University of Copenhagen

This course covers family behaviors from a life-course perspective and an ecological system perspective. It introduces recent and hot research topics of family studies and provides a historical review on how family behaviors and policies change with the development of a society. The course provides an overview of theories, empirical research, research design, and methods under family sociology. The course follows a topic-specific and a case-specific approach to explore the diversity of life experience in the family sphere and the determinants of family behaviors. Topics include dating and mate selection, cohabitation and marriage, sexual life, parenting, work and life balance, gender and domestic work, break-up and divorce, intergenerational relationship, family policies, et cetera.

This course provides the conceptual tools needed to understand, analyze, and critically and constructively engage with ongoing societal transformations induced by climate change, biodiversity, and other ecological crises, colloquially known as green transition. It builds on scholarship and meso-level theories founded in environmental and climate sociology, branching also into other literatures to ask foundational questions about society-wide change towards sustainability: how much of it is currently happening across societal sectors, domains, and levels; how it has or is currently being brought about; and what shapes, conditions, or hampers more of it. The course begins by reviewing debates on two contrasting diagnoses: the risk society diagnosis of Ulrich Beck and the ecological modernization diagnosis of Maarten Hajer, John Dryzek, and others. At stake is the question of the place of environmental concern, policy, and practice in reworking (late) modernity. From here, the course delves into the main institutional vectors of green social change, covering in turn questions of socio-technical change (green technological innovation, changing infrastructures); political-economic change (shifting modes of governance and politics, new circular market models); mobilization-driven change (environmental social movements, urban green communities); changing North-South relations (new globalized inequalities, climate justice activism); everyday practice change (emerging consumptions habits, new social distinctions and divisions); and cultural value change (continuity and change in moral valuations of ‘nature’ in the Anthropocene). Throughout, the focus is on understanding present-day green social change in light of historical experience and meso-level sociological theory, with a view to taking stock of what near-future changes lie ahead. Alongside examining the various substantive dimensions of green transition, it also discusses adequate methodological strategies affiliated with the different problem complexes and vectors of social change. Throughout, students work on aligning analytical and methodological strategies via case analyses.

This course provides a survey of the role of plant-animal interactions in the evolution of biodiversity. It covers various subjects from an evolutionary approach and uses examples from recent and ongoing research. Topics include antagonistic and mutualistic types of plant-animal interactions; generalization versus specialization; evolutionary approaches to study plant-animal interaction, including understanding phylogenies; herbivory and grazing from both a plant and animal perspective; pollination ecology, especially plant-insect interactions; attractants and rewards; seed predation and dispersal; plant protection; arms race and co-evolution; physical and chemical plant defenses; plant-plant and other interactions; grazer-algae interactions in the marine environment; and community-level interactions including plants as habitat and food webs. The course consists of lectures and small in class exercises, hands-on activities, visits to the botanic gardens, and literature-based discussions. Training in scientific writing and oral and written communication skills is provided through workshops, journal clubs, an essay and an oral presentation. Students choose a plant-animal interaction and write an individual essay in the form of a scientific article (in review form) using primary literature.

This course teaches the art of writing narrative. It allows students to explore their creative side and includes perspectives on narratological concepts such as point of view, characterization, conflict, and writing feeling. Readings include contemporary British and American writers with a specific eye to their craft and technique in the art of writing.

The course introduces the history of concepts of gender and sexuality, and covers topics such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, sex education, women’s emancipation, masculinity, prostitution, pornography, sexual nationalism, and transgenderism. It uses a diverse range of teaching methods including group work, movie screenings, and lectures. The course focuses on Denmark, but also studies how Denmark relates and compares to the rest of the world. The course does not require previous knowledge of theories of gender and sexuality and provides the opportunity to share knowledge of students' respective home countries in an academic setting.