Issues Facing Our World
In times of uncertainty, knowledge can help us understand what’s going on around us. City Lit’s range of History, Politics and Science courses explore a number of contemporary issues facing the world right now. A few of the questions we’re currently asking are:
- Can history help us navigate modern issues and crises?
- How can we safeguard democracies around the world including our own?
- Are there other ways of organising our economy?
- What is the impact of climate change on our lives?
Taught by experts in their field, our courses give you the opportunity to explore current affairs, historical issues, and global challenges. Join us as we discuss, debate, and dissect the answers.
49 courses available
- 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 
Global issuesThrough the study of some of the key actors and main issues that affect people across continents, you will gain the skills and knowledge to analyse today’s world and the challenges we all face.Keeley Street
Thu 17 Sep 2026Sebastien ArdouinFull fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00- 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 - History of ideas: Resist! - the politics and impolitics of resistance
VIVE LA RESISTANCE! But what is resistance and what does it mean to resist? Is it simply saying no, a reaction, the refusal to submit to the current state of things? Or is it the perennial defiance of oppression and injustice? Does every resistance imply counter-resistances? Better responding to our troubled times requires us to rethink what we mean by resistance.
Keeley Street
Thu 24 Sep 2026Denis BosseauFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Foreign affairs in modern British politics
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.
Keeley Street
Thu 24 Sep 2026Ian McGarvieFull fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - The Humanities in Crisis? The State of the Humanities Today
The humanities - academic disciplines that study human society and culture, including literature, visual and performing arts, philosophy and history - are under threat of funding cuts across all sectors of education. Their “cultural capital” is waning alongside. The focus, instead, is on subjects that promise immediate gain in the form of guaranteed employment and economic growth for the investing state. But does such an approach pay off in the long run? As many theorists argue, the humanities teach vital skills of how to be a responsible citizen in a globalised world.
Keeley Street
Sat 26 Sep 2026Catherine BergerFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £51.00 - Exploring Kant: on race and ethnicity
Many philosophers, particularly of the Enlightenment era, wrote on the subject of race and ethnicity. Many also expounded views that would now be considered racist, amongst them Immanuel Kant. Join this course to find out more, and to question and discuss his views on race and ethnicity.
Keeley Street
Wed 30 Sep 2026Gabriel Olumide ApataFull fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - Climate change: a brief introductionWe hear and read about climate change every day. Yet it is hard to keep up and get the big picture. Join us to slow down and get a sense of how the problem of climate change has emerged, what is being done about it and what more needs doing.
Online
Thu 1 Oct 2026Gary RetallickFull fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00 - History and memory in the United States of AmericaLearn 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.
Keeley Street
Sat 3 Oct 2026Olivia DurandFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Climate change and COP31: a beginners' guide
Learn about global solutions to the global challenge of climate change and the role of the COP31 climate conference.
Online
Wed 7 Oct 2026Anita PunwaniFull fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - History of ideas: an introduction to ideology
This course asks us to consider the following questions: What is ideology? What does it mean to be ideological? and Why is ideology important to understand?
Keeley Street
Wed 7 Oct 2026John HolroydFull fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Contested histories: monuments, memory and power
Why 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.
Keeley Street
Thu 8 Oct 2026Vincent MarquisFull fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - Global politics for beginners: a short introductionThis one-day introductory course on Global Politics for Beginners is designed to provide participants with a foundational understanding of key political concepts, global power dynamics, and contemporary international issues.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
- Integrating philosophy and ethics in a capitalist worldEmbark on a journey to explore the intricate interplay between philosophy, ethics and capitalism. Join our exploration into aligning values with the demands of a dynamic global economy. Explore how values and principles can harmonise with the demands of a global economy.
Keeley Street
Sun 11 Oct 2026Vina TheodorakopoulouFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Boom, bust, and recovery: a global history of economic crises
An exploration of major economic crises from the 17th century to today-uncovering what causes them, how they reshape societies, and the lessons they leave behind.
Online
Wed 14 Oct 2026Ingrid Aguiar SchlindweinFull fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £90.00
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