History

This course examines key issues and themes relating to Australian society and culture across a wide time-frame including before colonization and the most recent past. It covers the brutalities of the colonial process; the relationships of the Europeans to this 'new' land; the developing society in the Antipodes; the new cultural forms of nationalism in the late nineteenth century; the importance of White Australia; the impact of wars and Depression; and the cultural shifts of liberation movements.

What does it mean to live in a surveillance society? How does the digital age challenge questions regarding privacy, individuality, and freedom? When does surveillance as care tip over into surveillance as control? And how does the Stasi system of vigilance prefigure contemporary surveillance culture? This course on the one hand examines the impact of surveillance on society by looking at the multifaceted ways technologies, societies, and the arts interact; and on the other hand, reflects on surveillance in a totalitarian context while comparing observation techniques in the GDR with contemporary surveillance methods. The course also explores how surveillance is represented in contemporary literature, film, and popular culture. The course maps out important themes with regards to surveillance and its repercussions (e.g., visibility, identity, privacy, and control). The course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of surveillance and covers the latest research in the following major areas: 1. Relationship between surveillance, power, and social control; 2. Histories of Surveillance: GDR and the Stasi (especially in the context of Berlin) 3. The concept of privacy; 4. Surveillance in the arts and popular culture.

The course focuses on the ancient history of the Emilia Romagna region through the direct analysis of various sources: literary, epigraphic, and archaeological. Students are introduced to research methodology regarding the study of the ancient world, in particular institutions, society, and culture. The course offers a general outline of Augustus' VIII region, starting from the Roman conquest of the Po valley. Various aspects of the Romanization process in the Cispadana region are covered (social, economic, religious, institutional) based on different types of data. Different methodological examples are used in the analysis of general historical value. The last section of the course focuses on the most recent archaeological discoveries concerning the ancient town of Mutina (Modena). The course includes visits to Emilia Romagna regional Museums (Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, the Antiquarium di Marzabotto, and the Museo Archeologico di Ferrara). Assessment is based on a final oral exam covering class materials, general knowledge, and the fundamentals of research methodology. Main topics are: the different types of sources available in the reconstruction of the ancient history of a specific geographic area and their correct methodological use in the historical reconstruction process; the political and economic history of the Emilia Romagna region; basic history of a number of Roman colonies including Ariminum, Bononia, Mutina, and Parma; the most recent archaeological discoveries and their relationship to previous knowledge.

This course traces the central features of the development of US-China relations from the end of imperial China to the present, including analysis of current issues and problems. The course provides a survey of the rise of China from the decline of the Qing dynasty to the triumph of Deng Xiaoping's ''Reform and Opening to the Outside World.'' It discusses the rise of China's neighbors, including Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, as viewed from the perspective of the foreign policy interests of China and the US.

This course examines the historical origins and development of welfare states. In addition, the course analyzes the principles and values underlying the welfare state such such as (different conceptions) equality, personal responsibility, and exploitation; and different philosophical proposals about how trade-offs between different principles and values should be made. The course interprets the welfare state as an idea, practice, and set of institutions in a historical and philosophical context; analyzes contemporary debates about the welfare state from a historical and philosophical perspective; and discusses crucial social and political themes related to the welfare state from an interdisciplinary perspective.