Norway

Surveillance is an ever-expanding practice, that criminologists need to be equipped to address and assess. This course explores the many dimensions of surveillance in the management of populations, including crime control. It walks through key surveillance theories, moving from classic models to more recent understandings that take into account new surveillance technologies, as well as practices of resistance to surveillance. Core themes include the relation between the surveillant and the surveilled; different forms of surveillance in many contexts, as well as the actors and tools involved; surveillance as crime control and how it influences police work; and the societal effects and the politics of surveillance. Each session combines theoretical concepts and relevant empirical case studies of surveillance practices and considers readings from criminology, critical security studies, media studies, as well as science and technology studies.

Why and how do resource use and other human footprints generate international governance challenges – and in what ways does the globalization of the world economy affect such challenges? How important are international institutions for the management of the world's petroleum resources? What is meant by ‘regime effectiveness’ – and what conditions can explain success or failure in efforts to establish or strengthen international cooperative arrangements on natural resources and the environment? This course offers an introduction to important characteristics of international environmental and resource politics and provides tools for explaining differences in international negotiation processes and their outputs, outcomes and impacts. The roles and significance of international institutions are central, with special attention to processes of formation, change and interplay as well as various conditions that can affect their operation and effectiveness. The course provides insight into the roles transnational companies and environmental organizations play in international environmental and resource negotiations and how the positions and influences of main actors such as the USA, the EU, and China are affected by domestic political and economic conditions. The course demonstrates how broader scholarly debates, like those between realists, liberalists, and constructivists, can illuminate processes and outcomes in international environmental and resource politics.

The course provides a basic introduction to sociological studies of legal and illegal drug use. Readings emphasize classics such as Goffman, Becker, Collins, Bourdieu, and Latour, and show how these theories have been integrated in contemporary empirical research, in Norway and internationally. Topics include detailed studies of particular drugs (e.g. cannabis, MDMA, heroin, alcohol, tobacco) as well as studies of the formal and informal control of drug use and different treatment practices. It also discusses the phenomenological and philosophical background of concepts such as intoxication and addiction.

This course discusses how innovations and transitions are embedded in larger processes of social and geographical change. The first module outlines the need for deep seated sustainability transitions in a context of accelerating global climate and environmental change. Theories on sustainability transitions and innovation are presented. A distinction between traditional, social and sustainable innovations is introduced. The Multi-Level-Perspective, which analyzes how niche innovations sometimes scale up and transforms larger sectors in the economy, is presented together with perspectives on power and geography. The second module discusses the role of wind energy in sustainability transitions. The history and current status of wind technology is emphasized. The preconditions and challenges connected with a further upscaling of wind energy are highlighted. The third module discusses the role of solar energy. Current institutional and policy potentials and barriers in the Global South and North towards a further upscaling of solar energy are discussed. The fourth module presents and discusses the role of a more circular economy as part of sustainability transitions.

This course is an introduction to the scientific study of language sounds from a common language and individual language point of view. Students must acquire basic knowledge of phonetic analysis of speech sounds, with emphasis on articulatory and acoustic analysis. The course covers the transcription system of The International Phonetic Association (IPA) and the acoustic analysis program PRAAT. The course discusses basic phonological theory, and uses this in phonological analysis. Emphasis is placed on practical skills in both phonetics and phonology. The course recommends students have taken a previous course in linguistics as a prerequisite.

The most pressing societal challenges in the present have to do with climate change and the loss of biodiversity. In the age of the Anthropocene, nature has become a vital political concern. This course offers cultural historical perspectives upon the present situation. The aim is to explore how humans have used, imagined and shaped animals and physical environments and, conversely, the role that nature and ideas of nature have played in social, cultural, political, economic, and everyday life. The course focuses on ways to describe and theorize the relations between humans and nature—from early modern natural histories and the modern distinction between nature and culture, to ongoing discussions about the Anthropocene. Central themes include the politics of landscape and of domestication, the rise of conservation and scientific ecology, nature and colonialism, nature and the nation-state, and the strange new hybrid natures that emerge with the Anthropocene.