Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses
Explore our extraordinary range of Humanities courses and lectures. We offer both introductory and specialist in-depth courses to suit all levels of interest and experience, from one-off courses in History, Politics, and Economics to in-depth courses in Art History, Film Studies, Literature, and Science and Nature.
Our tutors are experts in their fields and experienced educators; many have published, teach in universities or share their expertise in the media. Tutors share their knowledge and passion through presentations, readings, interactive discussion and exercises, analysis, and other activities.
Many students return to take more courses, telling us they enjoy being part of our City Lit Learning community.
Our popular courses often sell out quickly, so we invite you to browse and book your place now.
268 courses available
Blood, pain and infection: how surgery was transformed from 1840 to the present dayThe course examines key developments in surgery, as a critical aspect of modern medicine, between 1840 and the present day.
Online
Tue 15 Sep 2026David IngledewFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00- Rising powers: China, from Mao to XiThe spectacular rise of China is one of the most significant developments of the last decades. What explains it and what does it mean for China itself and the world?Full fee £329.00 Senior fee £263.00 Concession £214.00
- Global encounters: the Silk RoadsTravel nearly 2000 years of history along the Silk Roads across Eurasia and China and explore the cross-cultural impact generated through the expansion of trade.
Online
Tue 15 Sep 2026Vanessa KingFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Global encounters: meet the MongolsAt its height the Mongol empire stretched from the Sea of Japan to eastern Europe. We explore how the Mongols interacted with the nations they conquered.
Online
Tue 15 Sep 2026Vanessa KingFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Art history and cinemaSince cinema's earliest days, literature has provided movies with stories. But there is another way of looking at film: through its relationship with painting, the oldest of the art forms.
We’ll look at paintings by Friedrich, Titian, Hopper, Bacon, Delaroche and many more. We’ll view Red Desert, Pan’s Labyrinth, Easy Rider - looking at realism, surrealism and more.
As you can see, all of these are quite different! Let’s see how movies connect us to art history.Online
Tue 15 Sep 2026Gillian McIverFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00 - Sustainable Development and Global Risks
This course explores why greater global cooperation is needed if sustainable development goals are to be achieved in the face of global risks.
Online
Wed 16 Sep 2026Anita PunwaniFull fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £58.00 - Exploring British cinemaDefining itself around themes such as realism, class and national identity, and differentiating itself from Hollywood and other national cinemas, British cinema has found critical and popular acclaim both domestically and internationally. This course explores key themes and developments in British cinema, past and present, through a range of films, filmmakers and critical concepts and responses.
Online
Wed 16 Sep 2026Jon WisbeyFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Economics for beginners
Economics is about what drives human behaviour in making decisions faced with limited resources. Join this online course to learn how economic forces shape our world, from individual decision-making to how our political and social systems operate.
Online
Thu 17 Sep 2026Naresh SonparFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Colonial America 1492-1776On this interactive lecture introductory course we will explore the political, social, and cultural development of colonial America in the period 1492-1776.
Online
Thu 17 Sep 2026Dafydd TownleyFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00 - European history: from Pen to Print 600-1650
From medieval manuscripts to explosive print culture, this course uncovers censorship, book markets, pamphlets, and changing readerships between 600 and 1650-revealing how texts shaped belief, authority, and society.
Online
Fri 18 Sep 2026Vanessa KingFull fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Europe in the Age of Discovery 1400-1500
Explore the growth and expansion of post-plague Europe thatwitnessednot onlythe splendour of Burgundy,the rise of printing,unification of Spainandthe Renaissance,butalsothe Age of Explorationthat led tocolonialism and slavery
Online
Fri 18 Sep 2026Vanessa KingFull fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Chinese Philosophy: the nature of nature
“Heaven and earth are produced from Nature. The myriad things are produced from Heaven and Earth. Nature has nothing outside it; thus it is the name of heaven and earth together.” (Ruan Ji)
Online
Sat 19 Sep 2026John GoffFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Flags decoded: Germany
Discover the politics and history of Germany through its flags on this fascinating introductory lecture.
Online
Mon 21 Sep 2026Sebastien ArdouinFull fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Postcolonial Cinemas: Memory, History and Remembrance
This course explores how filmmakers across the world have used cinema to confront, question, and reimagine the legacies of colonialism through memory and history. Focusing on specific films from Lebanon, Palestine, Taiwan, the Philippines, Chile, Africa, and the diasporas, we will examine how cinema has become a crucial medium for addressing historical violence, displacement, silence, and resistance in postcolonial societies. These films span fiction, documentary, essay film, and experimental modes, and they engage with topics including gendered memory, forbidden histories, colonial amnesia, Indigenous erasure, exile, diaspora, and intergenerational trauma. Cinema emerges here as both a site of remembrance and a space of counter-history: a medium through which suppressed stories can be visualised, and emotionally reactivated in the present.
Please note that for those students who have taken previous versions of this course, the selection of films and the topics covered will be different from past iterations of the course.
Online
Mon 21 Sep 2026Jean-Baptiste de VaulxFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00 - City Lit evening reading group
Share thoughts and ideas about what you are reading, with books chosen by the group. Please come to the first session with suggestions (contemporary literary fiction in paperback) and having read Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.We meet on the following dates: 21/9, 26/10, 23/11, 11/1, 8/2, 8/3, 19/4, 24/5, 28/6.
Online
Mon 21 Sep 2026Claire AllenFull fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00
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