University of Edinburgh

This course critically examines the subject of globalization from a sociological perspective. Globalization is a vast topic, and no one course can cover all its aspects. This course gives students grounding in the most fundamental aspects of globalization, with exploration of selected substantive topics to help root the general in the particular. Students examine the concept itself, the central themes of changing communications, social networks, and experiences of space and time, and the major economic, political, and ideological dimensions of globalization. The view taken in this course is that, while there have been distinctive social changes associated with globalization in recent decades, to understand this process we need to regularly relocate it in a long-term historical perspective. Globalization has been happening for centuries, and to understand current processes of globalization, we need to relate them to a deeper history of globalization. We also need to be careful about talking of globalization as if it were one thing. In fact this very broad term encompasses an array of different social processes that need to be distinguished in order to be better understood.

This course deals with experience. What is it to experience the material world? The course considers how our experiences are conditioned through multiple senses. Whilst the visual realm is, for many, still the fundamental way in which we experience the world this cannot be separated from the intermingling of all senses. In taking this position the course sets out to examine the complex relationships between the different senses and how these affect our engagement with the world around us. With a particular focus on material cultures the course employs a range of cultural contexts from art, architecture, design, sound, and the built environment. It explores these contexts through a variety of thematic approaches including (but not limited to): embodiment; hegemony of the visual; sounding objects; the olfactory imagination; touch and texture; immersive atmospheres; affect; mediated experience; rhythm analysis; creating the multi-sensory.

This course describes the mathematical underpinnings of Fourier theory, and digital signal processing, especially with regard to music and audio applications. The emphasis is on algebraic work, and on practical computation for sound analysis and synthesis.

The course is an introduction to the factors determining the distribution and patterns of abundance of organisms, and which relate plant and animal populations to their environment. It includes the physiological ecology of plants and animals, the life history strategies by which organisms adapt to their environments, trophic ecology and the ecological significance of the niche, biodiversity, and co-existence. The course provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject from the first principles of ecology to a reflection of our understanding of ecology in the 21st century.

This course sets out from the seminar room to explore the city of Edinburgh, on foot, and online. It offers students a unique opportunity to engage with the contemporary city as a site for new ideas, designs and methods. The course responds creatively to Edinburgh's various sites and routes, bringing together students from across the university to work in interdisciplinary teams.