Germany

The Swiss author Johanna Spyri created one of the world's most famous children's book characters with Heidi's Years of Apprenticeship and Traveling (1880) and Heidi Can Use What She Has Learned (1881). To date, the Heidi novels have been translated into around 50 languages and repeated, among other things. Adapted as a film, (animated) series, comic, musical and radio play. Most recently, in May 2023, the Johanna Spyri Archive and the Heidi Archive were added to the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage, which lists cultural-historical artifacts of global importance. Using the example of auditory adaptations of the first Heidi volume, the seminar provides an insight into the analysis of children's audio media. Audio books and radio plays are available that deal with the story of the cheerful orphan girl and span from the 1950s to the present. The audio media are discussed from aesthetic and narrative points of view as well as with regard to content transformations. The starting point of the seminar is the reading of Spyr'is Heidi's years of teaching and traveling.

Hate crimes are on the rise, and so is support for political violence. Because of their subjugating and oppressing nature, bias-motivated offenses are generally viewed as different in their effects. Compared to their non-bias-motivated counterparts, hate crimes strike thrice. First, by targeting the immediate victim; second, by sending a “message” to the victim’s perceived community; and third, by calling into question an open societies’ commitment to inclusion, equity and tolerance. As such, hate crimes pose a serious threat to democratic ideals and to the complex challenge of maintaining and strengthening a peaceful coexistence. In this seminar, we will explore the contextual drivers of hate crimes through a quantitative lens. By examining the existing literature, we will investigate the impact of various social, economic, political, and institutional factors on the frequency and prevalence of hate crimes. In addition to exploring the causes of hate crimes, we will critically examine strategies aimed at preventing these acts. In addition to theoretical knowledge, this course emphasizes practical experience. We will engage with common datasets, learn about relevant research designs and replicate existing studies. 

Discos, clubs, and raves have been focal points for the development of new and distinctive musical and cultural practices over the past four decades. More recently, they have also become the subject of much scholarly research. This course introduces key themes, theories, and scenes of electronic dance music. Particular emphasis is given to the intersection of music, identity, and history. Other themes that will arise include genre, dance and embodiment, musical form, place, and underground/mainstream interactions.

In this class we will read Aristotle's Categories and discuss it in detail. The Categories is one of the most influential texts in the history of European philosophy. Yet it is far from clear what Aristotle is trying to achieve in the work and even what kind of a work it is. In particular, the Categories intermingles metaphysical and linguistic questions and claims in a strange way. For that reason, its main claim has been seen as an antiplatonic metaphysical theories and as a metaphysically neutral theory in philosophy of language about terms. The central questions in this class will be: To what extent does the Categories present a metaphysical theory? How is this theory related to the claims in the text about linguistic expressions? We will read current research on these matters and discuss the text of the Categories intensively.

Students gain an overview of the fundamental technologies of the World Wide Web (WWW) and their applications. They study the functionality of the WWW as an overlay network of the Internet and examine the underlying communication infrastructure and protocols. Students also study the different generations of the WWW and the current as well as the future development. They learn to semantically structure, design and link web content, to create dynamic web sites, and to program server-side applications and how to connect them with the front-end via interfaces. Course content includes foundations (the main parts of the WWW and its evolution over the past decades), web pages (the structure and design of web content with HTML and CSS), web applications (an overview of JavaScript, the DOM and AJAX ), architecture and communication (the foundations of the OSI model with the consideration of the IP, TCP and UDP protocol as well as the explanation of the REST architectural style), server-side applications (creation of back-end applications with Node.js), selected APIs and frameworks.

From the Enlightenment up to the present Berlin has been a preferred home for poets, novelists, playwrights, journalists and creative writers of any kind. Their stories and visions are not only represented but shaped by the idea of the city. This course includes selected works of literature (and some works of visual art as well) written in different periods in Berlin. The works are contextualized by the dynamic and multilayered history of the city and are connected to the urban spaces of today. Excursions, readings and discussions help students gain insight into the rich cultural history and the current discourses in and about Berlin.

The seminar examines selected areas of development in early childhood. The focus is on emotional development in infancy and toddlerhood, supplemented by important milestones in early social and social-cognitive development.

This course offers an overview of Israel's political and social structure from an urban perspective. The course is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter, "Political and Social Foundations in Israel," will deal with the political system in Israel, particularly emphasizing the local government; and with the main social divisions that underlie this system. The second chapter, "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict," will present the history and geography of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while referring to critical and institutional theories. The third and main chapter, "Cities in Israel," will present an analysis of politics and society in Israel through various cities in Israel, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Acre, Nazareth; and peripheral agricultural areas that include the tension between the kibbutzim and the development towns.

American sports culture frequently serves as an example of an alleged American exceptionalism; a fact that a relative indifference towards soccer, the exceptional “big four” pro sports leagues, and collegiate sports culture (NCAA) seemingly underline. This course sets out to make sense of and (maybe) trouble the narrative of American exceptionalism by examining the history of modern sports in the United States. We will consider the aesthetic, social, cultural, and political factors that contributed to the development and practice of sports from roughly the middle of the 19th century into our current age. The class will approach sports history with a focus on the relationship between sports and society, i.e. the role that sports has played in shaping ideology and informing popular thought, for example in the context of nationhood and globalization, but also with regard to modern discourses of health and fitness. The ultimate goal of this course is to encourage critically looking at, thinking, and writing about sports as everyday practice and as a professional field, as connected to discourses of health and (the pursuit of) happiness, as media event and content, and as a prominent repository of liberal narratives of meritocracy.