King's College London

Should the different countries obey international law? Is international law really "law"? It is just? Who should enforce it? What kinds of values should it reflect and what kinds of institutions should support it? Is it merely an expression of Western values or is it universal? Through these questions this advanced course discusses the nature, sources, justification, and effects of international law. We use international law cases to tackle complicated philosophical and empirical questions about the character of international law. The readings blend analysis of core areas of public international law and classical texts in the philosophy of law.

In this course, students develop a deeper understanding of the diverse ways in which European imperialism and colonialism changed musical culture in South and Southeast Asia through a detailed, comparative examination of changing contexts for music making in the Indian Ocean region c. 1750–1950. Students focus mainly on British imperialism and colonialism in the Indian subcontinent and the Malayworld; and transition and interplay between cultures, over time, and geographically across the Indian Ocean. Topics may include but are not restricted to different approaches to music and empire; postcolonial and paracolonial; Orientalism and race; circulation; musical knowledge; sound and affect; religion; gender and sexuality; sovereignty and decolonization. 

This course examines the period from the fall of the empires of the Bronze Age Near East (ca. 1150 BCE) until the time when the city of Rome began to expand its power into the Mediterranean (ca. 31 BCE), as well as exploring the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt, and the Near East. Students enrolled in this course undertake only the fall semester (semester 1) of the year-long course.

This course covers the history of Europe from c.1000 to 1500, covering areas on both sides of the Mediterranean. It covers problems of continuity and change in society, politics, religion, and culture, and introduces students to debates about the impact of the rise of Islam, the centuries of the Crusades and the European economic "take-off," the effects of the great plagues and revolts of the 14th century, and about the Renaissance, modernity, and the origins of European states. Students have the opportunity to consider how a vast series of transformations formed European culture, and to reflect on general themes, such as the interaction of religious orthodoxy and dissent, shifting perceptions of gender, or the friction between imperialist drives and cultural coexistence.

This course investigates the way in which literary texts and cultural theories have responded to the emergence of multiple new media formats through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By situating literary and theoretical texts in a broader network of visual, aural and interactive media the course invites students to consider: the social, political and cultural effects of technology; the specificity of written texts as distinct from other forms of technical media; relationships between text, image, and sound; the historical implications of mechanical reproduction; the emergence of networked communication; the cultural and political impact of the computer.