Course Syllabus

Welcome to the Course!

Information about the course structure and content can be found here in the Canvas learning platform. See in the navigation in the left menu.

Under Modules you will find, among other things, the course structure, content and working methods, a guide to the studies in the course. Current course information is added continuously under Grants/Announcements. Under Files and in the Media Gallery are documents and digital media used in the course.

The purpose of the course is address interdisciplinary issues regarding epistemologies and knowledge traditions, which have been raised in relation to the planning and implementation of research studies with a focus on global topics and problem areas. The course also introduces dominant views of knowledge by introducing theoretical perspectives on the decolonization of knowledge and problematizes knowledge hierarchies by critically examining established dichotomies, such as nature-culture, child-adult, local-global. Through four different thematic touches, the course deals with methodological implications of shifting and often conflicting global/local knowledge traditions. These overall themes (not coresponding to module themes) are 1) Basic concepts of epistemology: ontology, epistemology and methodology, 2) Epistemological decolonization – local practices and global discourses, 3) Climate and postmaterialism in a global perspective, 4) Ethical perspectives on planning and conducting a study on global issues.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course the students will be able to:

• Reflect on the concepts of ontology, epistemology and methodology
• Critically examine different knowledge traditions from a global perspective
• Reflect on contemporary discourses on decolonizing knowledge traditions
• Account for and analyse shifting traditions of knowledge in speech and writing
• Compare and examine contradictions in different knowledge traditions to clarify
  methodological implications when conducting a study

The course is linked to the research theme Global childhoods at IPKL University of Gothenburg, but the focus is interdisciplinary and welcomes students from different subject traditions. 

The course language is English and is implemented as a hybrid course (online and some occasions it is onsite).

The course uses digital media, such as the Canvas learning platform, computer or tablet as well as other web-based services and the like. The course contains online components and access to a stable network connection is therefore required during the course. The course and learning objectives are presented in the syllabus (including the bibliography). The learning objectives are starting points for the course's structure and content, and indicate the skills and knowledge to be achieved during the course. It is therefore important to refer back to the syllabus during the course. All course information and contact details can be found here in Canvas. Since any changes are posted continuously as a message in Canvas, it is important to stay up to date. The department for pedagogy, communication and learning (IPKL) is the department responsible for the course.

Zsuzsa Millei / Teacher