Explore Histories, Memories & Heritage
This collection of courses invites you to explore histories and memories of diverse communities all around the world.
Join us to learn and engage in conversations about minority communities, migrant communities, women, neurodiverse people, people facing disabilities in certain circumstances, LGBTQI+ communities and more.
Other courses will help you understand transnational memory politics. For example, the politics of heritage in British museum collections, the memory politics in war between Ukraine and Russia, and the post-1945 memory politics of the broader region of East Asia.
On these courses you will develop your historical skills with friendly support from our expert tutors. From oral history courses and storytelling courses; to advanced history courses focused on archival skills and exploring what academic history is and can be.
Curious? Join us!
- Section 28: LGBTQ+ activism, education and resistanceCourse start date: Thu 11 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Syeda AliExplore the history of Section 28 (1988-2003) in three online workshops. We examine its political origins and effects and how it shaped LGBTQ+ rights and collective memory in Britain.
Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £49.00 Concession £32.00 - Solidarity, Oral History and Archives : amplifying the experiences of displacement and solidarity in exileCourse start date: Sat 20 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Martin JorgensenThis workshop explores how archives and archival work can help to build and preserve solidarity with displaced communities, especially refugees, and is run in collaboration with the Living Refugee Archive, sponsored by a Workshop Grant by the Royal Historical Society and Small Research Fund by the Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London
Full fee £0.00 - Queer Time and Memory: An Introduction
Course start date: Mon 22 Jun 2026Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Vincent MarquisHow do we remember queer lives-and what might it mean to experience time differently? This session explores queer time, memory, and the creative ways queer histories are remembered.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Queer UK: Broadcasting History Course start date: Thu 25 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Siobhan McGuirkAttitudes towards gender and sexuality have transformed over the past 50 years. Television has documented it all – and sometimes surprisingly driven – radical change. Join us to explore the key moments that shaped Queer UK.
Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - South Asian Heritage Month at City Lit - The histories, memories and legacies of the Bangladeshi war of IndependenceCourse start date: Wed 1 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Reshmi BanerjeeThe Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971 is a defining moment for both Bangladesh and South Asia. The course aims to examine the multiple causes and varied consequences of the liberation war along with its overall lasting impact on the region and its politics.
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - In Conversation with Tash Walker & Adam Zmith: The Log Books – voices of queer Britain Course start date: Fri 10 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join authors Tash Walker and Adam Zmith for an in conversation event with City Lit Principal Mark Malcomson exploring their work charting four decades of LGBTQ+ life in Britain through the call logs of a charity helpline.
Full fee £5.00 Senior fee £5.00 Concession £5.00 - South Asian Heritage Month at City Lit - Indian indigenous architectureCourse start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Yasmin HalesThis session will explore Indian indigenous architecture. Join us to explore how what may seem like a simple mud structure offers not only shelter, but also expresses identity, community, cosmology, and environmental wisdom.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Exploring Covent Garden’s Theatre History: Inigo Jones, SamuelCourse start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vernon ThompsonExplore the historical context of a particular area in London’s Theatreland and three figures associated with its development through three walks that start in the classroom.
Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - South Asian Heritage Month at City Lit - Maps, Paper and Power in the British RajCourse start date: Tue 21 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Yasmin HalesJoin us in this session to explore the 'disease' maps as technologies of colonial control in the British Raj.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - South Asian Heritage Month at City Lit - Contemporary Indian Folk and Tribal ArtCourse start date: Tue 28 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Yasmin HalesIndian folk and tribal art is a living cultural heritage. Join us to explore how contemporary artists from these traditions are not merely preserving history and identity; but are responding to modern realities, and entering global art discourses.
Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Black internationalism in the heart of the Empire – Heritage walkCourse start date: Sat 15 Aug 2026
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: A. SThis walking tour takes us along a route of heritage sites commemorating the history of Black activism and anti-colonialism in the heart of the British empire. We will come across some familiar faces and stories in the form of commemorative statues, plaques and buildings, and consider how each individual site is connected to the other, and why it’s important these sites exist..
Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £31.00 Concession £25.00 - Emerging languages and cultures Course start date: Tue 8 Sep 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Florence Marfo, Jack Pulman-SlaterLearn how humans invent entirely new languages and how these new forms of communication become powerful symbols of identity.
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Northern Irish Heritage: The History of the Troubles in MuralsCourse start date: Thu 24 Sep 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Stephen GossJoin 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?
Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £19.00 - History and memory in the United States of America Course start date: Sat 3 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Olivia DurandLearn how history is remembered and contested in the United States of America. This study day examines key historical narratives, monuments, and the role of public memory in nation-building, highlighting debates over race and ethnicity, identity, and representation.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Contested histories: monuments, memory and power Course start date: Thu 8 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vincent MarquisWhy do we build monuments? What do they commemorate and what do they leave out? This course explores how memorials shape and are shaped by politics, memory, and power.
Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00
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