Ireland

Are the concepts of space and place important in the construction of identity? How has the sense of place shaped the Irish literary imagination? This course explores the sense of place as a defining element in Irish culture through a close reading of selected texts in Irish. It also looks at the ways in which Irish language writers deal with the sense of displacement which is a characteristic of the Irish experience in the 20th century.

People have been living on the island of Ireland for the last 10,000 years. This course tells that human story from early hunter-gatherer times to the present. Students follow the footprints of people through time by means of the spectacular archaeological heritage that is such a central feature of the Irish landscape. This rich and diverse record of monuments, landscapes, and objects is explored and interpreted to provide a narrative of the lifestyles of people in the past. Students study the first settlement of the island, the establishment of farming, and the building of monuments like Newgrange. The course explores Ireland's place in the Celtic world and the lasting impacts of the introduction of Christianity. The richness of the historic archaeological gives a vivid picture of life and society in medieval times and the emergence of modern Ireland. This is an accessible course for students across the range of disciplines and programs. It provides students with a clear understanding of Ireland's past, the Irish landscape, and key times of innovation and change.

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa from theoretical and practical perspectives. The course gives an overview of the state of international human rights discourse and looks at the implementation of human rights law in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa. The theoretical perspective both engage the international human rights system and also consider debates around the universality of rights and the relationship between Islam and human rights.

This course introduces students to current trends and discussions in American sociology. By looking at a variety of topics (exceptionalism, political sociology, constitutional framework, community, social capital, multiculturalism, religion, urban sociology, popular culture) students get an overall impression of the main developments in American society and how the social sciences have tried to analyze and understand them.