Netherlands

Employing recent theories from gender and postcolonial studies, as well as media studies, this course analyses a wide range of case studies from contemporary visual culture, across a broad scope of genres and technologies. The course requires participants to critically think about concepts such as visuality, visual culture, representation, and technology. A novel approach to art, culture, and technology by challenging the primacy of vision and by mobilizing an intersectional perspective is provided. Visual methodologies and analytic tools from the fields of semiotics and psychoanalysis to be able to critically assess how social and cultural norms are disseminated in visual ways are learned. The course provides a toolkit for thinking through the growing and often overwhelming array of images we are confronted with daily in our media-saturated culture.

French Beginners is a French task-based language course for students with no knowledge of the French language. This course involves sets of grammatical, lexical, and phonological items. Communicative tasks are used to develop speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. An important aspect of the course is the culture knowledge of French and other French-speaking countries. The French language course for beginners aims at the A1/A2 level of the Common European Framework (CEFR). By the end of this course, students are able to: understand and use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type; introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows, and things he/she has; can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

This course explores various energy-related issues through an interdisciplinary lens drawing on literature from the environmental sciences, communication science, psychology, and sociology. In drawing together the links between energy and society, students explore the role of greenwashing within the energy sector, the socio-political and environmental impacts of energy infrastructure development (drawing on case studies such as the Shale Gas boom in the US, and oil extraction in the Arctic), and explore questions such as can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis? As an overarching frame for the course, students explore how energy and climate issues are communicated to the public, and in doing so draw on the field of science communication.

Cognitive Neuroscience I is an introduction to this field, studying the physiology and anatomy of the brain, the functional anatomy of cognitive functions, and the experimental toolkit of cognitive neuroscience (ranging from reaction-time tests to functional MRI). The results of recent research into perception, attention, learning and memory, and language, and their neurological underpinnings are also looked at. Throughout the course, special attention is given to dysfunctions of cognitive functioning resulting from brain damage. This course covers the following topics: the basic functions of the brain and neurophysiological processes underlying various mental faculties; how neurocognitive research is conducted, particularly how behavioral and neurocognitive research methods are used as complementary means to the same end; and current issues in neurocognitive research. Prerequisites for the course: this course puts considerable weight on anatomy and physiology of the brain and on molecular processes underlying the function of the nervous system; knowledge of biology at the high school level is recommended.

This course aims to provide an overview of western history, and some aspects of Middle Eastern history, from late antiquity to the 15th century. This includes an exploration of key political, economic, social, and religious events and developments. Examples include the evolution of the Roman Empire and its transition into the various empires and areas that eventually came to replace it in the West. Attention is also paid to the existing debate about the medieval period as a so-called "dark age." The birth of Christianity was another crucial development that shaped European history. Key events in later centuries include the establishment of universities, vast economic expansion, formation of the cultural landscape, trade expeditions, voyages of discovery, demographic growth, and the urbanization of large parts of Europe. Other important issues include constitutional developments ranging from the emergence of State Assemblies and gradual expansion of the powers held by kings and other rulers, to revolts and wars. Crucial religious and cultural developments include the major Councils, the Gregorian reforms, the Investiture Conflict and the Renaissance of the 12th century. This overview serves as a basis for the discussion of various themes. The course includes a visit to the special collection of the university library at the Uithof, where several manuscripts are shown.

Creative writing encompasses forms of writing outside of professional, journalistic, academic, or technical writing. This course introduces students to the theory and practice of creative writing, with an emphasis on crafting prose. Students learn about the different tools that writers of fiction and creative nonfiction (also known as narrative nonfiction) employ to make these forms successful in a myriad of ways. Through reading, discussion, and practice, the class explores the ways in which writers creatively manipulate structure and language. The course discusses how literary devices are employed to give their writing a unique tone and style. Each week, the class reads and discusses examples of creative texts to analyze which stylistic elements make the pieces successful. Then, students apply what they learn to their own writing through weekly writing exercises, and strengthen the work through subsequent feedback in workshop, culminating in one fully-formed piece of writing at the end of the course.

This course is an introduction to the field of public international law. The course covers major topics in this field, including sources of international law (treaties and customary international law); subjects (States and international organizations); the law of State responsibility; the prohibition on the use of force; and international dispute settlement. The course emphasizes learning how to read and understand international law instruments, such as states multilateral treaties and judgments of the International Court of Justice. The course discusses topics including sources and subjects of international law, state responsibility, prohibition on the use of force, jurisdiction, immunities, international dispute settlement, and international human rights law.

This course provides a partially integrated history of science and philosophy of science. Proceeding chronologically, through three different time periods, the course describes the actual practice of science and philosophical debates about what counts as science. Students relate both to each other and argue that both should be understood in the broader historical context of the time.  Three specific themes are considered for each of the three successive periods: the invention and rejection of tradition: 1200-1700; the individual and society: 1700-1850; and dealing with uncertainty: 1850-today.