Humanities Courses

Explore the history of navigation, from stars to satellites.

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

Learn how American women created, confronted, and embraced change in the 20th century while exploring ten objects from Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library.

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.

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

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.

Explore Chinese history and culture from the perspective of the individual through philosophical texts, literary works, and art.

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

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

An exploration of the haunting figure at the heart of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

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

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

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.

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

An introduction to the study of bioethics and the application of legal and ethical reasoning.