Aarhus University

This course examines the psychological, physiological, and sociological foundations of music across the lifespan. It focuses on a broad range of topics including, among others, what happens in the brain when we play or are exposed to music, and what the clinical implications of music are. Students are encouraged to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge to develop new scientific research hypotheses and ideas related to the field.

This course explores texts for children and young adults in a historical and contemporary perspective. Students are introduced to children’s literature studies as an interdisciplinary field, related to theory, concepts, and analytical strategies from comparative literature, childhood studies, book history, and media studies. It analyzes works by canonical authors such as Astrid Lindgren, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lewis Caroll, as well as contemporary texts and media, and relates them to transnational and transmedial interpretations and adaptations. The relationship between children’s literature and changing concepts of childhood and youth is discussed, also in relation to different aspects of identity formation in local and global contexts.

This course includes a theoretical and practical introduction to the reflection seismic and acoustic method and to interpretation of geophysical well logs and geotechnical measurements. Teaching consists of integrated lectures and exercises and a one-day fieldtrip with the research vessel Aurora. Lectures include: acquisition and processing of reflection seismic data and other acoustic data; the physical principles of geophysical well logs and geotechnical measurements; the workflow in an integrated interpretation. The theoretical introduction is succeeded by interpretation of seismic data and qualitative and quantitative interpretation of well logs and geotechnical measurements and how such data are used for analyzing the geological structure and development of both shallow and deep sediments with focus on the industrial applications and the green transition.

This course introduces psychological barriers to sustainable behavior, discussing, for instance, the role of social influence, attitudes and beliefs, or situational factors. The last weeks are dedicated to project work in which students use the acquired knowledge to examine specific behaviors and develop practical implications to foster sustainability in everyday life.

This course provides methodological tools and applies them to case-based analysis of real-world problems. This training equips students with practical skills and critical thinking useful for future careers such as consulting in applied economics or other related professions in industry requiring data analysis. Successful completion of the course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the process involved with a case-based investigation in business economics. This includes defining the problem at the start of a case, identifying potential solutions, applying empirical tools and statistical methods to conduct quantitative data analysis, as well as presenting the results. The course emphasizes data-driven analysis, but students are also expected to base this on economic principles and theoretical foundations. Statistical software (for example, Excel, R) are used for data analysis. The course consists of a mix of lectures and guided project work that culminates in a written assignment. The assignment is completed small groups, and students also present the content of their assignment at the end of the course.

This course explores the meaning of gender both in different academic disciplines and in contemporary culture. It provides an introduction to the history of the concept of gender and examines how different understandings of gender shaped history; that is, how they formed our present understandings of past historical phenomena. The course traces how gender and sex shaped individuals and society and how both reflect gendered ideas. It looks at deeply connected issues to gender and sexuality, such as the body, the state, and the mundane life of the past; but also reflects on ideas of resistance, non-conformity, and intersectional issues. Particular emphasis is placed on visual practices and global connections.

This course is designed to introduce incoming exchange students to the history of Denmark from the Viking Age to the present day. The course introduces some of the main events and central themes in Danish history. The focus is on political history, but the course also includes important developments in economic, social, and cultural history. The course equips students to engage in discussions of questions such as: what is "Denmark" and what is "Danish" about Danish history? What are the boundaries of Denmark and how have these changed over time? How is Danish history periodized and what have been the key turning points? How should we understand the impact of events and developments such as the Black Death, the Reformation, absolutism, agriculture or the welfare state? The course also considers Danish history in its different transnational (Scandinavian, European, and global) contexts, with reference to themes such as trade, war, colonialism, European integration, and globalization.

This course focuses on past diets, adopting archaeological, ethnographic, historical, literary, linguistic, anthropological, and heritage studies perspectives. It discusses what diet did we evolve to eat, how technological development changed our dietary habits, what role food played in past cultures, how food-related decisions affected societies, what effects food globalization had on traditional diets, when subsistence activities started impacting environments, and what is human food and the omnivore’s dilemma. Teaching introduces how we study food consumption in the past. The core of the course overviews the prehistory and history of foodstuffs and diets, as well as the issues arising from them. The concluding sessions focus on ongoing debates on food and diet, conducted in the light of the interdisciplinary approaches adopted in the course and through an understanding of dietary history.

This course deals with meaning-making in art, its perception, and its cognitive basis. It has a special focus on visual works of art - that is, on how artists construct meaning in vision - but also integrates literary texts. In both domains, it conveys insight into the way in which artists creatively exploit fundamental properties of both visual and textual processing in order to produce given meaning effects. It shows how artists’ formal techniques are attuned to the properties of the visual and cognitive system, notably on the basis of recent findings in neuroaesthetics and the psychology of perception. Furthermore, this course provides a general insight into the reasons why artists’ meaning-making techniques are so efficient. Therefore, it develops the necessary tools for the precise analysis of meaning in visual and textual media, also outside the purely aesthetic domain.

This course provides an overview of the historical development of India and South Asia. It addresses questions of Indian and South Asian historiography, covers the main continuities and changes in Indian and South Asian history, and identifies important personae and events. The course develops the general ability to understand key processes and events and their local/national and global relevance for the region today.