Ireland

China underwent dramatic changes through the course of the first half of the twentieth century in politics, society and culture. Colonial exploitation at the hands of many different foreign powers fired up a young revolutionary generation who expressed their desire for change in cultural movements and political action. Women and men, students and workers united to oppose imperialism and explore ways of transforming society. The development of a new form of urban capitalism was followed rapidly by the emergence of a Chinese communist movement, which grew from obscure beginnings to govern the country from 1949. Civil war and the Japanese invasion of China in China’s long Second World War accelerated some changes and stymied others.

This course enables students to explore these trends that shaped the world’s most populous country.

Behavior is a unique trait in animals that allows them to respond rapidly to a changing environment. Most of the exciting, fast-moving phenomena associated with living organisms – fighting, flying, flocking, swimming, sensing, mating, communicating, spreading disease, and more – fall under the umbrella of behavior. As well as being important to understand in natural contexts, all of these traits and processes also have correlates or analogues in human behavior and society, adding further motivation to understanding them deeply and on a fundamental level. Ultimately, taking this perspective, the study of behavior is the study of rapid responses and interacting agents in all forms. This course introduces to the fundamental mechanisms and theories underlying behavioral processes and taught how to think like a behavioral scientist. The course discusses what behavior is and how it works across all possible scales, conveying the groundwork in the underlying structure of nervous systems and building through physiology, learning, communication, collective behavior, and social systems, up to responses to environmental stress. Drawing these lessons together, it discusses the role that behavioral science plays in understanding and managing animal populations and species in a rapidly changing world.

This course introduces the comparative study of European politics, a comparative analysis of political institutions, and political behavior in Europe. On successful completion of this course, students are able to: Analyze politics in a comparative manner; Describe the differences between the political systems in operation across Europe; Identify the role played by political parties in parliamentary democracies; Assess the necessity of political parties and the functions they fulfil; Evaluate the merits of different electoral systems; Differentiate between the workings of different political systems; Assess whether politics can be analyzed via comparative methods; Evaluate the role of non-party actors in parliamentary democracies.

This course presents a history of music in film by examining the development of key trends and significant composers from the "silent" era to the present day. It considers the place of music, and the soundtrack more generally, in the film production process and in terms of the relationship between composer and director. A focus on Hollywood, with its proclivity for bespoke orchestral scores, are supplemented by investigating a range of other styles (e.g. pop, jazz, electronica) and international (primarily European) examples. It provides an overview of the field while alighting upon case studies, for which fundamental theoretical concepts are introduced. Major mainstream film composers are featured alongside more experimental recent practitioners and composers better known for their work in the concert hall.

Much of insular history is determined by connections forged across the seas. This course explores significant times and places in insular history where this dynamic played an especially important role. Beginning with an introduction to Ireland and Britain at the close of the Late Antique period, the course covers themes such as the dynamics of slave trade in relation to St Patrick and Ogham culture, the origin of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the dynastic politics of Dal Riata and Iona, the cultural exchanges between Ireland and the English kingdoms in terms of book learning, the Easter controversy in the context of relations with Rome, and the significance of sea journeys in secular and ecclesiastical law and literature. The second half of the course explores interactions, both political and scholarly, with the Merovingian and Carolingian courts and with the Germanic kingdoms as well as the arrival of the Vikings and their impact on trade, literature, kingship and the geography of Ireland and Britain. The course explores each of these themes at the hand of primary sources contextualized with modern scholarship, allowing students to explore questions of historicity, genre, and source analysis.

This course examines the social, economic, and political processes that maintain hierarchies, drawing on both classical and contemporary theories. By exploring topics such as class, power, race, gender, elites, and cultural capital, the course highlights how inequality shapes opportunities, behaviors, and outcomes. The course investigates both historical and contemporary mechanisms that create and perpetuate stratification, drawing on empirical evidence and theoretical frameworks from sociology and related disciplines. In addition to academic inquiry, the course fosters critical observation and visual analysis, encouraging students to interpret and critique depictions of inequality in everyday life and in cultural media. By connecting abstract concepts to real-world phenomena, students gain a nuanced understanding of the dynamics of inequality and the tools to engage with contemporary debates. The course equips students to reflect on possible solutions to reduce disparities and promote equity in various social contexts.

This course explores Italian cinema and the evolution of Italy’s film industry through the critical analysis of key genre categories and filmmaking modes (neorealism, auteur cinema, comedy, spaghetti western, the thriller, political film, migration cinema). These genre categories are represented by a series of films that span from the post-war period to today. Students are introduced to the critical concepts that underpin film analysis, while also developing a strong understanding of genre theory. Through close readings of individual films the course explores how genre categories and conventions can be used to discuss issues of social change and progress throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In particular, it examines questions of national identity, gender representation and the reception of popular genres.