Search result: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2019

Number	Title	Type	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
GESS Science in Perspective Only the topics listed in this paragraph can be chosen as "GESS Science in Perspective" course. Further below you will find the "type B courses Reflections about subject specific methods and content" as well as the language courses. 6 ECTS need to be acquired during the BA and 2 ECTS during the MA Students who already took a course within their main study program are NOT allowed to take the course again. These course units are also listed under "Type A", which basically means all students can enroll
Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence Suitable for all students. Students who already took a course within their main study program are NOT allowed to take the course again.
History
853-0726-00L	History II: Global (Anti-Imperialism and Decolonisation, 1919-1975)	W	3 credits	2V	H. Fischer-Tiné
Abstract	The lecture will give an insight into the formation of anticolonial nationalist movements in Asia and Africa from the beginning of the 20th century onwards and discuss the various dimensions of dismantling of colonial empires.
Learning objective	The lecture will give students an insight into the history of the non-European world, looking specifically into the political, economic, social and cultural transformation on the backgrounds of colonial penetration strategies and the resistance of anti-colonial movements. The aim is to show that societies in Asia and Africa are not just the product of colonial penetration or anti-colonial resistance, but that both aspects influenced the present political, economic, social and cultural perception of these parts of the world to a considerable extent. A nuanced knowledge of the long and arduous process of decolonisation is hence important to understand today's geopolitical constellation, still characterised by the struggle for a just post-imperial world order.
Literature	Jansen, J.C. und Osterhammel, J., Dekolonisation: Das Ende der Imperien, München 2013.
Prerequisites / Notice	A detailed syllabus will be available in due course at http://www.gmw.ethz.ch/en/teaching/lehrveranstaltungen.html
851-0101-61L	Society, Politics and Entertainment Technology: Popular Indian Cinema as a Lens on Historical Change Number of participants limited to 25.	W	1 credit	1U	H. Fischer-Tiné
Abstract	The seminar introduces students to the major themes and debates in Indian film history and explores the use of popular cinema as a lens through which technical, cultural, social and political change in the Indian sub-continent can be understood.
Learning objective	The participants of this course will engage in-depth with recent research on Indian popular Cinema. The selection of the readings will focus on a variety of issues, such as the technological innovation on the art form and its social impact, the representation of history in Indian Cinema, Bollywood's stance on burning issues such as the caste and gender question etc. Besides, the reconstruction of the specific South Asian variety of a global art form and entertainment technology will imply discussions of the problems triggered by cultural globalisation and consumerism. Skill-wise, the students will have ample opportunity to train their analytical acumen as well as their writing and presentation skills. (Participation in the lecture "Bollywood and Beyond" is not mandatory but strongly recommended)
Prerequisites / Notice	Participation in the lecture "Bollywood and Beyond" is not mandatory but strongly recommended.
851-0101-62L	Bollywood and Beyond: A History of Indian Cinema In The 20th Century	W	3 credits	2V	H. Fischer-Tiné
Abstract	The Indian film industry has been around for over 100 years and is one of the richest and most variegated of the world. The lecture reconstructs the historical development of Indian cinema from late 19th to early 21st centuries and uses it as a lens through which technical, cultural, social and political change in the Indian sub-continent can be explored.
Learning objective	The objectives of this course are three-fold. For one, the participants shall learn to question aesthetic cetainties and received modes of perception of cinematographic art. Secondly they will be acquainted with the huge potential of films as a historical source to grasp processes of social and cultural change. Besides, the reconstruction of the international career of a specific variety of an art form and entertainment techology will also raise important questions of cultural globalisation and consumerism. As a side-effect, as it were, the students will will also be provided with important insights into the chequered history of the Indian subcontinent in during the course of the 20th century.
851-0549-18L	Factory, Laboratory, or Plattform? Organizing High Performance Computing Since The 1960s. Number of participants limited to 40	W	3 credits	2S	D. Gugerli, R. Wichum
Abstract	The seminar is dedicated to reading texts that have supported and criticized, shaped and tested, or organized and reformed since the 1960s.
Learning objective	Students will learn to identify argumentative constructs and discursive patterns as phenomena of technocultural change.
Lecture notes	A syllabus will be provided at the beginning of the Seminar.
Prerequisites / Notice	Die Zahl der Teilnehmenden ist auf 40 beschränkt.
851-0549-20L	Cattle Commodities. Animal-Men-Machine Interaction between Oxcart and Butchery, Lab and Factory Number of participants limited to 40	W	3 credits	2S	G. Hürlimann
Abstract	The rich histories that cattle have produced since the late 19th century tend to disappear behind the iconic character of the milk cow. The seminar sheds a light on a historical agent who generates businesses, organizations and research labs, for whom forage, slaughterhouses and cooling technologies are developed, who is a means and object of transportation and inspires social dispute.
Learning objective	Through the example of the cattle, an iconic „object“ of Swiss touristic, eoconomic and everyday historic reality, students learn how research and cultivation patterns, as well as technologies and logistics of production, transportation and consumption have evolved and changed since the late 19th century. For such an approach, they become familiarized with an “entangled-histories”-perspective, as well as with the symmetrical anthropology approach from the philosophy and sociology of technology (Latour/Callon). But above all, students learn how to read and interpret historical texts and sources on cattle as commodity, by identifying actors, interests and historical context. The fact that this commodity is a living creature, adds to the topic’s ethical complexity, but also serves the learning purpose.
Literature	Syllabus and texts will be listed and/or uploaded in the corresponding Moodle-course at the onset of the spring semester 2019.
Prerequisites / Notice	Texts and sources will be mainly in German, some in English. On a voluntary base, also French sources can be read.
851-0105-01L	Cross-Cultural Competences Arab World	W	3 credits	2V	E. Youssef-Grob
Abstract	This lecture will discuss important topics of the Arab culture involving different value systems, world-views, and paradigms pointing to possible areas of misunderstandings and conflict in an inter-cultural setting as well as approaches to deal with these issues.
Learning objective	This lectures gives an insight into different areas of the Arab culture such as gender roles, significance of family and marriage, concepts of honor and hierarchy, the role of religion in everyday life, the concept of the evil eye, being guest or host, obligations in family and society, and others. The aim is to identify different value systems, world-views and paradigms that may cause problems in an cross-cultural setting as well as possible approaches to deal with these issues. Even though most of the topics concern the Arab region as whole, the lecture will focus on the Arab East (not the Maghreb), especially Egypt, Syria and the Gulf countries.
851-0101-63L	From Colonisation to Globalisation. New Perspectives on The Global History of Switzerland	W	3 credits	2S	B. Schär, P. Krauer
Abstract	Recent research on Swiss history shows that even without colonies, the country was intensively interwoven with the imperial world of the 19th and 20th centuries overseas. Why was this so, what were the consequences at home and overseas and how does this change our knowledge of the globalised present? The seminar serves to discuss such questions using sources and recent studies.
Learning objective	In this seminar you learn about different approaches to Switzerland's global history and how they differ. You will learn to independently formulate a question, to seek answers based on the analysis of historical sources and to formulate them in combination with current research literature. You shall also learn to reflect on how historical learning shapes and changes your understanding of the globalised present.
851-0549-19L	Artificial Intelligence. A Genealogy Does not take place this semester. Number of participants limited to 20	W	3 credits	2S
Abstract	The seminar is intended to be a reading seminar. The seminar deals with those authors and texts that on the one hand open up an access to interferences between society, mathematics and technology and on the other hand open up central conceptual fields, spaces of experience and horizons of expectation of artificial intelligence in the second half of the 20th century.
Learning objective	By reading and discussing key texts and concepts on artificial intelligence, students will become familiar with the interdependence of technical and social change. Proof of achievement includes the regular preparation of reading protocols.
851-0516-05L	Mobility and the Border: Migration and Control between Mexico and the USA, 19th– 21st Century Number of participants limited to 30	W	3 credits	2S	S. M. Scheuzger
Abstract	The course is dedicated to the history of migration between Mexico and the United States and to the history of control of these migratory movements. The role of technological change and scientific discourses in these developments will be a subject of special interest in the discussions.
Learning objective	A) The students know relevant approaches of the studies of migration, they are able to assess the analytical capacities of these approaches and they know how to apply them to concrete events and processes. B) The students have acquired knowledge about important aspects of the history of migration between Mexico and the United States. C) The students are able to identify relevant relations between scientific and technological change on the one hand and developments of migration and its control on the other.
Content	The land border between Mexico and the United States, where the ‚global North‘ and the ‚global South‘ meet in the most prominent form worldwide, provides an exemplary case to study how borders generate spaces of agency, constitute human communities and create identities – not only by separating people but also by connecting them. The course is dedicated to the history of migration between Mexico and the United States and to the history of control of these migratory movements. The role of technological change and scientific discourses in these developments will be a subject of special interest in the discussions.
851-0812-07L	Heureka IV: Ancient Cities: The Significance of Urban Centers in the Greco-Roman World	W	2 credits	2V	C. Utzinger, M. Amann, B. Beer, A. Broger, F. Egli Utzinger, R. Harder
Abstract	A Lecture Series on Ancient Greece and Rome and Their Impact on Later Periods
Learning objective	Insights into some important fields relating to urban centers in antiquity (topography, archaeology, history, culture, economy, ideology).
Content	Unsere Kultur und wissenschaftliche Tradition haben eine lange Geschichte. Am Anfang steht die griechische Kultur (und die römische, die eine erste Rezeption der griechischen darstellt). In der aktuellen Heureka-Reihe soll diese Kultur ausgehend von der Stadt als dem Ort menschlichen Zusammenlebens und -wirkens beleuchtet werden. Der (weiten) Frage "Was ist eine Stadt?" wird unter topographisch-archäologischen, historischen, politischen, soziokulturellen, wirtschaftlichen und ideologischen Aspekten nachgegangen. Die Vorlesungsreihe gliedert sich in sechs thematische Module (1-6): Sitzung 1-2 (Modul 1): Athen: Wie eine Stadt zu einer Grossstadt wurde Sitzung 3-4 (Modul 2): Alexandria: Schmelztiegel von Kulturen und Stadt der Wissenschaft Sitzung 5-6 (Modul 3): Byzanz - Konstantinopel - Istanbul: Die christliche Hauptstadt und ihre Anziehungskraft Sitzung 7-8 (Modul 4): Rom: Die ewige Stadt Sitzung 9-10 (Modul 5): Der Golf von Neapel: Die Goldküste Roms Sitzung 11-12 (Modul 6): Troia: Untergang einer Stadt. Der Mythos vom trojanischen Krieg und seine Bedeutung für das antike Geschichtsbild Sitzung 13: Lernzielkontrolle
051-0312-00L	History of Art and Architecture IV Only for Architecture BSc, Programme Regulations 2011.	W	3 credits	2V	L. Stalder
Abstract	The two-semester course offers an introduction to the history and theory of architecture from the industrial revolution up to now. Based on current questions a variety of case studies will be discussed.
Learning objective	The aim is to give an overview on crucial events, works of art, buildings and theories since the beginning of the 19th century up to now. The course should enhance the comprehension of historical and theoretical issues, and allow the students to localize their own practice within a broader historical context.
Content	The subject of this lecture course is the history and theory of architecture since the beginning of the 19th century up to now. It examines the architectural answers to the changing technical inventions and social practices. Consequently, the focus will be less on individual architects or buildings than on various themes that determined the architecture of the period.
Lecture notes	http://www.stalder.arch.ethz.ch/courses
051-0364-00L	History of Urban Design II Only for Architecture BSc, Programme Regulations 2011.	W	2 credits	2V	T. Avermaete, J. Gosseye
Abstract	This course focuses on the history of the city, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that engender and lead their developments and transformations. The history of urban design will be approached as a cross-cultural field of knowledge that integrates scientific, economic and technical innovation as well as social and cultural advance.
Learning objective	The lectures deal mainly with the definition of urban design as an independent discipline, which maintains connections with other disciplines (politics, sociology, geography) that are concerned with the transformation of the city. The aim is to make students conversant with the multiple theories, concepts and approaches of urban design as they were articulated throughout time in a variety of cultural contexts, thus offering a theoretical framework for students’ future design work.
Content	21.02.2019: Housing and the Industrial City: From Speculative to Cooperative 28.02.2019: Cities and Ideologies: Building for Healthy Minds in Healthy Bodies 07.03.2019: no class 14.03.2019: Envisioning Urban Utopias 28.03.2019: Reconstructing the City, Constructing New Towns 04.04.2019: New Capitals for New Democracies; New Institutions for Old Democracies 11.04.2019: Rethinking Masterplanning 18.04.2019: The Countercultural City 02.05.2019: The Postmodern City: From Neo-rationalism to Neo-liberalism 09.05.2019: Global Cities: Urban Explosion /Urban Implosion 16.05.2019: Reflection
Lecture notes	Prior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These chapters will introduce the lecture, the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, as well as references to the compulsory and additional reading.
Literature	There are three books that will function as main reference literature throughout the course: Eric Mumford, Designing the Modern City: Urban Design Since 1850 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018) Francis D. K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramditya Prakash, A Global History of Architecture (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2017) David Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2011) These books will be reserved for consultation in the ETH Baubibliothek, and will not be available for individual loans. A list of further recommended literature will be found within each chapter of the reader (Skript).
052-0806-00L	History and Theory of Architecture IV	W	2 credits	2V	L. Stalder
Abstract	The two-semester course offers an introduction to the history and theory of architecture from the industrial revolution up to now. Based on current questions a variety of case studies will be discussed.
Learning objective	The aim is to give an overview on crucial events, works of art, buildings and theories since the beginning of the 19th century up to now. The course should enhance the comprehension of historical and theoretical issues, and allow the students to localize their own practice within a broader historical context.
Content	The subject of this lecture course is the history and theory of architecture since the beginning of the 19th century up to now. It examines the architectural answers to the changing technical inventions and social practices. Consequently, the focus will be less on individual architects or buildings than on various themes that determined the architecture of the period.
Lecture notes	http://www.stalder.arch.ethz.ch/courses
851-0125-80L	Editing a Historical Scientific Manuscript (Personal Project Pilot Course) Number of participants limited to 10. This course is based on personal project supervision	W	3 credits	2S	R. Wagner
Abstract	this pilot course will be based on supervised individual work by students. Each student will select a manuscript source (modern nachlass or historical manuscript) by a scientist in a language of their choosing and prepare an edition and translation of the source. The work will be personally supervised by the teacher.
Learning objective	Students will have basic skills in historical editing work, and acquire knowledge about one science-history case study. Work load: - Class participation: 2-3 class meetings during the semester (this is flexible, so you may register even if the scheduled time is problematic for you). - Selection of source: each student will select one scientific source - modern nachlass or early modern or medieval manuscript, which has never been edited. There are no restrictions on language of origin (students are encouraged to work on manuscripts in their native languages) - Bibliography: each student will prepare her/his own bibliography to provide historical background for the selected source (150-200 pages). - Each student will prepare a "diplomatic edition" and a translation of a selection from the manuscript (ca. 15 pages). - Each student will prepare a 2,000 words commentary on the background and content of the manuscript. - The work will be personally supervised by the teacher, and will be performed during the semester according to a fixed schedule.
Prerequisites / Notice	only 2-3 class meetings during the semester

Literature
Number	Title	Type	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0125-78L	Non-Conceptual Thinking: Philosophy As Literature	W	3 credits	2S	M. Hampe, A. Kilcher
Abstract	Literature and Philosophy are usually distinguished from each other by the following difference: Philosophy supposedly uses a language of abstract concepts whereas literature tells stories and uses metaphors. Looking more closely reveals that philosophy is operating not at all purely conceptual and without metaphors. Metaphorical texts that tell stories in philosophy are subject of this course.
Learning objective	Students should learn about the different types of argumentative and non-argumentative texts. They should learn to understand the descriptive and critical value of non-argumentative texts that operate at the boarder between philosophy and literature.
851-0300-60L	Franz Kafka. Modernism's Literary Knowledge	W	3 credits	2V	A. Kilcher
Abstract	The course offers an overview of Kafka's texts while revealing a twofold perspective. On the one hand, the text as a literary composition occupies central stage; at the same time, however, the aim is to understand the interrelatedness of these texts with cultural, political, economical and literary discourse of Kafka's time.
Learning objective	1) Students are acquainted with Kafka's texts; 2) students are familiar with the historical, cultural and political contexts of Kafka's work; 3) students gain insight in Kafka's process of writing; 4) students gain insight into the nature of knowledge of Kafka's texts.
851-0301-17L	German Romanticism	W	3 credits	2V	C. Jany
Abstract	This introductory course to German Romanticism explores chiefly Romantic poetics and its reflexive as well as ironic forms of communicating and knowing, which eschew rationalistic and scientific platitudes. Equally important will be the inherent contradictions of Romanticism, for it is division, not unity, speaking from its heart, the ecstatic experience of absence and failure--Sehnsucht.
Learning objective	1) develop an understanding of "Romanticism", of Romantic poetics and its reflexive as well as ironic forms of communicating and knowing 2) read the literary texts in question very carefully so as to get to know that mode of perception and description which since Ludwig Tieck, Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Joseph von Eichendorff, etc. is called "Romantic" 3) participate in class by listening carefully and also through critical questions and feedback. This third point is particularly important because the lectures will serve as the basis for a small book, "A Short Introduction to the Literature of German Romanticism." 4) Since this lecture is part of "Science in Perspective" (SiP), we will also explore the relation between Romanticism and modern science.
851-0315-01L	Writing: Precision of Language as a Field of Research for Literature	W	1 credit	1G	F. Kretzen
Abstract	When we write a literary text we enter into a set-up for experiments and explore the possibilities ensuing from the specific structure and consistency of such a text. Literary writing allows us to go over to another kind of knowledge. Thus, the question: what is it that I want to write about? is replaced by: what do I write?
Learning objective	In this course we shall analyze and apply conditions and criteria for literary writing on the basis of our own texts. The course is intended for persons who are interested in literary approaches to exactitude. Any attempt to write literature is confronted with an unforeseeable linguistic dynamism whose feasibility is determined by laws and rules quite different from those of science and technology. For the science-oriented writer, experiencing the self-evidence produced by literary approaches in his or her own writing project opens up a field of language with new content and new methods.
Content	In the natural sciences as well as in engineering we set up experiments, analyze equation systems, and formulate theories. In order to complement these practices, the course «Writing» shall pursue precision in literary writing, its choice of word and its self-evidence. When we write a literary text we also enter into a set-up for experiments and explore the possibilities ensuing from the specific structure and overall consistency of such a text. This form of writing takes us from the question: what is it that I want to write about? to the question: what do I write? How do such literary approaches differ from the ways in which the natural sciences use language? In this course we shall analyze and apply conditions and criteria for literary writing on the basis of our own texts. The course is intended for persons who are interested in literary approaches to exactitude. Any attempt to write literature is confronted with an unforeseeable linguistic dynamism whose feasibility is determined by laws and rules quite different from those of science and technology. For the science-oriented writer, experiencing the self-evidence produced by literary approaches in his or her own writing project opens up a field of language with new content and new methods.
Prerequisites / Notice	Those wishing to participate are required to send in between two and three pages text of their own writing that will be discussed in class. It may be an existing text , such as an essay yet from school or a post for a student magazine. The next step will be writing a text on a preset topic as a basis for discussing the various realizations of a given task.
851-0346-08L	The Body In 19th Century Italian Culture Between Poetry and Visual Art	W	3 credits	2V	N. Lorenzini
Abstract	Throughout the course, I will illustrate, in an interdisciplinary perspective, how the representation of the body interprets the relevant perceptual and expressive transformations in the artistic and poetic tradition of the 19th century.
Learning objective	The starting point will be the beginning of the century, with the change of the scientific and philosophic horizon, which puts the absolute conception of Time and Space into crisis, opening up to the discovery of the relative, the simultaneous, and the rupture of the linear perspective, witch effects the "Me" as place of identity and integrity. These are the subjects of 19th century perception phenomenology, by Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, followed by the reflections on the "body" that intensify and multiply by reaching the 20th century.
851-0334-10L	Literature in the Mirror of Arts	W	3 credits	2V	G. Macé
Abstract	Literature is nourished by other forms of art in multiple ways: as a comment, as inspiration, as a source of fiction etc. I suggest examining these different aspects by analysing some examples.
Learning objective	A preface will be dedicated to the tradition of writing itself: the fascination of hieroglyphs, the stelae of Segalen, the calligrams of Apollinaire, Michaux’s moving signs. I will also address the issue of writing from an anthropologic perspective, in particular with regard to the weak diffusion of writing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several lessons will be dedicated to photography: reactions of Baudelaire, texts of Claudel, of Surrealists, of Barthes, among others. Then we will move on to painting: Balzac, Baudelaire and Claudel again, Apollinaire and the Cubists, etc. Architecture, dance and music will complete the program. I would like to elaborate on Proust and the pages of the Recherche dedicated to Fortuny, Elstir the painter, Vinteuil the musician, and, of cause, the « petit pan de mur jaune ».Suggested readings, if you wish, are: Le chef-d’œuvre inconnu by Balzac, Le peintre de la vie moderne by Baudelaire, “Calligrammes” by Apollinaire, L’œil écoute by Claudel, La chambre claire by Barthes, and Proust.

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