Humboldt University Berlin

This course examines different farm management and agribusiness management practices and approaches in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives, the course provides students with understanding of the key approaches, issues and themes relating to strategic management in agribusiness (theories, planning), organization theory (explanatory approaches, design principles), interorganizational coordination (cooperation, chain management), fundamentals of innovation and knowledge management, basics of information and knowledge management, and business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

This course examines the comparative analysis of women's roles in politics and the challenges they encounter in attaining positions of power within the political arena. The seminar is split into two parts. The first part explores various aspects of women's involvement in politics, such as the historical struggle for women's suffrage, the gender gap in voting behavior, ideology, and political involvement, and their variation across countries and time. The second part focuses on various aspects of women's representation in political institutions, including the challenges they face when seeking public office, their portrayal in the media, their impact on political decision-making, and the relationship between their presence and corruption. Additional topics include the entry of women into politics and the degree of this transformation varying across different countries and regions. Questions covered include: what factors underlie these variations? Why have some political systems successfully integrated women into politics while others lag behind? Do men and women approach politics differently in terms of understanding and engagement? Is there a disparity in political involvement and aspirations between genders? Additionally, how has media coverage affected female candidates? Furthermore, once in power, do women govern differently from men? 

This course discusses the evidence for the deepening crisis of the gap between Islamic countries and the rest of the world and how it has continuously widened since the 1970’s. Students explore potential causes, the Arab Spring, including Western colonialism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the relation between state and religion in Muslim countries, political and economic effects, effects on immigration, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.

There are two thoughts at the center of this class, which are to be challenged and clarified in discussion. The first thought is that all desire is somehow or other aimed at the good. The second thought is that all action is somehow or other subject to normative evaluation. The class challenges and clarifies these thoughts by close reading of parts of Plato's Republic and of contemporary texts. From Plato's Republic, the class focuses on the role of technical expertise (techne) in guiding action; on theory of the tripartite soul; and on the theory of desire and its objects. Students read contemporary works, especially by Christine Korsgaard, that deals with related themes and also touches on Plato's Republic. Students also read works by Rachel Barney, which is focused on the Republic and helps to forge a connection between Plato's text and these contemporary debates.

This seminar engages students in a close reading and discussion of a selection of key texts in which Plotinus addresses problems surrounding his understanding of love. The main focus of this seminar is on Plotinus treatise Ennead 3.5, dedicated to the topic of love, which includes his interpretation of central parts of Plato’s Symposium. This seminar begins by looking at some central texts by Plato on love, esp. the speech by Diotima in the Symposium. No knowledge of Greek is required.  Students are reading all texts in English translation, but occasionally the Greek text is discussed.

In September 2023, 74 works from the 16th to 19th centuries from the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art were brought to Berlin from Ukraine. Since then they have been studied, conserved, re-framed, and prepared for an exhibition starting in January 2025. In January, the Gemäldegalerie will exhibit the paintings removed from Odessa and put them in dialogue with the existing collection in Berlin. This seminar is devoted to the study of the paintings from Odessa and to the consideration of comparable paintings in Berlin, taking advantage of the juxtaposition of the two collections. It reflects upon the fate of works of art during times of war, considering the impact upon artistic and cultural heritage in the Ukraine since the Russian war of aggression. The history of the dispersal of works of art in Berlin in the 20th century provides a comparative history. The exhibition brings to the forefront works of art by important artists that were previously little-known and little-studied: Francesco Granacci, Frans Hals, Bernardo Strozzi, and others.

The full-scale Russian war against Ukraine has a fundamental impact on almost every aspect of societal, political, and economic life in all countries of the post-soviet space. While it is yet too early to fully understand and assess the multiple dimensions of this “Zeitenwende”, this course tries to take stock of some of the repercussions visible so far. These analyses not only focus on the present violent dynamic in the region, but also include still relevant legacies of the shared Soviet past as well as the - intended and unintended – changes which shape the future of the societies, the political systems and the geopolitical orientation of the countries directly or indirectly affected by the war. In order to enable a deeper understanding of these complex developments, scholars from the region are invited as co-teachers to (parts of) the seminar. If possible, they also establish (virtual) contacts between student groups in their countries of origin and the participants of the project seminar. It is the aim of these collaborative efforts to look at the ongoing war and its possible consequences from the perspective of the affected populations. One main focus is on Ukraine, but also some of the neighboring countries, such as Georgia, Armenia, Moldova or Kasachstan are taken into consideration. In addition, voices from Russia and, in particular, from Russians who left their home country because they oppose its current regime, are included. Instead of writing “classical” term papers, the participating students collaborate on different formats, such as blog posts, podcasts or even (brief) documentary videos to share their insights with a broader public.

The varieties of German differ in the lexis and pronunciation of words as well as in morphology, morphosyntax, syntax, and lexical semantics. In the course of this seminar, we will deal with various such variation phenomena from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective 

The European Union is an important actor when it comes to law-making. While this often appears to be very abstract, it does impact our lives as European citizens very much, also on the national level. In 2021, the European Commission opened a series of citizen-led debates, the Conference on the Future of Europe. These meetings, taking place in various formats, allowed citizens from all over Europe to share their ideas and provide suggestions on how to improve their future in Europe. This seminar will offer students the opportunity to investigate this process more closely, its results, achievements and implications for all inhabitants of European member states. Connecting them in a better was with EU institutions is crucial considering that European elections will take place in May 2024 and that Eurosceptical voices are rising in many European societies. At the end of the seminar, students will have fostered their background on theoretical perspectives to critically analyze Europeanization, integration and multi-level governance, including institutional, feminist and sociological approaches.

Agile software development methodologies and frameworks have changed how software is created, and are widely used and supported. This is not surprising, given that agile approaches stand, among other aspects, for continuous change and collaboration between stakeholders. These characteristics are aligned with the dynamic needs of business models pursuing innovation, which is why companies consider agile software development a key element for the future. In this seminar we will explore the rise and evolution of agile software development. Among other aspects, we will look at the principles and values behind it, what differentiates it from traditional software development approaches, its main frameworks and methodologies, the challenges jeopardizing its values, and what we can expect from it for the years to come.