Humanities Courses

Explore China’s imperial period, with a focus on the Song dynasty and the role of the exam system in government.

Explore the Maoist period of China, from the Communist Party to the death of Mao and the reopening of China.

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

Learn how businesses thrive and grow while simultaneously solving some of the world's biggest challenges in this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

Learn how to read William Shakespeare's plays through his biography, Elizabethan and Jacobean history, and modern performance.

Reimagine global health problems with some of the leading global health thinkers and actors through a case-based biosocial framework.

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.

Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.

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

Learn the music and cultural impact of three canonical operas from the 1800s: Les Huguenots, Das Rheingold, and Otello.

Learn about the rich and diverse beliefs and practices of Buddhists across time and place. Experience Buddhism through its scriptures, both relationally as well as academically.

An in-depth look at the 1854 London cholera epidemic in Soho and its importance for the field of epidemiology.

Traces Albert Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, the arts, and technology.

This course examines the Sikh scripture from a doctrinal and historical perspective by providing an overview of Sikh teachings as well as the historical context within which the scripture evolved and became canonized.

Build a viable, valuable tech venture that can profitably scale in this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

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

Examine how great modern writers capture the intricacies of our globalized world and how their works circulate within that world to find their own audiences.

Build a foundational understanding of AI concepts with this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

Explore the ethical controversies of financial markets.

Learn about the forces in American politics that seek to influence the electorate and shift the political landscape.

An exploration of the magnetic and ambivalent character of Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Learn about the Quran, the central sacred text of Islam, through an exploration of the rich diversity of roles and interpretations in Muslim societies.

Explore the underlying structures of everyday arguments and develop the tools to communicate effectively.

Engage with leading experts at a two-day continuing education conference that bridges spirituality, religion, and mental health care.

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

Power and Influence for Positive Impact, a Harvard Business School (HBS) Online course, helps individuals develop their own power to gain influence and make an impact.

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

Learn about Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, an iconic Romantic symphony that ushered in an era of narrative “program music.”

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