History

This course reviews the turbulent development of London from the Roman period (c AD 47) to the rebuilding of the City after the Great Fire of 1666, integrating archaeological, architectural, and documentary sources. It considers the non-linear trajectory its development, noting the serious setbacks such (rebellions, foreign invasions, conflagrations, major plague) and the impacts these had on its ultimately successful commercial expansion.

This course examines the evolution of “Green Germany” through history, up to the present moment. The course studies key moments in the history of the German relationship to nature and the environment, looking at the role of grassroot movements on the one hand and state policy on the other hand. Among the topics discussed are: the movement for nature conservation at the end of the 19th century during industrialisation; the period of National Socialism, when the legal foundations of the protection of the environment were laid; the environmental movement of the 1970s in West Germany; environmental protection in East Germany, and, finally, current debates and conflicts around the conservation of nature and landscape on the one hand and climate protection as well as energy policy on the other hand, looking at government policy and protest movements. The course also examines the specifically German attachment to the forest; accordingly, one session is held in Grunewald, the large forest in Berlin.

This course provides an introduction to the political, economic, social, and cultural history of Britain between 1850 and 1997.

This course introduces students to the key texts, arguments, and controversies in European political thought from ancient Greece to the end of the 17th century. This is based on the close reading of classic and complex texts, situated in their broader intellectual and historical context. A single canonical thinker – such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes or Locke – will typically be central to each week’s teaching, but these thinkers are read in relation to the political environments that shaped them and the debates in which they participated. Where possible these key thinkers are considered alongside the work of other thinkers as well as other relevant primary texts. Students explore the early development of key ideas and issues – such as kingship, natural rights’, republicanism, and the relationship between church and state – that have formed, and continue to form, the conceptual bedrock of Western social and political debate. 

The course focuses on the construction of Czech national identity during the 19th and 20th century. Although the Czech national awakening started first with the beginning of the 19th century, it used the symbols and references through all the historical eras of Czech lands starting with the early medieval times. The course follows the roots of Czech national consciousness from the first ruling dynasty, through the gothic, renaissance, baroque times until the foundation of Czechoslovakia and its history in the 20th century. Special attention is dedicated to the symbols and symbolical places, which were used during the creation of Czech national revival as patterns of Czech national identity (e.g. Slavín cemetery, National Museum, National Theatre, Municipal house, the monument of Battle of White Mountain, National Memorial on the Vítkov Hill). By visiting these symbolical places the students are able to see, what kind of national symbols were used and in which way. The course is divided into two parts: the first part is theoretical, in the in order to outline the topic and background of the lecture. The second part includes field trips to one of the museums/memorials, where the different problematics are discussed more precisely.

This course provides an introduction to gender and sexuality issues in Singapore from a historical perspective. It examines how our everyday understandings of gender have been formed in a long, complex process of negotiation over the twentieth century. In five themes 1) religion and marriage, 2) non-binary histories, 3) state morality, 4) queer stories and 5) gender troubles, it traces how state and religious authorities have shaped sexual behaviors and gender identities, with varying degrees of conformity and contestation from groups and individuals. Throughout history, gender remained fluid despite multiple attempts at restraining sexuality.