Netherlands

This course follows the approach that citizens are ‘predictably irrational’ (Ariely 2008). This model of human behavior has consequences for how governments can and should steer society. A behavioral approach to government steering such as ‘nudging’ is explored in this course. Students explore what it means to take a behavioral approach to public administration, how it differs from traditional policy, and to what extent has a behavioral approach been taken up by governments already, and learn about opportunities and pitfalls of a behavioral approach. Questions about whether a behavioral approach is effective, appropriate, and ethical are discussed. Finally, the course explicitly studies the policy process that leads to ‘behavioral’ policies including the other actors, such as interest groups, and contextual factors, such as institutions, rules, and norms that influence this process.  Theoretical knowledge, practical examples, guest lectures, field trips, discussions, debates, and presentations are used.

The course Poetry and Pop Songs reads English and American poetry from the 20th and 21st centuries Works are unraveled from a variety of older and newer music artists, ranging for example from U2 and Coldplay to Rihanna and Pink.  Students learn how to interpret poetry and popular music in a systematic and sophisticated way, and to write an in-depth analysis of a song or poem. The focus is on the analysis of the lyrics or ‘text’ of the poems and songs by using insights and tools from literary theory to find out how (specific) poems work, which effects they evoke, and what they mean. Students also apply these tools to the analysis of song texts. The course focuses on contemporary popular music, which means including other genres than just conventional pop music, such as rap, hip-hop, and rock.

The course introduces Geo-Information Science and its scientific and societal interests. The starting point of the introduction is the geo-information cycle. This cycle frames geo-data-based actions like acquisition and storage, processing, and visualization. It is explained that these actions can be used to describe, analyze, design, and realize real-world phenomena. Thus geo data is always acquired, processed, and visualized with a specific purpose. This is illustrated via the conceptual, formal, and technical modeling steps. Important in these modeling steps are the roles of geographical data attributes (thematic, geometric, temporal). Because the acquisition and processing of geo data are purposive, metadata plays an important role in finding geo data and geo data processing steps. It is also important to evaluate the (re)usability of geo data and geo data processing steps. Metadata explains important geo data characteristics like (geo)reference, map projection, and available attributes. Geo-visualization, especially cartography concepts, is introduced to show how geo data ought to be communicated. After the introduction of the geo data-related concepts, the course offers geo data processing options. The latter is done by the introduction of three data handling classes (query, transform, and alter) and the data-action model. Basic concepts of Remote Sensing (spectral signature, sensor types, and visual and quantitative processing) are also introduced. The application of all concepts is practiced during a practical and a small project using professional software and data.

This course focuses on the performativity of engaged citizenship through an array of practices that includes theoretical discussion and experiential learning, especially through the lens of creative activism and decolonial practice. The first part of the course is acquainted with a historical and theoretical framework in which debates on engaged citizenship will be raised, especially touching on issues regarding rights and democracy (sovereignty and subjectivity, non/territorial and psychological citizenship), Western and non-Western conceptions of citizenship (indigenous movements, migration, decolonial politics) as well as issues of inclusion and exclusion (feminist and queer critique, racial politics, planetary citizenship, civil disobedience). The theoretical part of the course develops activist, relational, and post-national accounts of citizenship. The second half is taught from a media and performance studies lens, centering on decolonial theory and experience-based learning. Students learn how to sketch, plan, and enact “micro-actions” - on and off campus, live or mediated - and thereby probe concepts of engaged citizenship. The practice-based exercises (such as live-action prompts, improvisation, visual projection, culture jamming, and tactical media) are oriented towards a plural, diverse, and open society, earth justice, and planetary citizenship.

Neuroeconomics, sometimes also known as Decision Neuroscience, is an emerging field combining insights from economics, psychology, and neuroscience to understand how (healthy) humans make decisions and how these are related to underlying cognitive and neural processes. The ultimate goal of Neuroeconomics is to integrate knowledge from the different parent disciplines to answer the fundamental question of how our brain makes us decide. This course provides an introduction to Neuroeconomics by discussing examples showing the limitations of viewing decision-making merely through the lens of the traditional fields of economics, psychology, and neuroscience. The course reviews various methods used in Neuroeconomics research for measuring and influencing brain activity. An important part of the course is devoted to learning the foundations and models of Neuroeconomics such as the basics of neuroscience. Seminal and recent studies in Neuroeconomics are read, discussed, and critically evaluated. This interdisciplinary and challenging course consists of lectures and group work. It uses formal concepts from economics and neuroscience. Prerequisites include sufficient quantitative skills and basic knowledge of microeconomics.

This course offers an introduction to the social scientific discipline of sociology. The course focuses on foundational areas of sociological research and theorizing to explore how sociologists approach the study of various social processes, practices, and problems. Topics include defining “society;” society's effects on individuals; individuals' effects on society; the development of societies; the distribution of wealth, income, and other resources; the establishment of political authority and power relations within societies; the reproduction of identities, values, and beliefs over time; and the sources of conflict, consensus, and change in society. The course explores these topics by introducing the different strands of sociological theorizing, the distinctive levels of sociological analysis, and some of the most central areas of sociological investigation, such as class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, culture, media, education, marriage, work, and globalization. Periodic attention is given to applying the sociological lens to the analysis of pressing social issues and problems in the contemporary world, such as inequality and violence.

The course starts with a discussion of Roman Law. The so-called Corpus Iuris Civilis will be used as the point of departure since most of what we know about Roman Law derives from this compilation of legal materials that was made in the 6th century AD on the orders of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. While Roman law was adapted to cope with the changing society, the idea was maintained that it was essentially the same law that had been part of the early Roman way of life. The course also concentrates on the different approaches to the law that existed and still exist in Anglo-American jurisdictions. It explains the legal differences today between continental Europe and the British Isles. Additionally, some elements of American legal history are studied. The course will conclude with a study of a selection of similarities and differences that exist in today’s European legal landscape.

Studying food is a way of studying some of the big questions that occupy social scientists. This course examines the role that food plays in customs and across cultures. Food culture is the expression of how people value food and everything connected to food. As such, this course is an exploration into the ever-changing social functions of food. This entails an examination of the attitudes and assumptions that shape people's lives; the rituals and beliefs that mark their identities; the role of ethics in food choice; and the ways foods are grown, processed, sold, and consumed in particular places.

Old Irish is the Celtic language of Ireland between ca. 600 and 900 AD. It has an exceptionally rich and varied literature. Celtic is one of the most complicated languages in the world. It is the parent of the Modern Gaelic languages of Ireland and Scotland. This course offers an introduction to Old Irish grammar as well as a first survey of medieval Irish saga literature. Students translate short texts from the Táin Bó Cúailnge, ‘The cattle-raid of Cooley'.  At the end of this course, students can answer questions relating to the basic grammatical structure of Old Irish; translate simple Dutch/English sentences into Old Irish; translate a simple short Old Irish prose text into Dutch/English in a limited amount of time; answer questions regarding the contents and literary themes in some early Irish tales; and list and explain some of the most common theoretical approaches to early Irish literature.

The course deals with basic issues in finance, such as risk diversification and asset pricing, capital structure, investment valuation, market efficiency, dividend policy, and the use of derivatives. Prerequisites include BENC2004 or an understanding of the following finance concepts: Types of securities (stocks, bonds) and their returns; the concept of risk diversification and efficient frontiers, and principles of the time value of money. Exchange students need to have taken at least one introductory finance course.