Beginners History, Culture & Humanities Courses

Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club, 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 the films screened in this year’s Ciné-Club 2 are a repeat of last year's Ciné-Club (Autumn), so if you attended in 2025-6 you should look for HF211 Culturplex Ciné-Club (Autumn) which runs on Tuesday afternoons and consists of an entirely new suite of films.

This course critically explores how Agatha Christie helped to shape the detective genre in the twentieth century, the publishing history of some of her most celebrated works, and how Christie navigated themes of class, gender, morality and justice. Through selected readings, discussions and analysis, we will explore the literary significance and enduring appeal of the Queen of Crime.

Discover the history of foreign affairs in modern British politics, from the UK’s relationships with key allies and trading partners, to conflicts in the Middle East and post-colonial relations in Asia.

Join Dr Stephen Goss for this one-off lecture to explore the history of the Troubles in Murals - what can analyzing their themes teach us about social, religious and political divisions in Northern Ireland?

From Mexico to Patagonia, Latin America has produced some of the most spellbinding literature of the modern age. From dictatorship and death to national identity and the natural world, join us as we investigate the cultural heritage of the continent through some of its best writers.

This course explores the crisis of the modern subject through continental philosophy's most provocative thinkers. Join us as we trace how 20th-century thought has systematically undermined the Cartesian notion of a unified, self-transparent, rational subject, via thinkers including Deleuze, Lacan, Foucault and Derrida.

Examine how Britain was reshaped between 1850 and the First World War. Explore politics, society, culture, and empire in an era of reform, industrial growth, urban change, and changing ideas about class, gender, and identity.

Explore London’s past on foot: from monarchy and empire to protest, migration, war, culture, and modern identity. Discover how the city’s streets reflect and have shaped Britain across two thousand years.