University of London, Queen Mary

Throughout history our understanding of what it is to be human has depended upon our perceptions of, and relations with, non-human animals. This course traces the emergence and development of animal experimentation from the mid-19th century through to the late 20th and examines how it has informed our understanding of human behaviors, emotions, and their discontents.  Beginning with Charles Darwin's interactions with the orangutan Jenny in London Zoo through to the use, on an industrial scale, of laboratory animals to understand stress-related illnesses and devise drugs to relieve them, students explore the profound effect various species, such as rats, mice, dogs, and monkeys, have had on the human condition in the modern era.

This introductory course offers students the opportunity to study Shakespeare's plays in their original theatrical and historical contexts. Lectures combine close reading of the texts with video clips of productions, to encourage the students to read the plays not just as words on the page but as live events in the theater. Small-group seminars concentrate on close reading. The assessments asks students to analyze and contextualize selected passages from the plays and to write essays based on analysis of particular scenes.

Through visits to ten of London’s most important institutions, this course examines the development of how institutions curate culture from Renaissance "cabinets of curiosities" to the modern "white cube" gallery space. The course equips students with the historical, theoretical, and practical knowledge necessary for studying culture through institutional collections. Students analyze the techniques and practices museums use to collect, organize, and display their objects; consider the messages these institutions send through their architecture, patronage, and methods of display; and delve into some of the most important issues affecting cultural institutions today like decolonization, repatriation, and social impact.