danish language. This course is a perfect introduction for students who wish to gain a solid understanding of the cultural, political, economic, and social history of the Danish capital. The course consists of a series of lectures supplemented with excursions out in the streets of Copenhagen. Over three weeks, students learn about the city’s history from its foundation in the early Middle Ages, when Copenhagen was just a fishing village, through a millennium of history up to modern Copenhagen, often ranked as one of the best cities in the world when measured by the quality of life. As well as covering the rich history of Copenhagen, the course also includes several lessons in Danish for beginners to introduce the basics of the Danish language including conversation, grammar, and pronunciation. Students learn to present themselves, describe where they live, and learn how to order coffee in Danish. It also covers some of the Danish terminology related to the cultural content of the course. This intensive three-week course is open to all international students and assumes no prior knowledge of Danish history or language. 

This course focuses on the technical solutions needed to improve the fairness, accountability, and transparency of machine learning models. It reflects on the benefits and risks of machine learning models to develop methods to detect and mitigate biases and create solutions to make the inner workings of models more transparent. Topics include statistical notions of fairness and bias; the intended usage of machine learning models; learning fair representations; model interpretability and transparency; generating and evaluating model explanations; and probing representations for bias. Knowledge of machine learning (probability theory, linear algebra, classification) and programming is a prerequisite.

This course examines recent developments in the contentious electoral politics of three Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, with some comparative references to Burma/Myanmar. Following a brief review of the case countries, the course adopts a thematic approach, first reviewing the character of the state, including national mythologies and the historical role of the military. It then explores aspects of transition, including the changing political economy, the rise of electoral politics, the role of religion and media, and the phenomenon of rally politics. Challenges to national elites from the regions is also closely scrutinized. These themes and issues have a broader relevance to wider debates in comparative politics which students explore in their written assessment.

Contemplative practices such as mindfulness and yoga, silent retreats and pilgrimages have seen a significant rise in popularity in recent years, in part driven by a rapidly growing body of scientific literature on the purported benefits of such practices for the relief of the ills of modern life, such as stress, anxiety, depression, but also as elements in the enhancement of human resilience and capacity. A sustained, critical and practical engagement with this field using a broad humanities approach can offer students an unusually rich and concrete experience in combining scholarly and personal inquiry. Through a close engagement with contemplative practices as objects of academic study and debate, as social phenomena in contemporary society, and as lived practices, this course provides an opportunity to explore fundamental questions in the humanities; for example, about the nature and meaning of being human; about consciousness, cognition and experience; about the relationship between mind and body; about freedom and connectedness; and about the relationship between the humanities and the sciences. The course introduces a rapidly growing field of research with considerable public interest to which humanities research makes significant contributions. By exploring contemplative practices in context, in theory, and in practice, students have an opportunity to develop a critical ability for assessing scholarly and popular claims about the nature and purported effects of contemplative practices. Literature for the course includes both scholarly texts about contemplative life and practice and historical and contemporary texts from contemplative traditions, including from classical philosophy, Christian, Sufi, and Buddhist contexts, as well as modern forms, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.