Document 6607721

 Electives Offered Semester 2 AY 2014/2015 Humanities YHU2208 Art and the Mind Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Nico Silins Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1114 Philosophy and Political Thought 2 John is watching Paranormal Activity and he’s freaking out. His palms are sweaty, his heart is racing, but he doesn’t run away. What exactly is going on in John’s mind? If he feels fear, why does he want to watch? This course will look deeply into John’s mind as well as into our own. How is it possible to enjoy horror? What is it like to look at a picture? What role do our responses play in determining the value of art? Students will evaluate answers to these questions offered by philosophers from the past and present, as well as by contemporary scientists. This course will introduce students to the philosophy of art, and give them an overview of key questions and theories in the field. Students will improve their ability to critically evaluate arguments and theories about the topics of the course (and in general), and gain the ability to integrate scientific evidence into philosophical debates. This course satisfies two skill requirements within the philosophy major (applications/problems) and is relevant to students interested in the Arts and Humanities major. YHU2209 Death and the Meaning of Life Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Andrew Bailey Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1114 Philosophy and Political Thought 2 This course examines the central philosophical issues surrounding life and death, including the questions of what death is, whether it is to be feared, whether immortality is possible or desirable, and whether life is meaningful. One goal of the course is to reach a clearer understanding of philosophical questions concerning death and life, the various proposed answers, and the ways in which those questions and answers may be addressed. Among the questions considered in class are these: What is death? Is death bad for those who die? Is it reasonable to fear death? All of us will die; how should our knowledge of this inevitable terminus shape the way we live? What is the meaning, significance, or value of life? If life is meaningful, what are the sources of that meaning or value? But it is not just the questions and proposed answers (considered as theoretical problems) that are important. Students also explore with life and death in a personal way, and to, accordingly adjust their own opinions and practices in light of the experiences and evidence we uncover in the course. This course satisfies two skill requirements within the philosophy major (applications/problems). Page 1 of 24 YHU2215 Drawing Methods Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Mark Joyce Pre-­‐requisite: None This module introduces students to many of the basic skills and techniques, methods, concepts and practices in contemporary drawing. Classes will be using a range of art materials and include notebook research, fieldtrips, talks and presentations. Students will develop a portfolio of drawings in a variety of media, and with tutorial advice make a selection for a final exhibition with the class, open to an external audience. At the end of this course students will be able to: • Work with a broad range of art materials in a variety of contexts. • Develop critically informed drawing projects from the ground up, through drawing process. • Identify a theme or approach, suitable for a personal project and outline this to peers in a formal presentation. • Make works over the period of the course, select works, discuss and install a group exhibition • Drawing is a physical and intellectual activity, drawing involves observation, interpretation, analysis and evaluation, Students will work on drawings in a variety of contexts and methodologies. • Student's practical abilities and knowledge of primary looking, viewing and visual analysis will be improved and they will identify an area of interest in consultation with tutors. This will be developed and extended in appropriate ways into artwork for an exhibition. Drawing class will be three hours per week with an additional one hour seminar involving, talks, visiting lectures, critiques and exhibition production. This is an elective course that can count towards the Arts and Humanities major. YHU1207 Ekphrasis: Creative Writing in Dialogue with Visual Art Credit: 2 MC Instructor: Robin Hemley Pre-­‐requisite: None In this course, students will write creative responses to visual art, and read examples of Ekphrasis (as it’s known) by poets, fiction writers, and essayists. The class will take a field trip to the Singapore Art Museum early in the semester to write flash fiction, lyric essays, and/or poems in response to a particular piece of art (everyone will be assigned a different work), and we’ll be writing a number of creative works in response to photographs, sometimes familiar family photos and sometimes photos by well-­‐known photographers. The final project will pair students as both photographers and word artists, responding to the visual work of their classmates in a class exhibit. Students will develop an aesthetic appreciation of both visual are and text-­‐based art forms (poetry, fiction, essays). The course will also enhance students’ written skills. A premium will be put on a student’s ability to refine their own writing through revision of their written work. Students will also gain a stealth introduction to the various elements of poetic and visual composition. As creative writing is part of the Arts and Humanities major, this course is especially relevant to students with an interest that. As a 2 MC course, this class meets once a week for three hours for the first half of the semester. YHU1208 Chinese Migrations to Southeast Asia Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Claudine Ang Pre-­‐requisite: None The Chinese occupy an interesting position in Southeast Asian history. While their economic contributions are acknowledged, their place in the political and social development of the region is often considered tangential. In this course, we will focus on four themes concerning Chinese migrations: systemic precursors to external migration; the Page 2 of 24 variegated nature of migration; new identities in new lands; and the overseas Chinese connection to China. Through an examination of historical and theoretical works, we seek a deeper understanding of migrations and diaspora formation as we chart out the history of Chinese migrations to Southeast Asia. This course has two main content aims: The first is to introduce students to the historical study of Chinese migration to Southeast Asia, and the second is to allow students to think through theoretical works that are concerned with migration and Diasporas. The course interweaves historical and theoretical approaches through a selection of readings from both approaches; other readings will be chosen for “texture,” so as to encourage students to better appreciate the experience of migration. YHU2216 Global Women’s History Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Rebecca Tannenbaum Pre-­‐requisite: None This course provides a broad overview of the history of women and gender around the world. Topics include work, family roles, health and sexuality, religion, and global feminisms in comparative perspective. While the focus of the course will be on women’s experiences and lives, we will also consider men’s roles and the construction of masculinity. The course will be organized both chronologically and thematically. We will consider four broad time periods: The Pre-­‐modern World; The World of Rising European Empires; The Industrializing World: and The Modern World. Within each time period we will examine different aspects of women’s lives, such as work, family roles, political participation, bodies/health, and religious roles across cultures and regions. We will also give attention to the ways in which men’s roles and masculinity has varied over time and space. Throughout the course, students will engage with both scholarly texts and primary historical documents. The class will provide background and skills that will enable students to take more focused courses on gender, comparative history, or national histories in future semesters. By the end of the semester, students will: • Understand the ways in which historical forces shaped gender roles in different cultures. • Understand similarities and differences in gender roles across different time periods and cultures. • Be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of historical arguments. • Be able to locate and analyse historical documents relating to gender. YHU2210 Integrative Music Theory 2 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Jason Rosenberg Pre-­‐requisite: YHU2205 Integrative Music Theory 1 or equivalent. Integrative Music Theory II comprises a comprehensive introduction to musicianship and musical understanding. Students develop their abilities to play, read, understand, and write music. Integrative Music Theory II includes exercises in model composition, counterpoint, ensemble and part writing, performance, analysis, improvisation, and ear training, culminating with a performance featuring students’ compositions in collaboration with performers at the Conservatory. The primary goal to develop the students’ musical understanding and awareness through an investigation of the acoustical, historical, stylistic, expressive, and rhetorical elements of music. Integrative Music Theory II takes over where the previous course left off. It begins with two-­‐voice counterpoint, voicing chords, embellishing tones, phrase models, leading to chorale harmonization. This will be followed by and overlap with sequential theory, secondary chords, tonicization, modulation, formal analysis, and an introduction to extended triads and chromaticism. By course end, students will have a working understanding of the fundamentals of music and tonal harmony, and will be prepared for further music studies and more advanced coursework. Page 3 of 24 There will be a strong emphasis throughout on aural skills. Students will strengthen their aural skills using a variety of approaches -­‐-­‐ including sight singing, piano playing, and the use of smartphone apps and computer software -­‐-­‐ to the point where they can begin to transcribe and play their favorite music. Every student will leave the class with the ability to play simple notated music on the piano or a suitable instrument of their choice. There will also be a number of fun activities, often group projects that focus on the application of the students' developing knowledge and skills, such as improvising with each other, creating harmonization, or composing and performing new music. Atypically, this two-­‐semester music theory sequence will not strictly follow the development of harmony as exemplified in Western art music, but will incorporate music of various regions, time periods, and styles, including popular and folk genres. In fact, this will be determined to some degree by the students themselves, since it is they that will choose much of the music used for analysis and ear training. This practice improves engagement, introduces fresh perspective, and illustrates applicability. Ultimately, this course and this sequence concerns not only the rudiments of music, but the interrelationship between active listening and active thinking. The course employs micro and macro analyses in order to gauge the meaning and significance of artistic choices. It confronts the topic of aesthetics and cultural studies. And lastly, students must make conscious personal and artistic decisions about how they interact with others, with their environment, and how to express themselves accordingly. YHU2211 Introduction to Roman Literary Culture Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Mira Seo Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1112 Literature and Humanities 2 When and how did Roman authors develop the literary culture that became as dominant as their imperial power? How did Romans distinguish their own literary production from the Greek models that influenced them so greatly? This survey of Roman literary culture from the earliest inscriptional evidence through subversive erotic poetry and martial epic examines the growth and afterlife of one of the world’s most influential literary traditions. We will explore the changing political and cultural contexts of exemplary works from Rome’s long history, and these works’ impact on subsequent art and literature. Students will encounter the full scope of a literary tradition. Roman literature began quite suddenly as an act of reception and reverse colonization. Hence students will focus on the contingency of Roman literature, which was not at all necessary (their great imperial rivals in the Western Mediterranean, the Carthaginians, never developed a national literature). Recognizing that the tradition we now consider “classical” was not an historical inevitability enables students to find their own places as the latest readers of these promiscuous texts. The cultural and geographical diversity of the Roman empire appears in the Greek-­‐inspired new comedies of Plautus (many set in Greece and North Africa), and in the material wealth and trade detailed in Petronius and the satirists—our students are hardly the first readers of Roman literature who feel far removed from the imperial centre. In addition to developing increased sophistication in literary history and an appreciation for the imaginary Rome of the reading cosmopolis, students will encounter foundational works of European literary genres from comedy and love poetry to nationalist epic, philosophy, and historiography. Students will build on their reading of Greek works in Literature and Humanities semester 1, and will rediscover aspects of the early modern works they encountered in semester 2. Students studying Latin concurrently can also pursue limited supplementary readings in the original. A complement to the Literature and Humanities/Philosophy and Political Thought common curriculum courses in year 1, this course provides a strong foundation for the literature major and is also a versatile foundational course for students in history, art history, and further work in other area studies such as Classics or Medieval studies, or any future romance language fields. Page 4 of 24 YHU1209 Introduction to the Arts Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Robin Hemley and Maria Taroutina Pre-­‐requisite: None The course will give students the opportunity to engage with arts practice in several different media (e.g. visual, creative writing, musical arts, architecture, film, etc.) while digging into big questions about art and artistic expression such as: What is art? Who is an artist? What are the distinctions between high and low art and are they useful? What is the relationship between art, politics, and ideology? What is modernity in Art? Each year the works taught will be unified thematically. In 2014-­‐15 the theme is “Totalitarian Art and Its Opponents.” Topics may include: Art versus non-­‐art, abstraction versus figuration, originality versus kitsch, state-­‐
sanctioned art and political propaganda versus art as a medium for political activism and resistance. Students will gain an appreciation of a wide range of different media, including architecture, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, film, literature and creative writing YHU1210 Introduction to Writing Poetry Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Alvin Pang Pre-­‐requisite: None This course will introduce students to the art of writing poetry. There will be readings assigned, but this will mainly be a writing course with weekly writing assignments and peer critiques. By the end of the course, students should be relatively proficient at writing poetry, and should have a passing knowledge of various forms of poetry, both classical and contemporary, and will have read a good deal of poetry by representative poets. As writers, they will learn about concision, figurative language, writing under constraints, ambiguity, and other elements of poetry that are widely regarded as essential to the genre. YHU1211 Japanese Woodblock Prints Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Nozomi Naoi Pre-­‐requisite: None This course will provide a thorough introduction to Japan’s most celebrated artistic medium from the mid-­‐17th century to the modern era. Along with close studies of technological developments, major genres, and master printmakers, the course will explore complex issues of urban culture, print capitalism, censorship, representation of war and national identity, gender roles, and portrayals of modernization. Such themes will provide a deeper understanding of the context in which these prints were produced and experienced. Master printmakers from the Edo period (1615-­‐1868) such as Suzuki Harunobu, Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Hiroshige will be examined through major genres of prints featuring warriors, courtesans, kabuki actors, and landscapes. Early 20th century prints such as war prints from the Sino-­‐Japanese and Russo-­‐Japanese war, images of modern girls, and “Civilization and Enlightenment” prints of the Meiji Emperor and Empress as well as new technological developments mark Japan’s transformation into a modern state. Through close visual readings of the unique pictorial language of the printed medium, students will learn the technical process of traditional Japanese printmaking as well as develop visual skills to be able to identify and discuss important motifs and habits of visual representation. The collaborative roles by the publisher, designer, carver, and printer in the production process will be closely examined and students will learn how and why such unique pictorial expressions developed. Such experiences will not only enhance visual literacy but will also develop analytical skills to tackle unfamiliar information through various means. In addition, the themes covered in the course are both specific to Japan and global, aiming to provide meaningful ways for students to engage in the local art scene and its cultural context. Page 5 of 24 YHU2213 Philosophy of Law Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Matthew Walker Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1114 Philosophy and Political Thought 2 An examination of some key themes and issues in the philosophy of law, including the nature of law; rule of/by law; the functions and reach of law; the enforcement of morality; punishment; justice; and (the universality of) rights. Readings are taken from classical and contemporary sources in philosophy and legal theory, and from multiple intellectual traditions. As a philosophy course, it is intended to cultivate skills in two areas: (a) philosophical problem-­‐solving and (b) application. (i) The course will build on knowledge (e.g., of key philosophical concepts and major philosophical figures and movements) that students will obtain from Philosophy and Political Thought I and II. The course will further develop analytical, writing, and speaking skills in philosophical analysis that those courses will cultivate. Specifically, this course will further educate students in the habits of close reading, and will enhance their ability to philosophize. That is, it will enhance their ability (a) to comprehend and evaluate a range of philosophical views and arguments (including views and arguments from difficult, classic philosophical texts from leading figures in the history of philosophy); (b) to appreciate the historical contexts in which philosophical views and arguments arise, and to cultivate a sense of fundamental philosophical alternatives; (c) to develop and defend philosophical views of their own; and (d) to appreciate and to engage constructively with the contributions that different philosophical traditions have made to thinking about law. (ii) It will introduce students to some major concepts, problems, debates, and figures in the philosophy of law. It will thereby provide students with (a) conceptual furniture for thinking philosophically about issues and topics that they might encounter in later legal study (e.g., in the Yale-­‐NUS/NUS Double Degree Program in Law, or in law school after Yale-­‐NUS), and with (b) exposure to models of deep and subtle thinking in the philosophy of law. (iii) It will introduce students, via its focus on the law, to other philosophical topics (e.g., ontology, relativism, etc.) and to philosophers and philosophical works not (necessarily) covered in PPT. It will thereby introduce students to general concepts, issues, and debates useful in the further study of philosophy, and will enable students to fulfil at least certain requirements for a philosophy major. As a philosophy course, it is intended to cultivate skills in two areas: (a) philosophical problem-­‐solving and (b) application. YHU2217 The Historian’s Craft Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Rebecca Tannenbaum/ Jessica Ratcliff Pre-­‐requisite: None This is a required course for history majors, to be taken early on in the major. In this hands-­‐on history course, students will be introduced to the practices involved in doing history. The goal is to provide an advanced understanding of what goes into the making of historical interpretation. In the process, it is hoped that students will begin to find inspiration and materials for their own study and writing of history. The course has three components: genres, materials, and media. We will explore historical genres such as narrative history, descriptive history, transnational and comparative history, micro-­‐history, biography, and the history of social institutions such as science, marriage, or slavery. This course will analyze different sources for historical knowledge, such as personal papers and print archives, visual media, objects, oral histories, and the landscape and environment. Finally, students will practice the making of historical projects across a range of media, which may include such diverse forms as traditional essays and term papers, online projects, policy papers, films, or museum exhibitions and installations. By the end of the semester, students will be able to: • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of approaching the study of history. Page 6 of 24 •
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Deal competently with a variety of historical sources and practices. Evaluate different methods of presenting historical research. Be prepared to do original historical research, writing and presentation. YHU2214 The Story of the Stone (Shitouji or Hongloumeng) Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Tina Lu Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1112 Literature and Humanities 2 Students will read and study in its entirety the most celebrated of pre-­‐modern Chinese novels, The Story of the Stone (also known as Dream of the Red Chamber). This monumental novel in 120 chapters occupies an unusual place in sinological scholarship: at once the fantastic story of a boy who is a reincarnated rock, but also perhaps our best source for understanding real life in eighteenth-­‐century China. We will be pairing ten-­‐chapter sections of the novel with secondary scholarship on the novel and on topics in legal, gender, ethnic, and literary history. All readings are in English translation. • To study the novel in its entirety and in depth over the course of the semester; • To approach it through the context of some recent English-­‐language scholarship; • To prepare a 12-­‐page research paper, based on primary and secondary research. YHU1204 Rise and Fall of the British Empire Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Jessica Hanser / Jessica Ratcliff Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1112 Literature and Humanities 2 The spectacular rise and decline of the British Empire has left deep marks on the modern world. Much of what is meant by “modern”—from the spread of institutions such as capitalism and representative politics, to the construction of many of our present-­‐day nations and borders, to the origins of some of the world’s deepest problems of poverty, inequality and conflict—cannot be understood without studying the British Empire. This course will draw from literature, film and primary sources to explore how the Empire was created and challenged each day through the interactions of diverse individuals across the globe. This is an introductory course to the history major. Page 7 of 24 Languages YLG2201 Intensive Elementary Greek Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Steve Green Pre-­‐requisite: None This course offers language instruction in Attic Greek for beginners. Instruction will cover the writing systems, vocabulary, and syntax of ancient Greek texts. Students will develop linguistic and cultural knowledge in ancient Mediterranean antiquity, and achieve a basic reading level by the end of the semester. Even if students do not continue into a second semester of language, a first experience can be radically transformative; students acquire an awareness of linguistic systems that they can productively transfer to other language learning. First semester classical language does not complete a full survey of the grammar. Nonetheless, ancient Greek learners do reach a basic reading level fairly quickly because little time is spent in speaking and listening. The course focuses on grammar and vocabulary acquisition with exercises in both reading and generating example text. The textbooks I prefer use adapted classical text rather than artificial exercises, but there are many approaches. By the end of the semester, students will be familiar with the geography and diversity of the Greek, have a basic introduction to grammar and the simple constructions of the ancient language, and a limited but active vocabulary. They will be able to read short texts, and will have acquired the familiarity to continue study in the second semester or to embark on independent study with appropriate texts and guidance. YLC1201 Beginning Chinese 1 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Hu Jing Pre-­‐requisite: No prior experience with Chinese. A placement exam may be required. A beginning Chinese course in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Modern Standard Chinese. The student will learn pinyin, basic grammar, and a limited set of characters to understand basic everyday conversations and elementary readings. The course is designed for the absolute beginners and intended primarily for non-­‐heritage students with no previous exposure to Chinese. By the end of the semester, students should be able to: • Accurately produce tones in Chinese and transcribe words using pinyin; • Learn how to write approximately 100 Chinese characters • Produce grammatically correct simple sentences, and ask questions in written and oral form using a good range of vocabulary • Master basic expressions in Chinese (greetings, asking for directions, times of the day, introducing oneself, etc.) • Learn how to use a Chinese dictionary and online sources for self-­‐study • Develop a deeper understanding of the culture and history of Chinese-­‐speaking communities in the world Beginning Chinese 1 is the first course of the Chinese language sequence that fulfils the mission of our liberal arts education by giving the students an opportunity to study the Chinese language. Page 8 of 24 YLC1203 Advanced Beginning Chinese 2 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Hu Jing Pre-­‐requisite: YLC1201 Beginning Chinese 1 or YLC1202 Beginning Chinese 2 This module bridges the beginning and intermediate levels of the Chinese language by introducing additional Mandarin vocabulary, grammar, reading and orthography (in both Romanized and character forms) to students who have completed Chinese for 1-­‐2 semesters and students with equivalent background. It emphasizes the ability to communicate and function accurately and appropriately in Modern Chinese. Students will take a placement test prior to the beginning of the course. By the end of this semester, those finishing the course are expected to be able to hold fairly sustained conversation, read pretty complex texts, write a composition in Chinese characters, recognize about five hundred characters, and write about four hundred characters. The course allows our current Beginning Chinese 1 and Beginning Chinese 2 students to continue their study and capitalize on what they have learned. The course also provides the needed transition from elementary language instruction to advanced language work and study. Students majoring in Literature with an emphasis in Chinese will need this level to complete the major. The class meets 4 times per week for one hour each. YHU2212 Introduction to Classical Chinese Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Scott Cook Pre-­‐requisite: Native speakers or consent of instructor This course will introduce students to the basic particles and grammatical structure of the classical Chinese language (a.k.a. literary Chinese). Through the close reading of texts from the pre-­‐ and early-­‐imperial periods, students will also learn such skills as recognizing syntactic parallelism, the art of reading in context, and understanding rhetorical structures. Introduction to Classical Chinese is for students with at least two years prior study of modern Chinese or native equivalency who have little or no previous exposure to the classical Chinese language (literary Chinese 文言文), the language in which the texts of pre-­‐modern China were written. The course aims to introduce students to the basic particles and grammatical structure of classical Chinese, and through the close reading of texts from the pre-­‐ and early-­‐imperial periods, students will also learn such skills as recognizing syntactic parallelism, the art of reading in context, and understanding rhetorical structures. Most of the texts will be selections from philosophical and historical works of the Warring States and early Han periods, but students will also learn the literary conventions of Tang and Song poetry. By the end of the course, students will have learned all the basics of the language and be prepared to take more advanced coursework involving the reading of pre-­‐modern Chinese texts. YLS1201 Introductory Spanish 1 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Eduardo Lage-­‐Otero / Raquel Peña-­‐Gutierrez Pre-­‐requisite: No prior experience with Spanish. A placement exam may be required. Introductory Spanish 1 is the introductory module to the language and culture of the Hispanic world. This course is designed to help you develop a basic ability to read, write, understand, and speak Spanish as well as to expand students’ cultural competency. Since all linguistic skills cannot be fully developed in Spanish 1 alone, stress will be placed on the acquisition of basic structures, which will be developed and reinforced in subsequent modules. Page 9 of 24 Introductory Spanish 1 is the first course of the Spanish language sequence. This course will introduce students to the Hispanic World while learning basic, yet relevant, linguistic and communicative skills. This course meets two times per week for two hours each. YLS2201 Intermediate Spanish 1 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Raquel Peña-­‐Gutierrez Pre-­‐requisite: YLS1201 Introductory Spanish I and YLS1202 Introductory Spanish 2 or instructor’s approval. A placement exam may be required. This course targets students who have completed the introductory Spanish sequence or have had significant experience with the language (e.g., Study Abroad during their first summer at Yale-­‐NUS). It offers a combination of listening and speaking practice with a review of key concepts of Spanish grammar. This module continues to incorporate Hispanic cultural elements and representative texts from the Spanish-­‐speaking world. YLS2202 Intermediate Spanish 2 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Raquel Peña-­‐Gutierrez Pre-­‐requisite: YLS2201Intermediate Spanish 1 or instructor’s approval. A placement exam may be required This module is a continuation of intermediate Spanish 1. Students taking this module will build upon what was covered in the first half and continue to expand their command of written and spoken Spanish. Spanish 2 pays close attention to aural/oral practice while strengthening the complex grammar skills (e.g., the subjunctive, passive voice), used in intermediate Spanish 1. YLL1202 Introduction to Latin 2 Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Steven Green Pre-­‐requisite: YLL1201 Introduction to Latin 1 or equivalent This intensive course offers four days a week of language instruction and follows on from Introduction to Latin 1. Students will continue developing linguistic and cultural knowledge in ancient Mediterranean antiquity, and achieve a relatively strong reading level by the end of the semester. Introductory ancient language courses offer students a rigorously disorienting confrontation with syntax, writing systems, linguistic inflection, and culture. Two semesters of Latin enable students to acquire an acute awareness of linguistic systems that they can productively transfer to other language learning. By the end of the semester, students will be familiar with the geography and diversity of the Roman world; they will have gained a relatively advanced knowledge of grammar and the major constructions of the ancient language, as well a decent vocabulary. They will be able to read short texts, and will have acquired the familiarity to continue study in the language or to embark on independent study with appropriate texts and guidance. Page 10 of 24 Sciences YSC2203 Classical Mechanics Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Ng Hui Khoon Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2133 Integrated Science 2 Co-­‐requisite: YSC2205 Mathematical Methods for Physical Scientists OR Classical Analysis. The course aims to cover the basic classical mechanics principles important in almost all branches of physics and physics-­‐related sciences. The range of topics is designed to provide the breadth necessary for further studies in physics. Special relativity is included here to ensure that students learn it in its proper mechanical context. Another important learning goal is to expose students to the level of mathematical rigor necessary in subsequent core physics courses. Because of the substantial amount of material this course has to cover, students will be advised to take a module on mathematical methods for physical sciences concurrently to help with the mathematical aspects. At the end of the course, the student will be equipped with the basic mathematical and physical tools needed to tackle further physics courses. This is the gateway course to the Physics pathway within the Physical Science Major, and is a pre-­‐requisite to most of the Physics courses here at Yale-­‐NUS and Physics electives available at NUS. The course may also be of interest to students interested in Physical Chemistry, or Biophysics. YSC2202 Biology Lab Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Nik Towlinski /Jan Gruber Pre-­‐requisite: Integrated Science This course introduces students to the basic techniques used in life science research. Students will pursue a semester-­‐long project examining how genetic and molecular changes affect interactions between proteins. This course will recreate a research lab setting introducing standard molecular techniques and prepare students for independent work in research labs. Unlike the typical biology curriculum where cursory laboratory sessions are attached to various required major courses, the core lab course brings together aspects of cell and molecular biology into one rigorous, semester-­‐long course. Instead of a series of cookbook labs students’ work on one coherent project that incorporates a variety of techniques and approaches. This approach relates much more closely to what students can expect in their independent research in years three and four. At the end of the course, the student will be prepared to do basic molecular cloning, imaging, and protein/DNA visualization. They will further understand basic principles of cell biology such as targeting proteins to different compartments of cells, signal sequences, and basic molecular principles such as regulation of transcription and translation. The innovation of this course will be to use laboratory application to introduce much of the prerequisite knowledge required for students to go on in the life science major. This is one of the required courses in the Life Sciences major. Students interested in a pathway involving biology, biochemistry, and/or graduate programs in medicine will take this course. This course meets twice per week for four hours each. Page 11 of 24 YSC1201 Human Biology Credit: 5 MC Instructor: William Piel Pre-­‐requisite: None This course is one of the Foundations of Advanced Biology courses. It examines the anatomy and physiology of humans and other animals in an evolutionary and comparative framework. Major themes include the integration among physiological systems to maintain homeostasis; understanding biological structures as statements of homology; suboptimal or pathological adaptive solutions as the product of phylogenetic constraints or physiological trade-­‐offs; and human adaptive plasticity in diverse environments. This course should be of interest to students wanting to learn about human and animal biology, chronic and metabolic pathologies in contemporary urban societies, or students considering careers in medical, veterinary, or pharmaceutical science. The aim is to provide a coherent bird’s eye view of anatomy and physiology of humans and other mammals, while training students to understand and frame biological questions in evolutionary, comparative, and adaptive frameworks. This course fills in gaps not covered by the FAB courses (e.g. biochemistry, cell metabolism, systems biology, developmental biology, ecology, genetics, evolution, genomics, neurobiology and behaviour), but that, nonetheless, are needed to pass the MCATS and GRE subject tests. The dominant theme of the course will be the twin constraints of physiological limitations and of evolutionary history, focussing as much on the “why” questions as the “how” questions YSC2207 Techniques in Analytical Chemistry Credit: 2 MC Instructor: John Harrison and Prof Kang HC Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2132 Foundations of Science 2 or consent of instructor Co-­‐requisite: YSC2206 Principles of Organic Chemistry This course is an introduction to laboratory techniques in analytical chemistry. It focuses on basic analytical and instrumental methods widely used in the chemistry laboratory. Students will learn to use and understand basic analytical and instrumental techniques that are widely applicable in chemistry. Experiments will include determinations of chemical composition, measurement of equilibrium constants, evaluation of rates of chemical reactions, and basic spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, with an emphasis on illustrating fundamental chemical concepts. This experimental course is designed to be taken by students interested in a pathway involving chemistry, biochemistry, materials, and/or graduate programs in medicine or pharmacy. Life Sciences majors interested in the molecular aspects of biology and biochemistry may be interested in taking this course. This course is approved for both the Physical Sciences and the Life Sciences Majors. It will typically be taken concurrently with Principles of Organic Chemistry. This is a 2 MC course that runs during the first half of the semester. The class meets once a week for one 3-­‐hour lab session. YSC2208 Techniques in Organic Chemistry Credit: 2 MC Instructor: John Harrison and Prof Kang HC Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2132 Foundations of Science 2 or consent of instructor Co-­‐requisite: YSC2206 Principles of Organic Chemistry This module is an introduction to laboratory techniques in organic chemistry. It focuses on basic methods of organic synthesis, and the purification and characterization of organic compounds. It can be taken together with Techniques in Analytical Chemistry. Students will perform selected organic synthesis and reactions important in organic chemistry and biochemistry, followed by basic purification and characterization methods. These experiments will Page 12 of 24 illustrate the major concepts learned in Principles of Organic Chemistry. This course will enable students to work confidently and safely in chemistry laboratories by providing them with an understanding of the fundamental experimental techniques. It will also provide students with opportunities for exploring some important ideas encountered in lecture courses in chemistry, biochemistry, and related fields. This experimental course is designed to be taken by students interested in a pathway involving chemistry, biochemistry, materials, and/or graduate programs in medicine or pharmacy. Life Sciences majors interested in the molecular aspects of biology and biochemistry may be interested in taking this course. This course is approved for both the Physical Sciences and the Life Sciences Majors. It will typically be taken concurrently with Principles of Organic Chemistry. This is a 2 MC course that runs during the second half of the semester. The class meets once a week for one 3-­‐hour lab session. YSC2206 Principles of Organic Chemistry Credit: 5 MC Instructor: John Harrison and Kang Hway Chuan Pre-­‐requisite: Integrated Science This course introduces students to the principles of carbon-­‐based chemistry that form the building blocks of the molecules of life. Determining the shapes and structures of organic molecules and how they influence chemical reactivity and functionality is the main emphasis of this course. This one-­‐semester course begins with how molecular shape and structure is determined. This will be followed by learning the principles and theories of why and how atoms combine, to yield the huge array of organic molecules that can be found in nature or synthesized in a lab, and how these molecules are transformed into each other through chemical reactions. Finally, many of the basic principles of organic chemistry are illustrated by studying the chemistry of the carbonyl (C=O) group, key to many of the biochemical reactions involving the molecules of life. At the end of the course, the student will be prepared to continue further in organic chemistry focusing on synthetic pathways, or delve into the details of biochemistry, or move towards learning more about polymers and condensed materials. Students will learn the basic principles of infrared, mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. They will learn and apply molecular orbital and valence bond theories to explain shape, structure and reactivity of molecules. Nucleophilic attack and substitution, acid-­‐base behaviour, and reaction mechanisms applicable to the molecules of life will illustrate how structure influences chemical function. This is one of two gateway courses in the Physical Sciences major. Students interested in a pathway involving chemistry, biochemistry, materials, and/or graduate programs in medicine or pharmacy will take this course. Life Sciences majors interested in the molecular aspects of biology and biochemistry may be interested in taking this course. This course is approved for both the Physical Sciences and the Life Sciences Majors. YSC2205 Mathematical Methods for Physical Scientists Credit: 5 MC Instructor: TBA Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2133 Integrated Science 2 Mathematical Methods for Physical Scientists: This module introduces important mathematical methods that are essential for treating a variety of problems in the physical sciences. Topics could include vector calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, complex analysis, integral transforms, curvilinear coordinates, and calculus of variations. The module will focus on aspects of each topic pertinent to the physical sciences. This is a methods course for the physics specialization of the physical science major. All the courses in the physics specialization including classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, Page 13 of 24 electrodynamics and statistical mechanics require familiarity with mathematical methods beyond what can be covered in the core curriculum. These methods include special functions, linear algebra and vector calculus taught more from the perspective of having students getting plenty of practice using these techniques to solve physical science problems. Rather than teach these mathematical methods within each of the above modules (which can only be done if these were year-­‐long sequences), this one semester required course provides the necessary mathematical tools required for all subsequent modules in the physical science major. The learning outcome is sufficient proficiency in those applied mathematical methods commonly used by physicists and chemists. The exact content will need to be coordinated closely with those instructors teaching classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and electrodynamics. YSC1203 Proof Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Martin Weissman Pre-­‐requisite: None Mathematicians and computer scientists write proofs: convincing arguments, combining clear and concise language, computations and symbolic manipulation, illustrations and tables. By reading, writing, and revising proofs, students will be prepared for modern topics in analysis, algebra, geometry, and theoretical computer science. Students will write proofs that utilize direct deduction and proof by contradiction, complicated logical structures with cases, and mathematical induction. Students will acquire a thorough knowledge of naïve set theory, including sets and functions, equivalence relations and classes, cardinal and ordinal arithmetic. Topics in discrete mathematics will include the combinatorics of finite structures such as graphs and trees. Before university, most students are trained in mathematics as a mostly rote computational field – one where the goal is to get the right answer as efficiently as possible using techniques established for centuries. In contrast, researchers in mathematics and computer science engage with unsolved problems by attempting to prove theorems. This course facilitates the transition from the mathematics of secondary school to the methods of research mathematics and computer science. Learning to write proofs with clarity and style is the most important skill in one’s mathematical training. The objective of this course is to familiarize the students with proof-­‐writing, by having them read and study beautiful proofs, and having them write their own proofs. Almost every course in mathematics at the 3rd and 4th year level, and many courses in computer science, will require students to read and write proofs. This course will prepare them for such advanced coursework. This course is the primary gateway to upper-­‐level courses in mathematics and many courses in computer science. All students interested in mathematics and computer science should proceed through this class. It will also be beneficial for students in statistics who wish for a solid grounding in the theory of probability. YSC1204 Statistical Inference Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Alex Cook Pre-­‐requisite: None This module is a key bridging module for those specialising in statistics in the Mathematics and Computer Science (including statistics) Major, which will give the requisite knowledge to be able to take any of the subsequent modules, as well as elective modules in Statistics or Biostatistics taught in NUS proper. Topics will include the likelihood function, Bayesian inference, the central limit theorem, likelihood ratio tests, model comparison and frequentist desiderata. The course will be organized in the lecture plus tutorial/computer lab format. Page 14 of 24 Most statistics degrees have a course introducing inferential statistics, which is a prerequisite for any more advanced modules. For instance, NUS proper has a course ST2132 Mathematical Statistics, which is a prerequisite for almost all level 3 and level 4 modules in their statistics major. Such classes tend to focus on the mathematical theory behind subsequent methods, and neglect the role of computation, both in analysis of data and in understanding the theory. In contrast, this course will exploit the students’ past familiarity with the R statistical environment, gleaned from the quantitative reasoning course in the common curriculum, in learning about the theory behind statistical inference. Students will also learn both classical and Bayesian approaches and their relative merits. The major outcome is sufficient understanding of the underlying ideas of statistical methods (in particular, of the meaning and computation of the likelihood function, flexible tests like the likelihood ratio test, Bayesian approaches, statistical models and measuring model fit) that students will be equipped to take other statistical courses in the college or NUS. YSC1202 Introduction to Computation and Programming for All Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Anthony Lin Pre-­‐requisite: None Preclusion: YSC2204 Fundamentals of Programming or YCC1132 Integrated Science (Computer Science Module) This course introduces students with little or no programming experience to computational thinking and programming. Students will learn some basic concepts and techniques from computer science and programming and apply them to problems from different scientific domains, which might include epidemics, optimal routes in networks, data mining, and winning simple games. • Understand fundamental concepts from computer science and what computational thinking is about. • Apply computational thinking to solve/analyse problems in various scientific domains • Become conversant with Python and acquire the skills to learn other programming languages YSC2204 Fundamentals of Programming Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Aquinas Hobor Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2133 Integrated Science 2 (Computer Science Track) This course will teach you rigorous and systematic methods for developing and analysing software. Our primary focus is on the specification, design, and analysis of algorithms and data structures, mostly in a functional style. You will learn to write code that is reliable, efficient, readable, maintainable, testable, verifiable, and beautiful. The major goal of this course is to teach students to think clearly and precisely about computation in practice – that is, programming. Most if not all of the students will have seen some programming before – in Python (SI), R (QR), more Python (IS 1/2/3). Thus we will assume a certain amount of basic familiarity with programming and computer science (see prerequisites), and will thus cover topics in a more advanced and rigorous way than is typical for “CS 101”. The major focus will be in understanding the principles behind code – not just “hacking until it works”. The following is not set in stone, but given an indication as to how I think about evaluation. Students will be evaluated with weekly programming assignments, a midterm, and a final. At the end of the course students will complete programming projects of their choice (with guidance from the instructor). This course provides the first rigorous course for students with a serious interest in computer science (typically major or minor, but potentially for others as well). Page 15 of 24 Social Sciences YSS2207 An Introduction to Social Psychology Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Paul O'Keefe / Jean Liu Pre-­‐requisite: YSS2201 Understanding Behaviour and Cognition Humans are known as social animals for a reason. There is no part of our lives that is not influenced in one way or another by our social interactions. In this course we will be exploring the ways in which we are influenced by our social environment, how we influence others, how we think about social situations, how we related to other people and the implications for understanding human behaviour. This course introduces students to the study of social behaviour from the perspective of psychology. As such it will cover such areas as social cognition, attitudes, group behaviour, social motivation, group behaviour, prejudice and discrimination, and the application of social psychological methods to such areas as health and law. Social psychology is considered to be one of the core areas in psychology and this course will prepare students for future study in psychology. At the end of the course students will have an understanding of core social psychological concepts and the methods that social psychologists use to study various social phenomena. YSS2208 Ancient Greek Political Philosophy Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Christina Tarnopolsky Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1113 Philosophy and Political Thought 1 This course offers students an introduction to the central themes and debates in Ancient Greek Political Philosophy through a careful reading of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics. Questions and themes include: How should I/we live? What is justice, freedom, and equality? What are the virtues of citizens and rulers? What is the relationship between the individual and the state? How should we envision the relationship between morality and politics? While understanding the works of Plato and Aristotle within their historical context, we will also be interested in understanding how they can help us to think about politics in contemporary societies. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: • Understand the principle themes and questions asked by ancient Greek political philosophers • Grasp core concepts in the field of political theory (e.g. justice, equality, freedom, democracy, virtue, sovereignty). • Read works within their historical contexts with the aim of understanding the similarities and differences between thinkers living in very different times and places from our own • Do close textual analyses that will cultivate analytic reading and writing skills • Defend their own philosophical positions against those formulated by canonical texts. YSS2209 The Anthropological Imagination Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Bernard Bate Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2121 Modern Social Thought and YCC1121 Comparative Social Institutions The Anthropological Imagination offers an introduction to the practice and creative power of anthropology. The first half of the course will focus on the concept of culture, structure, and the relationship between culture and nature in classic works of anthropology over the past century. The second half of the course is geared toward an exploration of more current anthropological writings on aesthetics, politics, gender and the rise of post-­‐human anthropology in considering cyborgs, human-­‐animal relationships, avatars in Massively Multiplayer On-­‐Line Role Playing Games such Page 16 of 24 as World of Warcraft and forms of life emerging within other modalities of human sociality. The aim of the course is to offer an introduction to how anthropologists view the world and approach the study of the human condition. It is supplementary to CSI, in particular, by revisiting and expanding some of the materials that were introduced in that class through more pointedly anthropological readings. The first half challenges common sense understanding of the human condition in modern societies through Marcel Mauss’ critique of homo-­‐
economicus in his classic study, The Gift, reread and expand our reading of Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, and explore the wider implications of the phenomena of totemism in human culture and society more broadly. The second half of the course is designed to offer examples of more current work and practices and aesthetics of anthropology in the more recent past. We begin by analyzing structuralist/ interpretive anthropology in the work of Mary Douglas and continue with a reading of anthropological aesthetics through Clifford Geertz’ ‘Art as a Cultural System’ and Marilyn Strathern’s Learning to see in Melanesia. The course will conclude with the concept of the post-­‐human by considering Donna Haraway’s cyborg and companion-­‐species manifestos, avatars and other post-­‐human cultural forms in Massively Multiplayer On-­‐Line Role Playing Games such as World of Warcraft, and return to the larger relationships between the human and non-­‐human in general. YSS2210 Contemporary Social Theory Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Phil Gorski Pre-­‐requisite: YCC2121 Modern Social Thought This course provides a general introduction to the main currents in social theory from World War II up to the present day. It covers key works from across the social sciences by seminal thinkers such Edward Said, Albert Hirschman, Martha Nussbaum and Pierre Bourdieu. The course is in three parts. Part I asks “what is the social” and “what can we know about it?” Part II examines competing conceptualizations of society in terms of markets, culture, institutions, social fields and actor networks. Part III looks at rival theorizations of public life, human freedom, ethnicity and modernity. This course has several interrelated goals. 1. Building on the foundations laid in “Modern Social Theory”, “Contemporary Social Theory” (CST) will provide conceptual tools for advanced work in anthropology, political science and sociology. By the conclusion of the course, students will have a working knowledge of the main traditions of social theory that underpin cutting-­‐
edge research across the social sciences. 2. CST will also expose students to the epistemological and ontological questions that underlie all social theorizing and to the ways in which rival theory traditions have approached them. Key questions include the following: • Are the social sciences epistemologically equivalent to the natural sciences? An interpretive enterprise more akin to the humanities? Or somewhere in between? • Are human beings natural kinds, social constructions or something in between? Are social relationships fundamentally self-­‐interested? Or can they be ends in themselves? • Are there social structures that are more than a mere aggregation of individual interactions? And, if so, do they exist independently of our awareness of them? • What is human agency? Can non-­‐humans also have agency? • Is social science purely “objective” and/or “descriptive”? Or is it inevitably normative or value-­‐laden? 3. The final unit of the course will ask students to apply what they have learned to controversial questions that will (hopefully) engage them personally, namely: public life, human freedom, ethnic identity and post-­‐
colonial modernity. Page 17 of 24 YSS2211 Econometrics Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Eugene Choo / G. Riambau-­‐Arbet Pre-­‐requisite: YSS1203 Principles of Economics or A-­‐level or equivalent Mathematics Does going to college increase your earnings? Does height have an effect your wage? Do episodes like the haze 2013 in Singapore have a major impact to the economy? This course introduces students to the statistical methods that economists use to answer this and similar questions. More generally, this is an introduction to the methods used to test economic models and examine empirical relationships, primarily regression analysis. Although much of the course will focus on the mathematical development of the methodology, emphasis is placed on learning by studying and replicating specific case studies that address current economic questions. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the methods used in statistical analysis. Students will learn about multivariate linear regression (OLS model), its pitfalls and advantages. Specifically, they will learn what the consequences of violating the assumptions of the OLS model are, and how to circumvent them. They will also learn how deal with categorical and binary data. To this avail, dummies and logit/probit models will be introduced. Finally, this course will have a section on panel data, instrumental variables and natural experiments. By the time they finish the course, students should be able to rigorously carry out multivariate regression analysis, and understand the pitfalls and advantages of using the specific models they will have seen. They should be able to collect data, clean it, and carry out a rigorous statistical analysis with it. Also, they should be able to understand, assess and replicate empirical papers published in top journals. YSS2213 Globalization: Past, Present, and Future Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Nancy Gleason Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1121 Comparative Social Institutions This gateway course focuses on the economic, political, cultural, and social aspects of globalization. Students will be introduced to the various waves of globalization the world has undergone, and the impact of the growing mobility of capital, labor, and ideas around the world. In addition to economic globalization, students will study the globalization of crime, environmental degradation, culture, and food. They will read what both the critics and advocates of globalization and its sub-­‐processes have to say about its impacts, looking at particular case studies sourced from various countries. The main objective of this course is to help students understand the structures and processes of global governance and globalization in the past, in the present and potentials for the future. Students will learn about the origins of the global economy and how international relations theory works to explain the forces that move markets. Student will learn to critically question the viability of the modern nation-­‐state in light of global interconnectedness through class discussion and a class debate exercise. The course aims to give students new skills in communicating political challenges using technology. To this end the course includes an “info-­‐graphic” assignment in which students will research and prepare material for a predetermined audience and present that information in a single infographic – globalization topics to be covered on this assignment include gender, the environment and terrorism. YSS2214 Intermediate Macroeconomics Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Pre-­‐requisite: GCE A-­‐levels mathematics or equivalent or YSS1203 Principles of Economics Economics is concerned with the study of how individuals make decisions and how these decisions affect, and in turn are affected by, the distribution of limited resources in society. This course introduces students to the formal analysis of the economy as a whole. The goal is to understand how decisions by the firms, consumers and Page 18 of 24 institutions affect the markets, and the welfare implications of such choices for society. Special attention is placed on the effect of government and monetary policies on the economy. Emphasis is placed upon the mathematical foundations of theoretical models. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the language and formal models used in macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is a subfield that focuses on the outcome of the interactions between the three key agents in an economy: consumers, firms, and institutions. This course places special emphasis on teaching students how to be rigorous in their theoretical analysis of aggregate human decision-­‐making. By the time they enrol in Intermediate Macroeconomics, students will have taken Intermediate Microeconomics. Therefore, a key element of the course is to show the link between decisions taken at the micro level and outcomes at the aggregate level. Students who take Intermediate Macroeconomics will have taken Intermediate Microeconomics, Introductory Mathematics for Economists (half course, weeks 1-­‐6, semester one) and Introductory Statistics for Economists (half course, weeks 7-­‐13, semester one). Therefore they will be expected to tract the models rigorously with the set of tools acquired prior to the course. By the time they finish the course, students should be able to understand both the math and the intuition behind the models used nowadays to understand aggregate macroeconomics. Also special emphasis will be placed on connecting the models to the real world. That is, students should be able to use the models seen in class in order to explain and rationalize any economic policy they may encounter. YSS1206 Introduction to Comparative Politics Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Steven Oliver Pre-­‐requisite: None This course is an introduction to the study of political institutions, processes, structures, policies, and outcomes, both within and across countries. Students will learn how to understand and evaluate the similarities and differences between political systems, as well as the intricacies of specific case studies. The course will introduce students to some of the key themes, methods, and questions used in comparing polities across time and space. Objectives: to understand the consequences of different types of political systems, and the reasons why various political systems have developed in very different ways. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: • Understand key themes and concepts within the subfield • Understand key theoretical and empirical approaches to the subfield • Compare and contrast different types of governmental structures and political processes utilising the perspectives and methods of the subfield • Analyse selected case studies utilizing the perspectives and methods of the subfield • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various types of political systems YID1201 Introduction to Environmental Studies Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Michael Maniates Pre-­‐requisite: None This module introduces students to the field of environmental studies. We explore the core concerns of the field, its history, its primary methods of analysis, and a number of pressing environmental challenges to human well-­‐being. We also examine how insights from the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences can be integrated to analyse environmental problems and generate responses to them. Through deep reading, discussion and practical research, students in Introduction to Environmental Studies will: Page 19 of 24 •
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Understand the central assumptions, methodologies, and claims that distinguish environmental studies as a field of academic research and practitioner activity. Confront fundamental questions about the possibilities for environmental sustainability Learn about the kinds of questions scholars in the field of environmental studies pose Gain exposure to the methods of interdisciplinary problem-­‐identification Develop an understanding of the underlying drivers of environmental degradation Consider how they might investigate environmental phenomena themselves, and begin to develop appropriate solutions. YSS1205 Introduction to Game Theory Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Joanne Roberts Pre-­‐requisite: None Game theory studies strategic situations where the involved parties impact each other’s welfare through their individual decisions. In such situations, it becomes necessary to think about how others will act while trying to further one’s own goals. Game theory has wide ranging applications and is used to model strategic interactions in both human and biological worlds. This course introduces students to concepts in game theory and their applications. Game theory is becoming an increasingly important field in several disciplines like biology, computer science, economics and political science. It models and analyses strategic situations like auctions, bargaining, voting, contracting, in which individual welfare depends on the actions taken by others. In this course, students will learn how to model such strategic interactions as a game and study concepts like dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium, backward induction etc. Students will apply these concepts to a variety of examples of strategic situations. At times, students will themselves play games with the aim of testing whether theory predicts actual behaviour. This course will be taught at an introductory level with the broader aim of making students aware of the strategic nature of their social interactions. It will give students practice in thinking strategically and equip them with tools that they can deploy to identify and analyse their own strategic interactions and make good decisions. It satisfies requirements in the Philosophy major. There are no pre-­‐requisites but the course will use basic calculus and probability. Students should also be prepared to use logical reasoning and mathematical expressions. YSS1207 Introduction to Urban Studies Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Jane Jacobs Pre-­‐requisite: None This course offers an introduction to urban studies. It enquires into the evolution of cities historically as well as contemporary processes of urbanization. The course also introduces students to key explanatory frameworks for understanding the contemporary economic and social function of cities. The course can be taken as a gateway to the Urban Studies major or as an elective. This course offers students and introduction to the key object of urban studies – cities – as well as the frameworks of analysis used in urban studies. The course will examine urbanization processes in the past and in contemporary contexts: why do cities form?; what functions do they serve? How does this change from one time to another, from one context to another? What ways of life do they support? What are some of the key issues facing cities today and how can they be addressed? The course will draw on examples of city formation both past and present, as well as in developed and less-­‐developed contexts. Students taking this course will learn about: 1. Why cities form and their functions; Page 20 of 24 2. The culture, thoughts, institutions, policies, and processes shaping urban areas; 3. Differences between cities and urbanization processes in developed and developing contexts; 4. The distinct understandings brought to urban studies by different disciplinary approaches. YSS1204 Language, Culture and Power Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Bernard Bate Pre-­‐requisite: None This course will offer an introduction to linguistics and the anthropological study of language. The first half of the course will deal with the basics of the formal study of language in phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. The second half of the course will consider linguistic and wider communicative practice within its social, cultural, and historical contexts. Participants will pay special attention to the relationship between language and power, both in terms of social structure and within the development of the larger political worlds in which we live. This course assumes no pre-­‐ or co-­‐requisite and serves as a survey course for the anthropology major. This course will offer an introduction to linguistics and the anthropological study of language within its social, cultural, and historical contexts. Topics will include language and gender, sociolinguistic variation according to race, class, and other forms of social difference, language and hegemony, language, nationalism, and the state. The aims and objectives of the course are: 1. To introduce the basics of phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics; 2. To generate an understanding of the role of language in the expression and production of our social and cultural worlds in history; 3. To develop an understanding of the relationship between language and power, both in terms of social structure and the larger political worlds in which we live. Our learning outcomes will be: 1. The ability to produce introductory formal linguistic analyses of language; 2. The ability to read mid-­‐ and some advanced level anthropologies of language; 3. The formation of a basis for pursuing the ethnographic study of language at a higher level. YSS2215 Sociology of Religion Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Phil Gorski Pre-­‐requisite: None The purpose of this course is to provide students with a broad-­‐based introduction to the sociological study of religion. Students will become acquainted with the dominant theoretical perspectives in the field (constructivist, Durkheimian, and Weberian) as well as with the various methods sociologists employ (ethnographic, statistical, and comparative). Course readings will focus on various themes (e.g., secularization, gender, and nationalism) and on many regions of the world (e.g., the America, Asia and Europe). The course addresses students as individuals, scholars and citizens. It seeks to: 1. Instil a self-­‐critical attitude towards one’s own religious and/or cultural tradition as well as a respectful stance towards those of others; 2. Familiarize students with the various methodological and theoretical approaches to the academic study of religion; 3. Sensitize students to the opportunities as well as the dangers that arise in a religiously pluralistic and interconnected world. Page 21 of 24 YSS2216 Statistics and Research Methods for Psychology Credit: 5 MC Instructor: George Bishop Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1122 Quantitative Reasoning This course is concerned with research methods and the use of statistics in psychology. As such this is a skills oriented course aimed at preparing students for taking the required laboratory course in psychology as well as doing their senior capstone project. We will be covering research methods and statistics simultaneously since they are closely intertwined. This course introduces students to the research methods commonly used in psychology and the associated statistical methods for analysing results. It is a skills-­‐based course that will emphasize hands on data collection and the use of statistical methods for analysing that data. At the end of the course students will understand the nature of psychological research and have developed the statistical skills necessary to take the laboratory courses in psychology and for the senior capstone project. YID2201 Theory and Practice of Environmental Policymaking Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Michael Maniates Pre-­‐requisite: YID1201 (Introduction to Environmental Studies), or permission of instructor Co-­‐requisite : YID1201 (Introduction to Environmental Studies), or permission of instructor An introduction to the tools, methods, and theory of effective environmental policymaking at the local, national, regional, and global level, with primary focus on governmental policies. Students will explore the interplay of politics and policy to develop an understanding of the drivers of successful environmental policymaking from a comparative perspective. This course is a prerequisite for subsequent environmental-­‐studies policy and policymaking courses. The central aim of this course is to equip students to think analytically about the design, adoption, and implementation of environmental policies at overlapping scales of governance (i.e. local à global), from a comparative perspective. Unlike more conventional courses that interrogate specific environmental policies, this course focuses on the epistemic, cultural, economic, and political drivers of robust environmental policies. Students will become acquainted with overlapping (and sometimes competing) approaches for analysing the life-­‐cycle of environmental policymaking, and for predicting those conditions that foster effective and efficient environmental governance. YSS1203 Principles of Economics Credit: 5 MC Instructor: G. Riambau-­‐Arbet Pre-­‐requisite: None Preclusion: GCE A Level Maths and GCE A Level Economics or equivalent. This module serves as an introduction to economics and the way economists think. It is a pre-­‐requisite for majoring in economics only for those who have not taken Economics in the A-­‐level or equivalent. It introduces students to a distinct perspective on the world surrounding us: that of an economist. Economists are mainly concerned with the study of choice: choices made by consumers (buy the latest gizmo or save the money?), firms (how much to produce and what price to charge?) and policy-­‐makers (bail out the banks or reduce income tax rates?) are all within the purview of economic analysis. In particular, students will be expected to • Learn how to think in terms of opportunity cost and marginal benefit • Understand the concepts of equilibrium and efficiency, and what they imply • Be able to apply this rational to any decision making process faced by individuals at any point in time. Page 22 of 24 •
Be able to link decisions at the individual level to macroeconomics fluctuations. That is, understand how macroeconomic variables are the ultimate consequence of multiple individual decisions Students are precluded from Principles of Economics if they have taken GCE A level Economics and Mathematics (or equivalent courses in high schools). If a student has taken GCE A level Maths or an equivalent Mathematics course, the student may skip Principles of Economics and enrol in an intermediate level Economics course. However, if a student has taken only GCE O level Economics or an equivalent Economics course, the student must enrol in Principles of Economics. YSS2201 Understanding Behaviour and Cognition Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Chris Asplund Pre-­‐requisite: None This course will introduce students to themselves and others as viewed through the lens of psychology. We will present and explore the scientific study of human (and animal) behaviour, seeking to understand why we think, feel, and act as we do. The goal is to build a firm foundation for those wishing to major in psychology while simultaneously providing an interesting and revealing elective to those visiting psychology on their way to other disciplines. This course introduces students to the overall field of psychology and the scientific study of human behaviour. The course will cover the key areas of psychological study and is required for students planning to major in psychology. As such students will be introduced to biological psychology, the study of human development, sensation and perception, theories and techniques of learning, motivation intelligence, human sexuality, personality, social psychology, psychological disorders and the interface between psychology and physical health. At the end of the course students will have an understanding at the overview level of the basic aspects of psychology and will be prepared for further study in psychology. This course meets twice per week for two hours each. YSS2202 Introduction to International Relations Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Steven Oliver Pre-­‐requisite: None This course introduces students to concepts, theories, and cases associated with the study of international politics. We will study contemporary scholarly texts and examine empirical evidence relating to key historical experiences such as the Cold War, which inform contemporary international relations theories. The aim is to provide students with a robust understanding of the major ‘schools’ of thought in international relations. This knowledge will allow students to investigate further the domains of international politics, public policy, and globalization. YSS2206 19th Century British Political Thought Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Stuart Semmel Pre-­‐requisite: YCC1114 Philosophy and Political Thought 2 Introduces students to British political and social thought in the “long nineteenth century.” Among our readings will be considerations of what contemporaries felt distinguished Britain from other European societies: its early industrialization (and advanced consumer culture), its political stability (and “unwritten” constitution), and its expanding empire. Other readings treat democracy, revolution, market economics, population, gender, and social welfare. Writers studied will include Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Robert Malthus, Walter Bagehot, John Stuart Mill, and John A. Hobson. Page 23 of 24 Students will explore a rich array of political writings produced during the period of Britain’s economic and imperial ascendancy. They will exercise close-­‐reading skills on a set of texts that repay close study. The historical presentation will allow them to see how writers responded to current events, as well as to earlier debates. Paper assignments will require students to employ close reading while also attending to historical context. In other words, I hope to keep in mind both the concerns of political philosophy and of intellectual history. YSS2212 Firms’ Strategies and Market Competition Credit: 5 MC Instructor: Rene Saran Pre-­‐requisite: YSS2203 Intermediate Microeconomics, SS2204 Introductory Mathematics for Economics In this course, we will study various strategies that firms deploy when facing market competition and the impact of such strategic behaviour on market outcomes like prices, efficiency, market structure, innovation etc. Examples of firms’ strategies include price discrimination, product differentiation, advertising, collusion, mergers and entry deterrence. We will analyse theoretical models of imperfectly competitive markets to gain insights into firms’ behaviour and functioning of real-­‐world markets. Students will be introduced to several theoretical models of firms’ behaviour in imperfectly competitive markets. Imperfect competition is an umbrella term that captures a variety of market structures in which firms strategize to influence market outcomes. By analysing theoretical models, students will understand many real-­‐world market outcomes. At the same time, this course will develop skills in analytical thinking and building economic models to capture observed economic phenomena. Page 24 of 24