University of Copenhagen

This course focuses on the process of decolonization in Greenland after World War II. Decolonization, demarcated politically by the amendment of Greenland's colonial status in 1953 (and integration into the Danish Realm), prompted the design and implementation of comprehensive improvement schemes (known as G-50 and G-60). Today the process of decolonization is a politically charged topic tied to contemporary agendas such as Greenland's future relationship with Denmark, and severe social problems in Greenland. Moreover, climate change in the Arctic region has enhanced Greenland's geopolitical importance and motivated the superpowers of the world to focus their attention on resource extraction and military activities in the country. Donald Trump's remarks concerning a purchase of Greenland, the Chinese eagerness to invest in Greenland's infrastructure, Russia's military activities in the Arctic, and finally the US-administration's efforts to reestablish diplomatic representation in Greenland are the strongest indications of these tendencies. This course analyzes the historical roots of the somewhat hectic present day situation in which Greenland appears to reemerge in a new Arctic (frontier), focusing specifically on: the historical roots of Greenland's contemporary situation and the challenges facing the Danish Realm; postcolonial perspectives on decolonization and modernization efforts in Greenland; understandings of the consequences of climate change in the Arctic region; understandings of the ways in which shifts in the geopolitical balance are altering Greenland's situation.

This course is an introduction to the Danish natural terrestrial habitats and their preconditions. It provides students with methods for describing groups of organisms (e.g. plants, fungi, beetles) and vegetation structure, deadwood and soil conditions as indicators. Students practice describing and characterizing locations using essential ecological parameters and appropriate groups of organisms.

This course explores to which degree chronic diseases emerge in different populations on a global level. The main emphasis is on diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and obesity. The course provides the participants with a definition of the concept of ethnicity/race followed by investigations in different populations globally in order to show if and why chronic diseases are more prevalent in specific populations. In this field, studies in Europeans (Caucasians) are mainly used as a reference. Different questions are addressed such as: are there biological differences between ethnic populations? Are the WHO definitions of for example overweight applicable in all populations? Do changes in lifestyle have the same effect in all populations? The concepts of fetal programming and the metabolic syndrome are defined and discussed. Furthermore, the course makes an attempt to look ahead and give a qualified guess with regards to the association between disease and susceptibility due to genetic admixture as a result of migration and urbanization on a worldwide scale. Finally, the course addresses the association between chronic and communicable diseases, which is highly prevalent in developing countries.

The course covers cutting-edge theoretical and experimental knowledge of cell biology with special emphasis on cellular structures, organization and function of organelles, physiological properties of cells, signaling pathways, and interactions between cells and their environment. The course thus provides the student with in-depth knowledge on the complexity of cell biology and how defects in cellular processes are associated with pathological conditions.

This course studies the role of immigrants, migrants, and refugees as part of the contemporary debate over nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization. By studying New York and London's massive population expansions, urban-industrial development, and new metropolitan cultures, students learn how the histories of these cities have interacted and run in parallel for the past two centuries. This course surveys nationwide patterns and specifically interrogates the parallel histories of London and New York to better understand the nature of the migrant urban experience.

This course covers the workings of the Danish Welfare model. The students learn about one of the most extensive and generous government models in the westerly part of the welfare states, as well as the economic history behind Danish welfare development and the substantial challenges that lie ahead. Some of these challenges include slow product development, a decreasing workforce due to an aging population, the need for working forces, and the challenges from globalization.

This course offers students a unique insight in the linkages between people's recreational use of nature and the management and planning of nature areas. The course deals with practical and theoretical aspects of planning, management, and governance of outdoor recreation. Students learn, from a management point of view, how to deal with visitors and users of nature areas based on both theoretical and practical management related knowledge. Outdoor recreation is high on today's policy, research, and planning agenda because planning authorities have focused on the link between outdoor recreation, active living, and public health. Furthermore, opportunities for outdoor recreation are an integrated part of forest and afforestation policy, municipal landscape planning, urban green space planning, national agricultural policy, and nature policy. Moreover, access to nature and green/blue spaces with opportunities for outdoor recreation plays a key role in peoples' choice of settlement, and development of outdoor recreation opportunities contribute to rural development by delivering economic benefits to rural societies. The following themes are covered: public accessibility, nature protection, conflicts between user groups, zoning and multifunctional planning approaches, public participation and collaboration between stakeholders, management of outdoor recreation facilities, monitoring and mapping of outdoor recreation including usages of interviews, surveys, visitor counting, GIS, GPS, and App's in order to support planning and management of outdoor recreation. The course has an international focus and include examples and cases from Denmark and other countries.

The course works with texts on the category of the “person”, and it pursues ideas about the divide, or un-divide, between body and soul in different cultural contexts and historical periods. An ethnographic core of the course is the Brazilian religion Candomblé and its derivatives, and it relies on texts with topics ranging from African ideas about the person to the contemporary Candomblé and further on to the Christian tradition as for instance reflected in Pentecostalism. Texts on Western ideas about body and soul in a historical light with emphasis on European philosophical ideas and Christianity, including ideas about authenticity as elaborated in Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor's work, are also included. The course thus provides an opportunity to discuss what Webb Keane has called a “depth ontology,” and in a broader sense how the interiority orientation that has been said to characterize post-Lutheran Christianity relates to ideas about the human body. The course should be of interest to students who intend to work with anthropological approaches to subjectivity with a phenomenological inspired focus on the body, but it also deals with sociality in a perspective that relies on a performance approach. And since religion and ritual are the ethnographic core of the course, it can also be regarded as an advanced course in the anthropology of religion.