University of St Andrews

In 1000 BCE, the Mediterranean and Near East were barely urbanized; in the centuries that followed, a dense network of interconnected cities spanning the region developed. This course explores this transformation by examining changing physical as well as social relations between people, as well as between people and their environments. Students study the rise and fall of the ancient city, including its ecology and domestic politics, and modern debates over ancient urbanism. What existed before cities? Why do cities appear and why do they decline? How do cities relate to the natural world? Is urbanism necessarily linked to inequality? How do cities change when they are integrated into imperial systems? Students explore these questions through a variety of case studies, from tiny trading outposts to megacities like Rome and Alexandria, and a range of types of evidence, such as written histories, inscribed law codes, and the physical remains of the cities themselves.

How do infants extract conceptual/abstract representations from sensory/perceptual information? How can studying development help us understand how the impressive cognitive abilities of humans are structured in the mind? This course teaches students about the development of human cognition; how to design and analyze developmental studies to answer outstanding questions in developmental psychology; and how to present material succinctly in written and oral form.

An understanding of economic history lends clarity to many questions in economics. Among these are: The extent and impact of globalization; the determinants of the wealth of nations; the occurrence and impact of financial crisis; and the importance of economic institutions. Each of these putatively modern questions have long historical antecedents. Students treat these questions with a modern rigor, studying work that uses theoretical and econometric analysis.

This course provides a survey of Baroque, Rococo, and Enlightenment art in Europe and beyond. Students begin with a study of 17th-century Italian art and architecture, discussing artists such as Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, Annibale Carracci, and Caravaggio. From Italy the focus shifts to Spain, Flanders, and Holland in order to explore portraiture, allegory, and historical painting looking at artists such as Velazquez, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt. Students also touch upon issues of artistic identity and the status of women artists during the period. A number of lectures are then dedicated to the parallel tradition of Islamic art, and the baroque beyond Europe's borders. Following thematic lectures on collecting and printmaking, the focus shifts to art in France. The course ends with lectures on the classical tradition in British art and architecture and the Enlightenment. 

This course provides an introduction to Scotland's long history as an independent kingdom between the 10th and the early 18th century. It examines the land and people as a way of considering broad themes in a specific and immediate setting. The central theme is Scotland's development as a European state and society through the medieval and early modern periods and the parallel processes which witnessed the development of a sense of Scottish nationhood. Issues of cultural expression and change, and of religious reform and conflict provide strands for discussion which stress the experience of this land in its wider context. The course places particular emphasis on the use of museum collections and built heritage as evidence for the unique history of this land.

This module provides an introduction to central figures, works and ideas of the period of the European Enlightenment (roughly 1700-1800), beginning with an account of its historical background and ending with a review of its legacy. It approaches issues both thematically and through the writings of major thinkers, considering for example various contrasts: experience and reason, belief and scepticism, individual and society, nature and convention, equality and inequality, and representation and revolution; and looking at the ideas of such figures as Locke, Hume, Kant, Smith, and Rousseau.

This course addresses evolutionary and comparative approaches to psychology. The course provides an understanding of major evolutionary forces and how they have shaped animal and human behavior and psychology. The course introduces key principles, concepts, and methodologies and relates them to specific topic areas such as the evolution of social behavior and the evolutionary origins of language and cognition.

The course introduces students to pharmacology, which can be defined as the study of the actions of drugs. The course has a strong focus on the nervous system. The basic principles of pharmacology are covered, including drug interactions with specific receptors in target tissues and pharmacokinetics. Students learn how drugs work and become familiar with pharmacological concepts and terminology. Students also consider the drug development process and the many ways in which new therapeutics are designed and developed. The effects of different classes of drugs upon the peripheral and central nervous systems and on different neurotransmitter pathways are covered. How drugs can be used to understand the function of these systems and to alleviate their malfunctioning in various diseases and afflictions is explained.

This course gives students a broad grounding in the antebellum literature and culture of the United States, from colonial settlement to Civil War. Focusing on the self-conscious acts of speech and declaration which characterized early attempts to bring the new nation into being, the course introduces students to a range of texts designed to be spoken, including jeremiads, lyceum lectures, and orations. Students are encouraged to think about the powers and limitations of these early American voicings, and they draw on a range of literary media - from travelogues and letters to political pamphlets and legal documents - as well as elements of rhetoric and style, to explore literary experiments set on establishing a distinct, "American" voice. The course's wide historical range offers students the opportunity to develop an understanding of the relationship between literary production and the major social and political issues that shaped the early Republic.

This course introduces students to the basic principles of spatial analysis. Students learn how to use spatial analysis methods and fundamental spatial algorithms for a variety of applications in human and physical geography. The course is structured along the two spatial data representations, vector data, and raster data. Students learn to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to perform the analysis.