Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses

This course will serve as an introduction to human rights. Join to get a basic but solid understanding of human rights and how they work in practice.

This course provides an introduction to key debates and developments in contemporary French politics, connecting Republicanism, the entrenchment of neoliberalism in the 1980s and the rise of the far-Right.

Explore a dazzling range of masterworks from across Central and Eastern Europe that includes many of the seminal figures of 20th century German Literature, from Modernism to the two world wars, the Holocaust and their aftermath, explored chronologically and including among others Rilke, Thomas Mann, Kafka, Brecht, Celan, Bernhard and Herta Muller.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This in-college course focuses on innovative short fiction from around the globe which reworks folkloric traditions to grapple with conditions of twenty-first century life. As well as engaging with the unique folkloric influences each text draws on, we’ll consider the complexities of the present that they are addressed to – and how the rising popularity of ghost stories, fairy tales, dark fables and surreal myths suggests a renewed fascination with the intrigues of the mysterious, monstrous and inexplicable.

With environmental degradation, climate change and an alarming increase in the loss of species, nature writing has become an important and exciting genre. Different in style and subject, some of these books will take you on emotional and geographical journeys to explore the wonder of the natural forms and species of the deserts of California, the mountains of the Dolpo region of Nepal and the Canadian Arctic while others will examine the beauty, impact and intrinsic value of wildness. Authors include Robert Macfarlane, Peter Matthiessen and Helen Macdonald.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This class explores the work of Leonard Cohen, examining his poetry, song, prose and persona in the context of the literary and musical traditions that shaped his art. We delve into Cohen’s meditations on life and the modern world through his absorption and reworking of a rich range of cultural influences.