Sociology

This course probes the entanglements of nature, society, and politics through which the environment is formed, experienced, problematized, interpreted, contested, and governed in different sociocultural contexts. It develops a critical perspective on the dominant patterns of industrial production and consumption and asks how our societies can be made more sustainable. The course draws on insights from environmental history, environmental sociology, science and technology studies, sustainability studies, and recent debates on the "Anthropocene". Thereby, it seeks to complement the fact-oriented perspective of the natural sciences with a reflective understanding of the politics through which our knowledge (and non-knowledge) of the environment is formed. The course is structured in four sections. The first three focus on one core domain of nature-society-politics: the risks of industrial production; biodiversity and land; global climate change. The final section reflects on how we can move from these insights toward a comprehensive understanding and transformative politics of the Anthropocene.

This course examines French society through the lens of social justice in three main areas: economic, social, and political. Through various authentic materials and linguistic activities, it introduces the main French historical, administrative, social, and political foundations to facilitate the understanding of the themes presented in this course and better decipher the national and local reality. Guest speakers include experts and actors in these areas.

This course examines how crime is framed and represented in the media. It covers the interconnections between crime, power and its representation within the media and popular culture; and how relations of power pervade and institutionalize the meanings of deviance and crime and how these meanings can be sedimented or challenged in cultural terms.

This course is a multidisciplinary framework in considering the social and cultural importance of the body and dress. It covers the social and psychological aspects of appearance and dress as it relates to the individual, society, and culture. Topics include the relationship between self and appearance, the role of appearance in human interaction as a form of nonverbal communication, the factors that influence our choices of appearance, and the impact of social change on culture and appearance.

This course examines why and how we should integrate social sciences and genomics to understand societies and human behaviors. The course covers the following topics: introduction to molecular genetics; polygenic scores; gene-environment interaction; epigenetics; ancestry, race, and ethnicity; sex and gender; precision medicine, and ethical issues in genetic studies.

This course introduces and challenges the ways in which contemporary gender, sexuality, and heteronormativity are interpreted through ethnographic case studies. While many modern Western societies debate openly the concepts of gender, sexuality, and LGBTQIA, a range of non-Western anthropological studies from around the world demonstrate the knowledge and concepts that reshape the notion of queerness and gender fluidity in global societies. With a comparative outlook towards Western societies, the course explores and discusses the change of gender roles in the 21st century, transgenderism and vulnerabilities, post-colonial queer cultures and discrimination, masculinity and femininity, power of beauty and aesthetics, and other critical topics such as LGBTQ sex work, non-conformity, and transgender inmates in prisons, as well as their connection to gender identity formation in contemporary society.