Courses

Discover Handel’s Messiah in this installment of First Nights, which will explore five masterpieces of western music.

Join Harvard faculty in this online course to discover the physical history of the Jewish bible.

Learn about Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony and forms of orchestral music.

Learn how early American politics informed the U.S. Constitution and why its promise of liberty and equality has yet to be fully realized.

Explore acts of storytelling in Shakespeare’s Othello alongside world-class artists who interpret Othello’s story in new forms and contexts today.

An overview of divination systems, ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to modern astrology.

Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of world literature.

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

An overview of modern Chinese history, including the fall of the Qing and the end of imperial China.

Learn about China’s origins, its integral early thinkers, and competing states and schools of thought.

Combine literary research with data science to find answers in unexpected ways. Learn basic coding tools to help save time and draw insights from thousands of digital documents at once.

Learn about the Qin and Han dynasties, and how Buddhism and ideas of self-realization influenced the medieval period.

Study Japanese scroll art as text and as "little movies" that immerse the viewer through visual narration. 

Explore the impact of the conquest dynasties and the world of the Ming.

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.

Explore the birth of modern China with a focus on the time between the fall of the Qing and the end of World War II.

Learn how global warming impacts human health, and the ways we can diminish those impacts.

Use the case study method to study China from the rise of Deng Xiaoping to the present.