University of Copenhagen

This course provides a panorama on the relationship and interplays between discrete mathematics, often called combinatorics, and other areas such as representation theory and algebraic geometry. A particular focus is on learning algebraic, geometric, and probabilistic methods in combinatorics. Specific topics are selected based on current research. Topics discussed include probabilistic methods and extremal combinatorics, algebraic methods and formal power series, and geometric combinatorics and discrete geometry.

This course provides an opportunity to rediscover one of the classic fields of anthropology, economic anthropology. It explores both classic and contemporary economic culture and allows for experimental use of economic anthropology in analysis of the student’s own empirical data, planned fieldwork, or theoretical discussions. The course explores issues such as forms of value, work, consumption, distribution and welfare society, spheres of exchange, spirits of capitalism, financialization, precarization, market fantasies, and economic cosmologies. The course consists of lectures, group discussions, presentations, and feedback sessions where students read and comment on each other’s writing.

This course explores a wide range of core topics in social psychology, including how psychological functioning is socially embedded; the influence of social and societal structures on the behavior of individuals, groups, and institutions; the importance of attitudes and norms for social action; individualization and identity development; and social integration and participation in social institutions and groups. The course introduces classic and contemporary theories and empirical research in social psychology, as well as the historical-embeddedness and development of its themes. Various methodological traditions are also introduced, along with their capabilities and limitations. 

This course introduces flows, networks, and diasporas as lenses from which to study international migration. The course mainly focuses on international migration from a global south perspective, but has a truly global scope that is particularly explored in analyses of the migration-development nexus. Likewise, the course discusses if and how climate change can be seen as a driver for migration and the role of migration in forming sustainable adaptation. The course focuses on one theme each week divided into two parts; first, conceptual presentations and discussions and second, critical readings of particular analyses/case studies. The exact content of the course may be influenced by students’ particular interests.

This course provides an overview of the level and changes of socio-economic conditions (income, poverty, education, health) in the global south. These conditions are put in perspective in presentations and discussions of the major trends in classical and contemporary thinking about economic development. General textbook material and selected articles on the subject form the core of the readings. The range of topics covered include theories of development, micro- and macroeconomic issues, economic analysis, as well as key policy issues and recommendations.

This course introduces the Danish welfare model and policy, including knowledge of this model's distinctive features in comparison with other models, and the challenges of increased globalization and individualization. Emphasis is placed on the distribution of welfare in relation to income, education, labor market attachment, health, and consumption. The course examines welfare at the individual level, across generations (social and economic mobility), and at the macro level (social cohesion). It focuses on welfare distribution in relation to class, gender, age, and ethnicity, as it deals with the consequences of failure welfare in different parts of the population. The course discusses relations between welfare and labor market models in Denmark and in other countries. It analyzes conditions and living conditions of both the so-called standard population and for vulnerable groups such as the poor, long-term unemployed, and socially marginalized families and individuals. The teaching focuses on understanding how social factors affect communities and individuals' welfare, and how individual circumstances and choices can affect the situation of each person or group is in. The course offers insights into how specific welfare policies affect people's living conditions, and how the "system" meets public/users in various forms of welfare provision.