Trinity College Dublin

This course encompasses some of the most dramatic events and developments in European and world history: the First World War, the rise of fascism and communism, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. It explores the reconstruction and recovery of Europe after 1945, both as a divided continent during the Cold War and in light of moves towards and challenges to European solidarity and unity. Furthermore, it considers shifting conceptions and geopolitical configurations of a continent in flux, as well as the global dimensions of European history throughout the century. While some sessions focus on particular European nations, others focus on key events or themes in comparative and transnational perspectives. The module thus provides an overall view of the history of modern Europe since the early 20th century and of the foundations of contemporary Europe.

This course examines mass political attitudes and behavior from a comparative perspective. In the Fall term, students examine the nature of public opinion and key approaches and debates concerning its foundations. Topics include defining, measuring, and analyzing public opinion (sampling, questionnaire design, contextual sources of bias); citizen competence (information, sophistication, democratic norms and tolerance); and explaining public opinion (self-interest vs symbolic approaches, group interest models, political culture and values, role of elites, ideology, media and political communication, social networks). In the Spring term, students focus on political participation, and particularly voting behavior and cover the following topics: defining political participation, major theoretical debates in political behavior (rational choice models; social influence models; psychological models), explaining voter turnout, models of vote choice (strategic voting, sociological approaches, the Michigan model, retrospective and prospective evaluations, issue voting, candidate qualities, election campaigns and political communication), political protest, social capital and participation in voluntary organizations, and social movements.

This course explores how literature has engaged with ideas of childhood across several centuries. Through an examination of adult literature about childhood experience as well as literature written specifically for children, this course introduces students to a variety of expressions and cultural constructions of childhood in a diverse range of texts. The course places a particular focus on issues of power, voice, and agency. Subject areas include romanticism, evil and innocence, growing up, the "Victorian" child, the narrator's voice, life-writing, families, agency and rebellion, illustration, gender, race, ability, class, and sexuality.

The course examines Ireland's 20th century. From one country under the union to two independent states, this course analyzes the political changes that shaped the century. Such changes include the move from Hume Rule and Unionism; revolution to independence; dominion to republic; self-rule to direct rule; and from troubles to peace. The course questions the emphasis on the political narrative that has dominated the study of the century, and considers how the priorities of social, economic, and cultural history raise significant challenges for the traditional studies of 20th-century Ireland. Drawing on a wide range of sources and experiences, this course explores the forces that have shaped Ireland's 20th century, and the extent to which events in the second half of the century have shaped the analysis and debate of the first fifty years.

This course examines a part of the Roman Empire which has been much studied by both historians and archaeologists. But Roman Britain is also constantly the subject of fresh discoveries and changing perspectives, creating a challenging topic for study. This course examines the Iron Age background and assesses the impact of the invasion of AD 43 as well as the effect of Roman culture on this remote province. The location of Britain on the fringes of the Roman world highlights particular issues of imperialism, acculturation, and cultural identity.

This course explores the development of non-western cinema with particular reference to films from the last twenty years. Studying films from the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, the course explores the historical development of film-making with reference to specific national and cultural identities. With reference to the manner that cinema is a powerfully ideological medium the course examines how film is used to express marginalized political positions. The course examines cinematic representation through a number of diverse theoretical methods.

This course offers an understanding of the psychology of criminal conduct. It investigates a range of perspectives from psychological literature that seek to shed light on crime and its commission. The course introduces knowledge regarding the measurement and distribution of crime in society and official responses with regard to crime prevention and investigation. It promotes an understanding of crime categories, offenders, and how a psychological understanding impacts prevention, rehabilitation, and treatment. It also offers an overview of applied professional practice in forensic and investigative psychology.

To write a letter – whether a formal, public composition or a private letter to a friend – is to create an image, consciously or unconsciously, of oneself as writer and of one's relationship with the letter's recipient. This was just as true for Roman letter-writers as it is for us today. This course explores a selection of the wide range of letters that have survived from Roman antiquity, from the highly personal correspondence of Cicero to the self-consciously artful letters of Pliny the Younger. The course also looks at the fictional letters of Ovid, the Heroides (Letters of Heroines), which take the form of first-person compositions sent by the heroines of myth to their lovers. Taken together, these varied texts offer a fascinating window onto the thought-world of writers and readers from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD and prompt reflection on such issues of self-representation and political "spin"; on the relationship between the public and private spheres; and on male and female "voices" in Roman literature.

This course focuses on how policy is developed and implemented at the interface between the behavioral and brain sciences (BBS) and policy development and implementation in the public and private spheres. The course explores how the BBS inform and shape policy formation and policy execution, as well as the place of the BBS as they interact with organizations and society. Topics include the origins of policy; recent advances in theory and practice; findings from behavioral economics and nudge theory; and large-scale applications of behavioral insights teams within governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.