Images (PHIL-UH 2416)

Images depict, words describe. A picture of the cat of the mat depicts the cat as being on the mat. The sentence ’the cat is on the mat’ describes the cat as being on the mat. Both represent the world as being in a certain state, but they do so in different ways. What is the difference in these ways of representing? What does it take for an image to depict? This course covers most major theories of depiction, including resemblance, experience, recognition, pretense, and structural theories. We then expand the scope of inquiry to include topics such as systems of depiction, analog vs. digital representation, maps, film, comics, maps, mental imagery, and relations to the cognitive science of vision.

Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)


PHIL-UH 2416-000 (5805)01/22/2024 – 05/10/2024 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Rabin, Gabriel

The Meaning of Life (PHIL-UH 1110)

Is there a point or significance to life as a whole? That is the question about the “meaning of life.” Though this question is notoriously hard to make precise, in one form or another it has animated much literature and art, and also much philosophy. Some philosophers have provided disheartening answers: life is suffering, and then it ends; life is absurd and never gains any meaning. But other philosophers have provided more uplifting answers that support the quest for personal significance. Bot h kinds of answers deserve scrutiny. After reviewing various pessimistic and more optimistic approaches to the meaning of life, we will turn to the subject of death. We will all die eventually. We normally encounter the death of our family and friend s before we must deal with our own. These themes too are the subject of philosophical reflection. We finish the semester with a discussion of the connection between individual significance and the future of humanity. This class will integrate references to art and literature as well as to science where appropriate, but its main focus is on contributions by recent thinkers in the analytical tradition of philosophy.

Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


PHIL-UH 1110-000 (18561)08/29/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Paul, Sarah

Youth in the Middle East (ACS-UH 2613X)

Roughly one third of the Middle East population today is between 15 and 29 years old – a demographic “bulge” which has brought Middle Eastern youths at the forefront of media and government concerns both at the regional and global scale. But from the figure of the young jihadist to that of the Arab spring revolutionary, dominant perceptions of these youths often fall into highly polarized archetypes. Moving the focus away from politics and religion, this course explores the everyday worlds of Middle Eastern youths and the complex interactions – with institutions, peers and family members – which characterize their daily lives. By analyzing multiple youth cultures divided along the lines of gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or social class, students will address the diversity of Middle Eastern youths and question the universality of age categories. A large space will also be devoted to the voices of Middle Eastern youths themselves, from Egyptian literature and Emirati cinema to Moroccan hip-hop. These cultural productions will allow students to look at the way Arab youths use globalized artistic genres to address regional issues and express their fears, hopes and desires.

Arab Crossroads Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2025)


ACS-UH 2613X-000 (4460)01/21/2025 – 05/09/2025 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Assaf, Laure

Management & Organizations (BUSOR-UH 1003)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

Why do some organizations succeed while others flounder? Whether it be as an employee within a traditional for-profit business, or within one of the wide spectrum of alternative career paths, all of us will ultimately be a part of organizations. This course will help illuminate the key processes and factors that determine why organizations function as they do, drawing upon the fields of management, strategy, sociology, and psychology in the process. Specific topics covered include: Corporate strategy and achieving competitive advantage, Organizational structure and design, Organizational and national culture, Leadership, Motivation and incentives, Groups dynamics, Power & politics within organizations, including a discussion of persuasion & influence and social networks, Judgment and decision-making.

Business & Organizational Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Introduction to Creative Writing (LITCW-UH 1003)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This workshop introduces the basic elements of poetry, fiction, and personal narrative with in-class writing, take-home reading and writing assignments, and substantive discussions of craft. The course is structured as a workshop, which means that students receive feedback from their instructor and their fellow writers in a roundtable setting, and that they should be prepared to offer their classmates responses to their work.

Literature & Creative Writing (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Elementary Arabic 1 (ARABL-UH 1110)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu

This course is designed for learners with no prior knowledge of Arabic. Students who have studied Arabic before or who have prior knowledge of Arabic are required to take a placement test. This is a full semester (or equivalent session) course during which students first learn the Arabic alphabet, then move on to work on the sentence and paragraph levels. It is an interactive course designed to build the student’s abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. At the end of the semester students should be able to carry on a short conversation; ask and answer questions; introduce themselves and others; provide simple biographical information; interact in simple daily life situations; ask for assistance; express likes and dislikes; read short texts; and gain a basic understanding of Arab culture. Types of tasks and assignments required for this course include daily homework assignments, periodic quizzes, brief presentations, short essay writing, and a final exam.

Arabic Language (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Quantified Self (CCOL-UH 1059Q)

Self-tracking. Biohacking. Personal informatics. Quantified self. The contemporary “quantified self” movement makes claims of “self-knowledge through numbers” and improving health and human welfare. There are clearly other elements to self-tracking culture that deserve critical investigation. What does the self become through the lens of data? What is the dark side of data that can be used against us, and without regard for social justice and equality? This multidisciplinary course takes both a theoretical and a practical look at the pressing issue of data aggregation about human beings. It looks to the past for historical forms of self-quantification and to the future of a rapidly expanding globalized landscape of app tracking and wearable technologies. With the question of human data in mind, the course examines the unsure futures of humanity in a variety of domains: medicine and aging, education, the arts, marketing, and the Internet of Things. Students will situate themselves critically within this increasingly dense data landscape by creating data about themselves that can be analyzed and interpreted using a variety of data visualization and storytelling frameworks.

Core: Colloquium (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


CCOL-UH 1059Q-000 (22917)08/29/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Wrisley, David

Conserving Our Global Heritage through Science (CCOL-UH 1006)

What is “global heritage”? Is it simply our collective legacy as human societies – how we want to be remembered by future generations – or must we confront more difficult questions about identity, the ownership of culture, and conflicts between local and global stewardship of the cultural treasures and historical evidence? With time, negligence, and even military conflict working to erase the past, we must ask: Can a better understanding of our shared heritage assist us in addressing cultural differences in the present day? And how can science both help us understand the historic record and work to preserve it? This class examines ways in which scientific methods can help define “global heritage” and protect it for future generations. Students explore the history and the science behind the creation of paintings, frescoes, parchments, sculptures, ancient mummies, historical buildings, musical instruments, and other artifacts. They will also examine the methods used to differentiate between an authentic object and a fake and ask how some objects come to be valued more than others: distinctions that can lead, and have led, to cultural conflict in recent years.

Core: Colloquium (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


CCOL-UH 1006-000 (17210)08/29/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Arneodo, Francesco · Parthesius, Robert

Cultural Appropriation (CCEA-UH 1069)

Virtually unknown outside of academic discourse until recently, the term cultural appropriation has become a commonplace in social and popular media, as activists and public intellectuals have highlighted what they see as problematic uses (or abuses) of cultural symbols, artifacts, or expressive modes connected to marginalized groups. But what exactly is cultural appropriation, and under what circumstances can it be said to constitute a form of exploitation or violence? This course approaches these questions both philosophically and empirically, asking, on the one hand: What is culture, and how can it be “owned” or “stolen”? and on the other: How have practices of adopting or using culture been implicated in processes of social subjugation or marginalization? Course readings are drawn from a range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, including cultural anthropology, art theory, music studies, and philosophy. By engaging with a rich corpus of ideas through in-class discussions, oral presentations, and written reflections, students will develop critical perspectives on cultural appropriation as well as the broader concepts of culture, race, and ethnicity.

Core: Cultural Exploration & Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


CCEA-UH 1069-000 (20400)08/25/2025 – 12/10/2025 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Eisenberg, Andrew Jarad

Art and Architecture of the Islamic World (ARTH-UH 1810X)

A broad survey, we will consider works of architecture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and the arts of the book. Given the span of centuries embraced by the term ’Islamic art’ – from the 7th century up to the present day – and the expanse of geography – from Spain to China and beyond – this course cannot be a complete survey within the constraints of a single semester. Instead, this course will present a select group of materials within a chronological and dynastic framework, with an emphasis on specific case studies. These selections will highlight important internal developments as well as ’points of contact’ between cultural entities. This approach – at once global and local – speaks to the dynamic and fluid qualities of many of the arts produced in the regions under scrutiny.

Art History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)


ARTH-UH 1810X-000 (18559)01/17/2021 – 05/03/2021 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Teece, Denise

Computational Approaches to Music and Audio I (MUSIC-UH 2419)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

The Computational Approaches to Music and Audio I will introduce students to programming for the development of applications of generative music and audio, ranging from standalone musical compositions to fun and engaging musical games or intelligent musical instruments. These applications will be developed mostly in Max, a widely used and very popular graphical programming environment for electronic music and interactive media. By the end of this course students will have become familiar with current approaches to audio and music programming namely in the Max programming environment, plug-in creation for Ableton Live, as well as have acquired a strong foundation in the field that will prepare them for the second course in the sequence.

Music (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Human-Centered Data Science (CDAD-UH 1044Q)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

Data science is changing our lives. While the importance of data science is widely acknowledged, there are also great concerns around it. How are data generated? How can they be used to make predictions and inform insights? What can be the potential dangers of applying data science techniques? What are the social and human implications of their uses? This multidisciplinary course explores these questions through hands-on experience on key technical components in data science and critical reviews of human and social implications in various real-world examples, ranging from social science to arts and humanities to engineering. In the course, students will 1) learn basic concepts and skills in data science (e.g., crawling and visualization); 2) apply these skills in a creative project; 3) discuss social and human implications of data science, including data privacy; algorithmic bias, transparency, fairness, and accountability; research ethics; data curation and reproducibility; and societal impacts. This course encourages students to reconsider our common-place assumptions about how data science works and be critical about the responsible use of data.

Core: Data and Discovery (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Industrial Revolutions and the Future of Work (CCOL-UH 1074)

How has the automation of work changed the ways we live? What challenges and opportunities does automation of work pose for the future? This multidisciplinary colloquium draws on materials in social science, science, and the humanities to explore how societies have organized themselves relative to technology in the past, and what changes are currently taking place. As we are now in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and dislocated by covid-19, how we live and work is undergoing profound change. New technologies pose new global challenges in the areas of equality, sustainable development, and education. Students will examine the wave of technology-driven transformations occurring on a global scale, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and 3D printing. The future of work is explored through literature, policy, and scientific expression, as we anticipate how humans will spend their time as current-day work becomes automated and permanently changed by the impacts of covid-19. They will consider the 4IR as an opportunity to critique theories of technological change and construct their own narratives of change in individual case study analysis assignments.

Core: Colloquium (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


CCOL-UH 1074-000 (20368)08/25/2025 – 12/10/2025 Mon,Wed9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Gleason, Nancy

Future of Medicine (CCOL-UH 1010)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

One of the biggest challenges in medicine is to prevent disease and ensure personalized treatment. This is now becoming possible thanks to high-resolution DNA sequencing technology that can decipher our individual information. These developments are already impacting global health, but they raise global challenges such as equality. How will these new technologies blend into healthcare systems? What regulations are needed to ensure that personalized medicine reaches all layers of society? How do we prevent discrimination based on our genes? Through an inquiry-based approach we will examine the science, economics, and politics behind medicine and evaluate the ethical issues that arise in this fast-developing field.

Core: Colloquium (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Technophilia and Its Discontents (CCEA-UH 1043)

Why must Luke Skywalker turn off his in computer at the climactic moment of George Lucas’s iconic film Star Wars (1977)? The film started a revolution in cinematic special-effects, but underlying its narrative logic is a deeply rooted anxiety about the right uses of technology. If man, as Hannah Arendt famously put it, is homo faber, the “creator,” the tool-making animal, then from at least Plato to the present, human beings have told stories about how dangerous tools can be. This course investigates philosophical writing, novels, plays, and films from a variety of world cultures to explore the vexed relationship between humans and the technologies they create. Why are human beings, perhaps more than ever at the start of the 21st century, so enamored with technological progress? Why is technophilia, the love of technology, so often accompanied by its opposite, technophobia, the fear of technology? What do the attitudes represented in the texts and films we examine tell us about human agency and about the relationship between science and religion?

Core: Cultural Exploration & Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 3 Weeks

Sections (Summer 2022)


CCEA-UH 1043-000 (6042)06/13/2022 – 07/07/2022 Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Patell, Cyrus

Ethics, Technology, and Business (BUSOR-UH 1009)

This course examines the ethical issues that arise in the context of the rapid development of technology and the increasing power of business corporations. In recent years, technological progress has allowed us to achieve many things, including the creation of intelligent machines that can surpass human capabilities. Yet, for all these benefits, the development of science and technology has spawned a host of problems such as: conflict between individual rights and social welfare; clash between respect for personal autonomy and expertise; automation and unemployment; and the replication of human bias by algorithms. Along with technological progress, the social role of businesses and corporations are also becoming increasingly important. How should corporations, for example, balance the pursuit of profit with respect for employees’ rights and liberties? Should the state refuse to enforce unconscionable contracts, even when enforcing those contracts would make both parties better off? What is the social role of corporations in the context of increasing inequality?

Business & Organizational Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)


BUSOR-UH 1009-000 (17905)08/29/2022 – 12/13/2022 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Kim, Soo Jin

Senior Design Capstone Project I (ENGR-UH 4011)

Students learn about the process of design with measurable metrics, and how to incorporate appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints in the design process. Students learn how to clearly frame the design problem and follow the design process to result in an optimized solution. Students perform a review of the relevant literature, develop a preliminary design, generate solution concepts and selection criteria, and review and evaluate the chosen design. Students must consider social, economic, lifecycle, environmental, ethical, and other constraints, and must document the design process and the evolution of their design. This project culminates with a final report and presentation that proposes the actual design selected for further development and/or prototyping and testing in the subsequent semester.

Engineering (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)


ENGR-UH 4011-000 (3947)08/26/2024 – 12/10/2024 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by George, Pradeep


ENGR-UH 4011-000 (4045)at Abu DhabiInstructed by George, Pradeep

Autonomous and Social Robots (CADT-UH 1038)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

How do we feel about robots? With technological developments in capability, performance, autonomy, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness, robots have arrived in everyday life. This course considers the history and ethics of human-robot interaction and explores unsolved hurdles we face as robots assume a ubiquitous presence in our lives. How are robots currently integrating into human-centered, civic industries such as education, heath, and smart cities? What roles might robots play in the future of these industries? What are the economic and labor implications associated with robotic integration? How will consumers respond to the increased use of robots in daily life? How have popular media representations over the last century influenced the way we experience these changes? Topics will also include the miniaturization of robots and their use in situations such as focused drug delivery within the human body, save-and-rescue missions, or military combat. Students will assemble and program several Lego Mindstorm robots capable of carrying prefabricated objects and will also assemble a small house.

Core: Arts, Design and Technology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Designing Health (CADT-UH 1053)

What constitutes innovation in medical technology? Is it always necessary? How is its value determined? How would we know if innovation has peaked, or reached a point of diminishing returns? What do global perspectives reveal about medical devices and healthcare in general? In what ways are cultural contexts important to consider? How can the med-tech innovation process address issues of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility? This course takes up the above questions through several case studies and examples, including bioprinting and COVID-19 vaccines — two topics with current relevance — as well as two of the most important historical med-tech innovations that have gone wrong in the past: The Malaria Project and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How can current design and innovation avoid repeating past mistakes? Working in cross-disciplinary teams, students will engage in design projects that will apply what we have learned from this course and address some of the paradoxes present in our ongoing quest to design healthier bodies and societies.

Core: Arts, Design and Technology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


CADT-UH 1053-000 (13185)08/25/2025 – 12/10/2025 Mon,Wed9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Sanjairaj, Vijayavenkataraman

Silence (CADT-UH 1052)

How does “silence” help to define our sense of being and existence? Across different cultures, various philosophies of art, science, and society have viewed and thought about silence differently. This course invites students to think about and experience silence by asking three fundamental questions: 1) What does it mean to be silent? (Literally and metaphorically); 2) Does silence shape our lives? And if so, how? 3) Can we have an active relationship and recognition with silence just as we do with sound or action? Drawing on multi-disciplinary sources from around the world to explore the philosophical frameworks and thought systems that have engaged in the study and observation of silence, the syllabus will include works of art, literature, theater, films, architecture, and music, which students will engage via a mix of seminar, lecture, and studio methods of teaching, to enable the creations of their own artistic responses to their experience of silence and the material presented in class.

Core: Arts, Design and Technology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)


CADT-UH 1052-000 (19965)08/26/2024 – 12/10/2024 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Özhabeş, Özlem