University of Auckland

This course considers the media in relation to racial and ethnic identities. It examines how dominant media represent different cultural groups as "other" in relation to allegedly mainstream identities. Drawing on critical race theory and whiteness studies, the course includes a specific focus on Maori engagement with media and “Pakeha-ness” as an ethnic identity. Students gain a detailed understanding of post-colonialism and indigeneity in international and local contexts.

This course provides perspective on the many emerging challenges facing business and modern society as we look towards a future characterized by limited resources, growing populations, shifting climates, and constantly changing economic, technological, and political structures. As most major international reports on the state of the world agree, "business as usual" will likely compound these problems rather than alleviate them. This course explores possible options that could be applied to create more adaptive arrangements for future thriving. The course models these shifts by challenging students to create the vision, commitment, and practical thinking necessary to contribute to a progressive world.

The Caribbean, by virtue of its geography and history, embraces cultural elements of Africa, India, Europe, and North America. This course focuses primarily on Caribbean and African societies in order to address a range of issues connected to these variously hybrid cultures: slavery, black identity and sexuality, nation/narration, home, and location/dislocation.

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of geology. Students explore space and the solar system, and examine geologic and Earth surface processes that have shaped the Earth and life through time. It investigates large Earth systems including Earth composition and structure, the rock cycle, plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Students study the origins of life, evolution and mass extinction and a practical introduction to minerals, rocks and fossils provides insight into Earth’s past and important mineral resources.

This course introduces the theory that underlies the statistical methods used in practical statistics courses. It is useful for students with interests in econometrics, operations research, finance, and theoretical aspects of marketing research, as well as those with an interest in math or statistics.

This course explores the interdisciplinary field of feminist theory, looking at the historical development of feminist theory across the humanities and social sciences, but emphasizing current developments in feminist theorizing around questions of identity, embodiment, gender construction, and the relationship between gender and sexuality. The primary objective of this course is for students to develop a broad understanding of a range of feminist approaches to analyzing social structures, texts, and cultural phenomena so that they can compare and apply these approaches in their written academic work and everyday life.

Ecology is the study of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes), and their relationships with one another and with their environment. This course examines ecosystem processes, factors that affect distribution and interactions of organisms, population ecology, and applications of ecology such as restoration and conservation. The key principles of ecology are taught in a New Zealand context emphasising an experimental approach.

This course examines language conventions and common tropes in medieval literature. Texts include selections of Geoffrey Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES, the entirety of KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE by Thomas Malory, and William Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET.

This course examines the core aspects of educational psychology that include thinking, learning, and behaving. An analysis of relevant theory and research within psychology in education: is covered. Topics include behavior analysis, measurement and assessment, cognition, socialization, and individual differences. Students explore these in relation to different educational settings and contexts, for example, culture, community, school, and classroom.