University of Copenhagen

This course focuses on protest and activism in contemporary Eastern Europe. It focuses primarily on the post-Soviet region, particularly Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. However, through guest lectures, it also explores protest in Poland and the former Yugoslavia. The course examines various types of protest movements and political activism, including environmental movements and grass-root initiatives, protest events and large scale protest movements, activism and political activities of political emigrants, and other contemporary cases in the region. Furthermore, it introduces several theories related to studies of protest and social movements. The course consists of lectures, discussions, and student presentations.

This course introduces food systems and their actors as a framework for understanding and analyzing the development in the food sector. It provides a basis for handling future changes of food systems in a societal context. The course explores food systems and food networks as conceptualizations of the complex system behind food products and as useful tool in analysis of food related developments. It examines the historical development and structure of food systems (mainstream and alternative food systems), including an overview of changing technologies; structure, location, and actors as well as salient political issues characterizing food systems in different periods. The course then discusses the governance of food systems, including an introduction to dynamics of policy processes, and questions of the power and interests of core actors as well the role of social movements. Finally, it presents key concepts and theories useful for understanding an analyzing the development and transition of food systems, such as socio-material approaches to food systems change, sustainability, and actor understandings.

The course discusses the role of cultural policy in the age of platform giants and how the digital media ecology of major platforms creates inter-dependencies with other platforms, established cultural institutions, legacy media, public service institutions, digital creators, and users. The course begins with a discussion on the platform society and how the notion of digital cultural politics relates to cultural, media, and communication policy, as well as the internet and cultural industries. It lays the foundations from the perspective of dominant platforms and platform providers, with a specific focus on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and YouTube. The second part of the course looks at the inter-dependencies that these platforms generate between themselves and cultural institutions, analyzing cultural institution’s use of platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The third part of the course focuses on data politics, user rights ethics, and discrimination. The final part of the course is composed of a day-long workshop where students work on themes and topics of their own choice as part of their final project. This course is taken in conjunction with the course Cultural Policy – Theory, Method & Analysis (HMKK03611U), a compulsory but non-credit-bearing course that provides students with adequate tools to conduct research within the field of cultural policy, with an emphasis on the relationship between theoretical framework, methodological design, and analysis. 

This course introduces and challenges the ways in which contemporary gender, sexuality, and heteronormativity are interpreted through ethnographic case studies. While many modern Western societies debate openly the concepts of gender, sexuality, and LGBTQIA, a range of non-Western anthropological studies from around the world demonstrate the knowledge and concepts that reshape the notion of queerness and gender fluidity in global societies. With a comparative outlook towards Western societies, the course explores and discusses the change of gender roles in the 21st century, transgenderism and vulnerabilities, post-colonial queer cultures and discrimination, masculinity and femininity, power of beauty and aesthetics, and other critical topics such as LGBTQ sex work, non-conformity, and transgender inmates in prisons, as well as their connection to gender identity formation in contemporary society.

This course explores the multitude of ways in which human development and the environment are connected. It provides an understanding of key theoretical, conceptual, and practical debates and issues within the agriculture/environment-development field and allows students to practice interdisciplinarity through active participation in discussions and group work. The course explores the intersections of economic growth, social development, and environmental conservation. It considers important development questions such as the reason for hunger and famine, how globalization affects access to resources and social dynamics, and how gender inequality intersects with development. Sessions are devoted to epistemological reflections for each of these themes. This course places particular focus on countries in the Global South.