Ireland

This course introduces students to Earth Science, the multi-disciplinary study of the past, present, and future of planet Earth and other planets in our solar system. The course is in 3 parts. The first part considers the origin of the solid Earth, its atmosphere and oceans and how these have evolved over the past 4,600 million years. The second part examines how surface processes and burial generate the sedimentary rocks that record Earth’s history. The final part reviews the history of life on Earth as recorded in the fossil record, and emphasizes the coupled evolution of the geosphere and biosphere.

This course introduces students to the political system of the People’s Republic of China and the politics of its ruling entity, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The course first provides a historical foundation for understanding CCP rule, covering major events in the 20th Century. It then examines the party’s relationship to the state and policymaking, China’s foreign relations and foreign policy, as well as the politics of Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. The politics of Taiwan are covered. 

This course introduces students to theoretical approaches to studying international relations, including scholarly debates old and new. This course is an introduction to the positive, descriptive study of international relations. Why do states make war? What are the conditions for the growth of cross-border trade and finance? What is the impact of international organizations on relations between states? This course considers these questions by looking at differing theoretical approaches to international relations and a selection of topics in historical and contemporary politics. 

The course covers contemporary monetary economics and its application to the conduct of monetary policy. As well as reviewing the relevant academic literature, the course deals with the experience of the main central banks, with a particular focus on the European Central Bank. The course first analyses the nature of money and the long-run relation between money and prices and economic activity. It then examines a number of key issues in regard to contemporary monetary policy: monetary policy rules, the role of expectations and the transmission mechanism. For this purpose, the course presents the New Keynesian model which is now widely used for the purpose of analyzing monetary policies. The course then looks at the monetary policy strategies of the major central banks as well as the operational frameworks by which they steer interest rates. The course concludes by looking at the conduct of monetary policy during the financial crisis, covering issues such as non-standard measures, the implications of the zero bound on nominal interest rates and the role of monetary policy in contributing to financial stability.

This course is an introduction to political philosophy with a special focus on modern society. Students look at how various political theories of democracy have emerged since the 17th century, and how they are now modified and/or challenged by some contemporary authors. 

What is childhood? Was it invented? How has the concept of childhood differed in different historical, geographical, and socio-economic contexts? These are the questions that will preoccupy students in this course. Focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries, but with reference to earlier periods, and covering Ireland, Britain, Europe, and the wider world – including colonial settings and China – the class explores how the experience and perception of childhood changed. Students examine the hypothesis that childhood as a time of innocence, development, and play was not a natural category but had to be "invented," and they consider different periods and locations as possible candidates for its invention or adaptation. From child labor and children in war to the children of elites and youth culture, students construct a nuanced picture of male and female childhood. 

This course provides beginners with the foundations of Latin, an ancient and influential European language. Students will learn fundamental aspects of Latin grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics) and read simple original Latin texts that will enable students to acquire a substantial vocabulary. Students will start to consider approaches to analysis and translation, and receive a taste of how Latin was used in different literary and non-literary contexts and genres. Latin is famous for its literature (Cicero, Virgil, and others), and this course is the first step towards being able to read that literature in its original form; but Latin was also for many centuries an everyday language spoken by ordinary people, and the students will uncover some of that Latin too.

This course covers Cuban cinema since the creation of the film institute (ICAIC) in 1959. The course considers films by Cuban directors, and representations of Cuba by foreign filmmakers and Cuban filmmakers in exile, thus focusing on screenings of Cuba and Cuban topics from multiple viewpoints. Specific aesthetics are studied to contextualize applications of Cuban theoretical texts in relation to imperfect cinema, and the viewer's dialectics. Students explore the effects of non-chronological sequencing and distancing in film; black humor, subjectivity, and alterity; allegorical interpretations leading to censorship; the self and the State, with particular attention to gender and sexuality in relation to law; film autobiography as a genre; auteur cinema; revolution and the creation of the "new man"; revolutionary national identity and marginality; and diaspora, exile and inner exile, among other topics. Overall, the course studies film as a political medium across modern and postmodern contexts, using theoretical texts and key films to illustrate pivotal turning points in socio-historical contexts specific to Cuba and the impact of its 1959 revolution on all aspects of public and private life.

The course is mostly focused on self-directed learning through the completion of weekly 2-hour lab with a number of exercises. In addition, there is one lecture per week. Notes and videos are available to progress through the course via blackboard. Students should be able to create 3D models of complex engineering components using CAD software; build engineering assemblies of components using CAD software; interpret manufacturing engineering drawings; construct manufacturing drawings of components and assemblies using CAD software; and analyze engineering components using simulations techniques.

This course examines the history of folkloristics and the documentation of popular tradition and folklore in Ireland and abroad, with reference to the various movements and interests which have shaped their development. Particular attention is paid to early collecting work in Ireland, and to the work of pioneers in the field. The evolution of collecting methodology in this country, and some of the more important approaches to the study of folklore, are examined and traced from the late 18th century to the present. The course makes reference to the National Folklore Collection's unique archive holdings at UCD, and to the library in the UCD Delargy Centre for Irish Folklore with its comprehensive collection of 18th and 19th century writings and publications.