Singapore

This course offers a hands-on introduction to essential concepts in computational media, focusing on web development and data visualization. Non-programmers are introduced to the fundamentals of industry-standard programming languages, tools, and best practices for web development and data analysis, through hands-on tutorials and programming exercises. Topics include social media to public relations campaigns, from data reporting to web design, from business decision-making to news, from democratic participation to interactive art, and the ability to understand and interpret computational media.

This course focuses on the concepts and practical use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for problem solving in both the social and physical sciences. Topics include vector and raster data formats and their analytical functions. Practical laboratory exercises utilizing GIS software such as ArcGIS are a core component of the course.

This course offers an introductory survey of major religious traditions of the world, with specific focus on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Topics examine the historical development of each tradition, along with its sacred texts, basic philosophical ideas, patterns of ritual and worship, and specialized institutions The goal is to provide an objective understanding of each faith tradition on its own terms, and secondarily, to explore how religion is relevant to contemporary social, political and cultural issues. 

This beginning-language course in standard (Mandarin) Chinese is a continuation of Chinese I. It consists of three components: grammar, conversation and Chinese characters. The course introduces another 280 Chinese characters and 250 phrases. Emphasis is placed on listening, speaking, reading and the writing of Chinese characters. Students are required to give short speeches and to conduct projects in tutorials. Assessment: attendance, participation, assignments and exercises, oral presentation, quizzes, midterm, final exam.

This course covers the politics of democratization in South Asia, a region with a long history of inter-state and intra-state conflict. The post-colonial separation of India into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh has caused cross border tensions and paved the way for military intervention in the domestic politics of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The diverse interests of ethnic and religious communities are testing the legitimacy of majoritarian democracy and the limits of claims for autonomous government. This course examines the institutional structures, state-citizen relations, and identity politics in South Asia’s democratic experiments to find hope for democracy in a polarized world.

This course explores how variation in language use relates to broader variation in the daily experiences of individuals and groups. It examines how language constructs cultural abstractions such as social class, gender, and power relations and how these abstractions play out in language varieties and shape their defining characteristics.