University College London

This course offers an introduction to the field of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Tracing the development of CRT out of a critique of Critical Legal Studies in the USA, students explore the philosophical underpinnings of CRT, its critiques of ahistoricism, meritocracy, and "colorblind" policy. Students examine how the field itself has internationalized and engaged with other fields of study such as education, women's studies, film studies, and literary criticism, and how it has been subjected to academic criticism from within and without the field, most notably by Marxist scholars and liberal multiculturalists.

This course develops the skills required to analyze and contextualize literary prose. The texts to be studied are predominantly Nordic (in English translation), selected from the long and rich tradition of Nordic folk, fairy, and fantastic tales, from Medieval ballads to Gothic tales and postmodern short stories, animated and fantasy film. More generally, the course investigates a variety of narrative components (e.g. narrator, character, genre, theme), and explores why storytelling has been and continues to be a central human activity, how it has changed over time, and how stories reflect changing conceptions of Nordic societies, cultures, and identities. The course introduces students to a broad range of theories and methods in literary studies including narratology, gender studies, print culture, and monster studies.

This course is an exploration of the history of Greek and Roman ideas, which formed the modern world. In the first half of the sessions focuses on Greek ideas like democracy, philosophy, hospitality, fair play, athletics, drama, eros and love and how these ideas have been generated through specific Greek cultural systems or artistic modes of representation (literature, painting, sculpture, theatre). How were these ideas born and what is their influence in the modern world? How does Greek literature relate to these ideas? And more generally, what is the relationship between these ideas and the Greek life and thought? In the second half of the sessions, students examine Roman ideas, and the course focuses on ideas like fame, liberty, virtue, justice, epicureanism, stoicism, citizenship, republicanism, imperialism, public order, and how they have been generated through specific Roman cultural systems or artistic modes of representation (literature, painting, sculpture, theatre). The sessions then examine the relevance of these ideas to modern politics and society.

This course covers human anatomy, histology, and embryology, and it explores the structure and development of the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and urinogenital systems. Clinical and comparative aspects are introduced to draw out the relationship between structure and function. The course provides a strong anatomical foundation from which to explore issues relating to developmental biology and evolutionary morphology.

Students are introduced to a range of graphic skills that can be used to observe, record, and analyze urban settings in order to substantiate proposals for improvement. It combines the value of traditional free-hand sketching and technical drawing techniques with digital graphic tools and software, which are becoming increasingly important in the way we think, design, and communicate our ideas, in the contemporary information e-rich environment. Students work in small teams to develop their creativity and employ the practical skills taught in class to investigate an allocated urban streetscape in the surrounding area of UCL in London. They produce presentation panels that communicate coherent, clear, and legible information on urban analysis, before proceeding to produce a poster that reasons an inclusive environment proposal.