History

This course introduces students to the study of Scottish history in the period from 1560 to the present. The program of lectures and tutorials emphasizes key themes of political, religious, economic, social, and cultural change. The course encourages students to think about the multiple transitions between early modern and modern Scotland, and to consider the forces shaping contemporary politics and culture. It analyses the main political developments, social transitions, and cultural shifts in Scotland since 1560. Beginning with the Reformation and the union of crowns of 1603, the course tracks the enormous political and religious changes in early modern Scotland. It then examines the Anglo-Scottish union of 1707 and post-union Scotland, including such themes as Jacobitism, the Scottish Enlightenment and imperial expansion. The course encompasses 19th-century industrialization, political reform and social change, before turning to the radical political and cultural upheavals of the 20th century. It culminates in the present day, addressing such topics as gender, the arts and the debate about devolution, and independence.

The course offers students “Danish Perspectives” to a wide range of fields within arts and the humanities. Students gain an overview of Danish history, but also Danish culture and cultural history. Throughout the course students discuss how one can describe the Danes as a people – while at the same time being critical as to whether it is possible to determine a people in such a stereotypical way at all. The student is given a general introduction to various perspectives of Danish culture ranging from literature, music, film and TV to the narrative culture of the Vikings, the Danish history of slavery and the perceived particularities of Danish identity and Nordic “exceptionalism”.

The course discusses the intersection between human and animal based on historical cases and zooethical discussions. It explores the different ways of understanding the continuity and contiguity of animals and humans in various periods and historical cases; especially, but not exclusively, since the definitive establishment of Darwinism. This course also analyzes the zooethical dimensions related to carnivorous nutrition, bull fighting, pets, zoos, and other institutions of human/animal interaction or between human and non-human animals.

This course provides a study of life and norms in Ancient Rome from different aspects of society. It examines the political organization and sources of law in Ancient Rome; different historical periods and the law systems that existed within each; the structure and dynamics of the family in Rome; religion, work, and free time.