University of London, Royal Holloway

This course develops students' physical skills as actors through the training practices of Beijing Opera. In China, the word for "theater" also means "sport’" revealing how performance has long been viewed as a mixture of drama, dance, circus-style street theatre, acrobatics, and even martial arts. This course provides students with an opportunity to participate in basic training, but the aim is not to turn students into a Beijing Opera performer. Rather, the course explores how students utilize and conserve energy as actors, and how, in a virtually empty space, students can use their bodies to describe complex narratives. Students learn how to complete basic circus "tricks" and how to stage a fight with sticks. 

This course examines together a group of major and minor 16th and 17th century plays which reflect the contemporary European witchcraft craze. Related phenonema like diabolic possession and ‘high’ magic, as represented in the theatre, are also included when they are relevant to the literary texts. The course challenges students to relate dramatic texts to history while retaining a primary literary focus. 

This course investigates adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays for cinema in theory and practice. Students examine approaches to screening Shakespeare considering the playwright’s iconic status and changing cultural and social contexts around the globe. Students also watch versions of different dramas representing a full range of the adaptation/appropriation spectrum and a variety of film genres. Drawing on these explorations, students work on filming short versions of Shakespeare adaptations, focusing on acting, camera work, and original interpretation of the dramatic script. 

This course explores, thematically and conceptually, a crucial stage in the development of Europe. The period c.1000–1300 in Europe saw some of the farthest-reaching changes in the continent’s history; changes that shape the world we live in today. The frontiers of western Europe expanded in almost every direction through conquest and settlement; the powers of both secular and ecclesiastical authorities increased through the growth of governments and state bureaucracies; there was rapid growth in the economy and in the power of those who controlled production; the emergence and development of new and diverse forms and expressions of religious life and devotion; and the establishment of an international European culture in the worlds of learning and the arts. At the same time, this period saw the birth of the Inquisition, the persecution of heretics and other religious minorities such as the Jews, and of perceived sexual deviants; increasingly effective state oppression of political dissent; and growing corruption in institutions. The approach of the course is firmly comparative, and the geographical scope is wide: from the British Isles to the Crusader States. 

This course introduce students to the basics of personality and social psychology. It starts with an introduction to key dynamic personality theories of Freud, followed by Jung. Students learn about theories and research on aggression, pro-social behavior, and conformity. In addition, key fundamental topics in social psychology, attitudes and values, are introduced, as well as cross-cultural psychology and leadership. Topics include selected dynamic personality theories (e.g., Freud), leadership, attitudes values, and cross-cultural psychology.

This course explores the representation of love and romance in Hollywood, Bollywood, global art and European cinema. Romantic movies invariably revolve around the obstacles that the couple has to negotiate, overcome, or succumb to. Obstacles such as the social marginalization of the couple, death, jealously and rivalry, differences of class, race or ethnicity tend to be genre specific. The course juxtaposes and compares films and genres from different cultural contexts. Examples include melodramatic love stories, queer romance in European arthouse films, wedding films in global art cinema, interethnic romantic dramas and films about the end of love or the breakdown of marriage. 

This course provides students an understanding of physical and mental health conditions. It explores the relationships between physiology, physical health, lifestyle factors, and mental health and wellbeing. 

Asylum seekers and refugees activate some of today’s most urgent and fraught issues relating to citizenship and national identity, human rights, immigration and border security, economic crisis, xenophobia and Islamophobia. This advanced research seminar  introduces students to some of the ways in which contemporary theatre makers, filmmakers and artist-activists are responding to the predicaments and experiences associated with asylum and migration, as well as to the ways that asylum seekers and refugees have found ways to tell their own stories. Course content draws from performance practices, media representation, policy frameworks, as well as critical and philosophical writing in Europe (the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy and Greece) and Australia. Students study theatre and performance, feature film, documentary film and live art produced over the past two decades. They are also required to seek out and study new work in London or further afield. Theatre, film and activism offer rich and mutually-informative points of entry into this complex and controversial topic, helping students to perceive how relationships between asylum seekers and their would-be hosts are being negotiated in the 21st century. 
 

This course helps students understand the general history and the principal concepts and debates in International Relations. The first half of the course critically examines contemporary international history providing students the historical background and context for the issues that they study on the second half of the course and in future years. The second part of the course draws on themes from the first term and explores them through an examination of key concepts in International Relations: sovereignty, intervention, nationalism, identity, power, international institutions, human rights, globalization and new wars. The emphasis of the course is on understanding and questioning the concepts as well as exploring their use discussing key debates in global politics.

This course gives students an understanding of the key topics and contemporary debates in work and employment relations. Students engage with key concepts and theoretical frameworks in the sociology of work and employment relations. They explore what work means to individuals and the various forms it can take. The course recognizes how employees interact with employers and the conflicts that can arise from these interactions. Students examine relevant trends and developments in the world of work, such as gig work, remote working and the impact of technology on work, as well as the "future of work." This prepares students for the practical challenges of managing complex employment relationships in the workplace.