Cross-Offering Courses

HC7003          Special Topics in Chinese Overseas & Their Relations with China

Over different periods of time, many towns and villages in China have evolved, socially and economically, as a result of changing relations with the Chinese working and living outside China. This course explores specifically the localities with past or present connections with Chinese diaspora, collectively and fashionably labeled as qiaoxiang areas. The aim is twofold. The first is to shed light on the changing landscape of these localities amidst the political and economic developments in China. The second is to identify the pattern and content of the relations Chinese diaspora have with their native and ancestral homelands in China. Course Evaluation: There will be no exam for this course. Final course grade will be based on the evaluation of writing assignments / oral presentation / research paper.

HC7013          Translation & Modern China

HC7015          East Asian Cultural Interaction: Text & Image Studies

In this course students read extensively in their area of interest under the direction of a faculty member, most likely the supervisor. This course is taken by graduate students on a subject which is not otherwise offered as a course in the MA/PhD program modules in a given semester, but which accords with a member of the academic staff's research interests. The courses offer a great flexibility in adapting to the individual academic interests of the student the research interests of the teacher. Students wishing to take this course should obtain prior agreement of the teacher concerned and his/her Head of Division. Course Evaluation: Assessment is by course-work only. That is either (a) one 8,000 - 10,000 word essay delivered at the end of the semester, or (b) a series of two or more essays together amounting to 8,000 - 10,000 words produced over the period of one academic.​​​​​

HC7888          Directed Reading

In this course students read extensively in their area of interest under the direction of a faculty member, most likely the supervisor. This course is taken by graduate students on a subject which is not otherwise offered as a course in the MA/PhD program modules in a given semester, but which accords with a member of the academic staff's research interests. The courses offer a great flexibility in adapting to the individual academic interests of the student the research interests of the teacher. Students wishing to take this course should obtain prior agreement of the teacher concerned and his/her Head of Division. Course Evaluation: Assessment is by course-work only. That is either (a) one 8,000 - 10,000 word essay delivered at the end of the semester, or (b) a series of two or more essays together amounting to 8,000 - 10,000 words produced over the period of one academic.​​​​​

HH7109            Special Topics in Historiography

This course provides graduate students with an advanced introduction to the current debates on historiography. The course focuses primarily on discussion of the major topics that form historical studies of the twenty-first century. Books, articles and themes will be discussed in the context of global history and the history of localities.

 In any given year in which the course is offered, the topic(s) chosen for discussion may include, but not necessarily limited to one or more of the following:

1. Economic History

2. Social and Cultural History

3. Historical Globalisation and Local History

4. Theories of History

HH7113         Advanced Directed Readings in History

This course is designed to provide a student with a more individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. In this course, students are expected to read widely in their chosen field under the guidance of their supervisor/instructor. HH9016 is intended to provide students with a more advanced reading course than HH7888. Students whose research speaks to multiple audiences within and beyond history may also explore another sub-field or a differing approach to history than they examined in HH7888. The content and requirements of each directed reading course are determined by the student in consultation with his/her supervisor/instructor. The reading list, written work, and meeting times will be negotiated between the supervisor/instructor and the student. The final detailed syllabus will be subject to the approval of the Head of Division, prior to the commencement of the course.​

HH7114            Archives

This course introduces students to archival methods, practices and theories. It will address a broad range of different approaches to archives that have emerged in recent decades. Students will explore both conventional, institutional archives—which have been the mainstay of the historical profession—as well as a much wider range of archival practices. Key questions include: how do historians think about archives and how has this shifted over time? How do power relations shape the formation and operation of archives? How do archives construct particular narratives? How has digitization impacted upon historical research? How do historians make their own archives in the absence of, or in addition to, ‘brick-and-mortar’ archives? What is the relationship between the history discipline and family, community, organisational and activist archives?

HH7888         Directed Reading in History

The course is designed to provide students with a more individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. In this course, students are expected to read widely in their chosen field under the guidance of their supervisor.

The content and requirements of each Directed Reading course are determined by the students in consultation with his/her supervisor. The reading list, written work and meeting times will be negotiated between the supervisor and the student.

HL7110             Graduate Seminar in Contemporary Literature & Culture

This module introduces students to a selection of literary texts in English published in the last fifty years and which have, as their governing theme, the role of the artist and the place of art in the present time.

It calls for close analyses of the formal experiments in the selected texts which, while in their several ways can be dubbed modernist or postmodernist works, open up grounds for exploring ‘contemporary’ as a viable concept in current literary studies.

It introduces students to a number of key strands in aesthetics and in literary theory; and encourages critical negotiations between conceptualisations of language, mind, history, society, culture from different schools of criticism and the selected literary texts in question.

It pays attention to the selected texts as interdisciplinary sites in which different disciplinary genres and cultural forms interrelate and interact -- history, photography, visual arts, philosophy, horticulture, music – to arrive at new and significant attempts at ‘sense making’ (Frank Kermode).

HL7201          Graduate Seminar in Creative Writing: Directed Study

In this course students will have the opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed dissertation/thesis and to produce an appropriate example of written work arising from this. The content and requirements of each Directed Study module are to be determined by the student in conjunction with the appointed supervisor/ thesis committee and the Head of Division.

HL7204             Graduate Seminar in Creative Writing: Voice

The Graduate Seminar in Creative Writing: Voice is designed to develop students’ awareness of, and technical facility with the employment of speech-like forms in literature, in addition to developing a contextual awareness of their own creative work in relation to past and contemporary literature and theory. 

 HL7888            Directed Study in Literature

This course will provide graduate students with an opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed dissertation/thesis and to produce an appropriate example of written work arising from this. The content and requirements of each Directed Study module are to be determined by the student in conjunction with the appointed supervisor/ thesis committee and the Programme Head.

Note: This course is reserved for PhD  students.  Exceptions can be made for MA students who have compelling reason to take on directed studies, and is subject to the approval of the graduate studies committee.  

HY7008             Special Topics in Philosophy 

This course focuses on selected topics in philosophy, from ancient to contemporary, and in any sub-field of philosophy. Topics may vary depending on instructors. It may cover specialized subjects that are not covered in other courses, which may include, but is not limited to, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, logic, aesthetics, and history of philosophy. Students will conduct in-depth reading of selected material and become familiar with related subjects. A final paper is required.

HY7011             Directed Reading in Philosophy

This course is designed to provide students with an individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. Specific contents of the course may vary depending on student needs and instructors. In this course, students are expected to read assigned material thoroughly under the guidance of their supervisor and to develop research projects.

HY7012          Independent Study for Thesis Preparation

This course provides students with an opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed thesis. The content and requirements of each Independent Study module are determined by the appointed supervisor and the student, depending on their area of interests. In this course, students are expected to develop a reading list under the guidance of their supervisor, to read widely both primary and secondary material, and to write a thesis outline as preparation for the thesis.

HY7013         Independent Study on Special Topics

This course allows students to engage in in-depth study of a philosophical subject chosen by the teaching faculty member. Assessment of this course include reading reports, face-to-face discussion, and research papers.

HY7021          Directed Reading in Philosophy II

The Division of Philosophy proposes HY7021 Directed Reading in Philosophy II for our MA and PhD programme in Philosophy. The main purpose of this course is for graduate students to focus on a set of individualized readings on an advanced topic in philosophy. These readings will go beyond any existing graduate courses. Specific contents of the course may vary depending upon student needs and faculty areas of specialty. The secondary goal is for students to gain experience with independent research. Students will conduct readings on their own with support from faculty, and write up a significant research paper based upon those readings.

There is already a course HY7011 Directed Reading in Philosophy, but it can only be taken once for credit. At the graduate level, however, students who are interested in specific research topics that are not covered in existing graduate courses may need to do such a directed reading course more than once. This course is being proposed so that such students will be able to take a second Directed Reading course for credit.

HA7302          Psychoanalysis and Politics

In this course students will examine a selection of some of the most influential contributions to the study of the intersection of psychoanalytic and political theory. Mostly eschewing Sigmund Freud’s own political analyses, we begin with an investigation of some of the most notable articulations of his metapsychology, or the philosophy of the psychical apparatus. The psychoanalytic starting point is the recognition of an unconscious, an inner subjective life that fundamentally structures our specifically human existence in indeterminate ways. This recognition poses fundamental challenges to various established models of political reason. It can no longer be taken for granted, for example, that political determinations may be potentially grounded in transparent and rational processes of reflection and deliberation that are capable of fully revealing to us our collective interests and goods. Rather, political theory must recognize the unconscious desires, emotions, affects, and motives that subterraneously influence our outward behaviours and orientations. Through the study of various 20th century clinical analysts as well as social theorists influenced by psychoanalysis – such as Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse, Norman O. Brown, Cornelius Castoriadis, Franz Fanon, and Jessica Benjamin –  we will investigate various important political issues complicated by the Freudian discovery of the unconscious, including the psychology of fascism, the desire for voluntary servitude, the nature of autonomy, the ground of gender hierarchy, and many more. After having completed the course students will have gained a deeper appreciation of the psychological factors and motivations which influence the decision-making of political actors.

The aim of this course is to provide the graduate students with advanced mathematical background needed in economic research. Topics covered will be a balance between the conventional mathematical economics and the new developments in the frontier of computational economics, which include the advanced matrix analysis and qualitative analysis, optimization with or without constraints, discrete and continuous dynamic optimization, continuous and the discrete dynamic processes, nonlinear analysis and chaos, delayed-differential systems. Introductions to Singular and non-singular perturbation theory, Wavelet analysis, Genetic algorithm, Neural network and their applications in economic analysis will be also provided.

This course provides a detailed treatment of models for analyzing both cross-sectional and time series data. The course emphasizes application rather than theory; hence, the models introduced are illustrated with examples using real-life data. In general, theoretical developments are often carried to the extent that they enhance understanding of the model.

HE7106          Topics In Mathematical Econometrics & Microeconomics

This course intends to equip the postgraduate students with advanced mathematical theories, methodologies and computational algorithms that are widely applied both in economic analysis and financial analysis. Topics include but not limit to Log-Concave Distributions, Optimization of Submodular Functions, Genetic Algorithm, Artificial Intelligence, Neural Network, Wavelet Analysis, Support Vector Machine, Perturbation Theory, Agent-based Modelling, and Qualitative Comparative Statistics etc. It will not only update the researchers with most recent advances but also let the students have hands-on experience on the relevant applications in economic modeling, simulation and forecasting.

HP7001          Advanced Research Design & Data Analysis

The course is designed to acquaint researchers with the principles of experimental design, basic experimental designs used in social science research including between-subjects, within-subjects/repeated-measures, mixed (split-plot) and nested designs. The core statistical tool to be disc​ussed is General Linear Models with emphasis on model comparison approach to analyze data collected from various experimental designs.​

HP7228          Cognitive Neuroplasticity In Ageing And Dementia

The process of ageing is associated with cognitive decline and vast changes in the neurophysiology of the brain. These neural changes such as the accumulation of abnormal proteins, cerebral atrophy, and multi-domain cognitive decline are amplified in pathological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive neuroscience research in this area has proposed several factors purported to influence the trajectory of cognitive and neural decline such as exercise, cognitive training, socioeconomic status, among others. Students interested in understanding factors that influence cognitive and neurological changes i.e. cognitive neuroplasticity in the context of ageing and dementia will benefit from taking this course. Through this course, students will learn to appreciate the complexity of cognitive neuroplasticity in ageing individuals.

HP7302          Qualitative Methods In Psychology

This course introduces the theoretical foundations and basic techniques of qualitative methodology for psychological research, including how to conduct interviews and focus groups, grounded theory fundamentals, content analysis, domain analysis, coding, and how to write up qualitative findings. Students will be expected to complete weekly readings and weekly skill development tasks in and out of the classroom as well as to collect data, and then analyze and present findings based on the techniques covered in the course.

HP7303          Seminar On Computational Social Science And Big Data

Big Data presents unprecedented opportunities to study human behaviour on a very large scale. It has been increasingly used in social science to reveal individual differences and group dynamics. This course will introduce students to methods and tools for using Big Data to conduct social science research. Topics include characteristics of Big Data, forecasting and nowcasting, text mining, digital field experiments, human computation, ethical frameworks, etc.

CI7104            Network Analysis: Theory and Methods 

CI7108            Media Influence and Persuasion