National University of Singapore

This course offers an introductory survey of major religious traditions of the world, with specific focus on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Topics examine the historical development of each tradition, along with its sacred texts, basic philosophical ideas, patterns of ritual and worship, and specialized institutions The goal is to provide an objective understanding of each faith tradition on its own terms, and secondarily, to explore how religion is relevant to contemporary social, political and cultural issues. 

This beginning-language course in standard (Mandarin) Chinese is a continuation of Chinese I. It consists of three components: grammar, conversation and Chinese characters. The course introduces another 280 Chinese characters and 250 phrases. Emphasis is placed on listening, speaking, reading and the writing of Chinese characters. Students are required to give short speeches and to conduct projects in tutorials. Assessment: attendance, participation, assignments and exercises, oral presentation, quizzes, midterm, final exam.

This course covers the politics of democratization in South Asia, a region with a long history of inter-state and intra-state conflict. The post-colonial separation of India into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh has caused cross border tensions and paved the way for military intervention in the domestic politics of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The diverse interests of ethnic and religious communities are testing the legitimacy of majoritarian democracy and the limits of claims for autonomous government. This course examines the institutional structures, state-citizen relations, and identity politics in South Asia’s democratic experiments to find hope for democracy in a polarized world.

This course explores how variation in language use relates to broader variation in the daily experiences of individuals and groups. It examines how language constructs cultural abstractions such as social class, gender, and power relations and how these abstractions play out in language varieties and shape their defining characteristics. 

This course examines kinship, a foundational concern of anthropology. Kinship is, essentially about, relationships. The course investigates the forms, meanings and manipulations of relationships that people have constructed across various historical and cultural contexts. Comparing the diverse ways in which people live, labor and love, it examines the centrality of kinship to understandings of what it means to be a person. Concurrently, kinship is a medium for grappling with the interactions between intimate life and public culture, domestic production-reproduction and political economy, everyday practices and conceptual structures and affection and moral obligations. The focus of the course is on how kinship is a vital force in contemporary societies.

This course introduces the rationale for, and process of, the emergence and growth of Singapore's built environment from a third world country to a world class city. It enables students to have an understanding and appreciation of the economic and social aspects and implications of how properties and infrastructure are developed and managed, given the constraints that Singapore faces. It also encourages them to develop alternative views on how the built environment can help Singapore continue to prosper and remain relevant in the region. 

This undergraduate research course (UROPS) provides students the opportunity to work under the mentorship of NUS faculty and experience the challenges and benefits that come from pursuing an independent research project. It provides undergraduate students the opportunity to foster mentoring relationships with faculty and research staff while working in a specific area of study. This program allows students to engage actively in research, discussions, intellectual communications and other creative activities. Through the typical phases of doing research, students are able to enhance their knowledge in the latest development of science and technology; acquire special communication and presentation skills; experience creative thinking; interact and forge closer ties with the established scientists and members of their groups. 

This course provides an introduction to the philosophy of art. Topics include the definition of art, evaluation of art, interpretation of art, art and morality.