Explore History, Culture & Writing

Who am I? Is there such a thing as “my true self”? These and related questions will be looked at from various philosophical perspectives.



NB There will be no class on 28/05/24.



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

The fourth in a new cycle of modern British history courses, this course examines the transformative social and cultural change in Britain during the Thatcher Decade; probing how far the Thatcher Governments were responsible for social and cultural change. Or was this largely the work of provincial cultural entrepreneurs like Tony Wilson (“Mr Manchester”)?



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

The online course explores European settlement (British, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish) of North America. It examines the differences between English colonies; the American Revolution; the formation of the United States; and the War of 1812.



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

This class introduces you to a range of themes and issues in European cinema, including art cinema, national cinema, movements, 'moments' and new waves, authorship, popular cinema and genre, along with key developments in European film history from the silent era to the present day, key films, directors and the canon of European cinema, and a range of critical accounts of European cinema.



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

Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club 2, where once a week, for 12 weeks (and throughout the academic



year), we will watch and discuss film. Taking its cue from the famous Parisian ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, ‘the single thinker most responsible for bestowing on cinema the prestige both of an artform and of an object of knowledge’, and the man who foresaw the emergence of film studies as a legitimate discipline of academic study, our contemporary incarnation of the film club will offer a curated series of films for detailed study, discussion and debate. Each film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.







Please note that this course will screen a new and different set of films to HF211 Cultureplex Cine-Club, which will run with the same films screened last year. If you took the Cultureplex Cine-Club course last year (2023-4), please ensure that you take the Cultureplex Cine-Club 2 courses this year.

This introductory course aims to critically explore the role and symbolic meaning of art from a cross-cultural perspective, ranging from the concept of beauty, the beliefs and rituals associated with material objects, to the human body as canvas and the role of museums.



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

This course offers a broad survey of German history from the sealing of the country’s division by the Berlin Wall to its unforeseen reunification in 1989-90 and its aftermath.



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

In 1900, Europe looked with confidence to the future. Within fourteen years though, tensions between competing powers increased to the point that peace could no longer be preserved. What explains this descent into hell?



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

The search for a meaning to life has consumed human beings since time immemorial. What is the purpose of our being here? How are we supposed to live our lives? Is there a God or are we just products of nature, and depending on our answer, what does that tell us about the way we should conduct ourselves? What do we even mean by meaning?! If these questions intrigue or puzzle you, then look no further! While we cannot guarantee any answers, the quest for meaning and the exploration of the topic lead to some of philosophy’s greatest thinkers and their reflections on this most pressing of issues.



NB: No classes on 06/05/24 and 27/05/24.



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

This is an advanced course intended to use film as a primary source in exploring the history and culture of the Soviet Union in greater detail.



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