European Studies

This course examines social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of Spain during the 20th century, contextualizing the historical evolution that took place and shaped Spanish society during that period. It starts with the crisis of 1898 and the consequences of defeat during the early 1900s on Spanish social transformation, the oligarchic monarchy of Alfonso XIII, from 1902 through 1914, and the parliamentary collapse from 1914 through 1923. The course also covers the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-30), the Second Spanish Republic (1931-36), and the cultural Silver Age of that ran from 1898 though 1936. It finally looks at the impact of the civil war (1936-39), the resulting Franco dictatorship (1939-75), and the restoration of democracy in Spain following Franco's death in 1975.

The European Union is an important actor when it comes to law-making. While this often appears to be very abstract, it does impact our lives as European citizens very much, also on the national level. In 2021, the European Commission opened a series of citizen-led debates, the Conference on the Future of Europe. These meetings, taking place in various formats, allowed citizens from all over Europe to share their ideas and provide suggestions on how to improve their future in Europe. This seminar will offer students the opportunity to investigate this process more closely, its results, achievements and implications for all inhabitants of European member states. Connecting them in a better was with EU institutions is crucial considering that European elections will take place in May 2024 and that Eurosceptical voices are rising in many European societies. At the end of the seminar, students will have fostered their background on theoretical perspectives to critically analyze Europeanization, integration and multi-level governance, including institutional, feminist and sociological approaches.

What is at stake in reading, writing, depicting and telling the histories of Berlin’s architectural and urban landscape? How do historical and analytical frameworks shape scholarly understandings of the city? How does the architecture of Berlin shape its history and theory? Conducted as a discussion seminar, this course uses recent architectural and urban histories of 20th century Berlin to explore different ways of narrating the city’s history. Each week, students will approach Berlin’s urbanity through different textual and visual media to discuss the themes and methods—from femininity to migration, politics to privatization—by which they narrate the entanglement of Berlin’s physical and social landscape. Over the course of the semester, students will develop their scholarly reading techniques, and their fluency in the multipolar and manifold circumstances of the city. The premise of the course is that engaging the narrative can lead to ‘changing the narrative,’ thereby opening the door for students to develop an original final project, situating their worldly experience in the past, present and future of Berlin.

This course introduces the language, culture, and society of Catalonia and builds basic linguistic and cultural competence. It provides a study of the Catalan language, as well as general information about the culture and society: traditional festivals of Catalonia, customs, and distinctive characteristics of this autonomous community, which has its own language and culture.

This course will investigate the ways in which the policing of gender and sexuality intersected with the policing of (ethno) national boundaries in Central-Eastern Europe, with a focus on the state-socialist period (1945-1990) but including the interwar period and the post socialist period as contextual bookends. At the same time, it will explore the ways in which the socialist ideologies of gender equality and internationalism were actually (and selectively) implemented in these countries, the effect this had on women and men from both ethnic majority and minority populations in these countries. Finally, it takes a transnational approach, looking at the role of gender and sexuality in positioning Central Eastern Europe within the (white) West, and in the West’s perception and ‘othering’ of the region.

This course explores the city of Barcelona from a historic, artistic, literary, and cinematographic perspective. Topics include: the roman city; the Gothic Quarter; a bohemian and modernist city; a global city-- Universal Exposition, Olympic Games, and Universal Forum of Cultures.

Borders within and surrounding Europe have moved repeatedly throughout history, but rarely so frequently or so violently as during the 20th century. This class examines how processes of bordering and de-bordering since the First World War have shaped European states and peoples. It explores notions of territoriality, the construction and dismantling of borders, migration and forced migration, subversive social practices and ambiguous identities in borderlands. Case studies covered in class and in further readings focus primarily on East-Central Europe, including the former Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, German-Polish borderlands, divided Cold War Germany, and the European Union.

The course examines how Europe (the EU, in particular) and Spain have responded to social inequalities, global pandemic pressures, gender inequality, migrations, nationalism(s), climate change, and sustainability. It provides a critical overview of these current challenges at the transnational, regional and national level. The course combines analytical tools and categories stemming from political science, international relations, economics, European Integration studies, public policies analysis and development economics.

The course provides an introduction to the modern German polity. In the first part students survey the historical and cultural contexts in which German politics is embedded. The second part turns to the institutions and policy-making processes in the Federal Republic, including the Europeanization of German governance. The third part focuses on policy content by discussing important issues and policy fields in greater depth. This course is about key debates and arguments relating to German politics and society. It is assumed that students familiarize themselves with the basic elements of the German polity. 

This course explores selected topics in European politics and international relations, including the rise of modern states, revolutions, international orders, alliance politics, geopolitics, military strategies, strategic competition, political reforms, regional integrations, democratization, foreign policy, and sovereignty. Students are expected to actively participate in class discussions. Through their oral and written presentations, they are expected to be able to understand broad themes in European politics/international relations.