Humanities Courses

Learn how to better understand the rich and complex ways that religions function in historic and contemporary contexts.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Learn how the Manchus conquered the Qing and established the last of the imperial dynasties.

Explore the archaeology, history, art, and hieroglyphs surrounding the famous Egyptian Pyramids at Giza. Learn about Old Kingdom pharaohs and elites, tombs, temples, the Sphinx, and how new technology is unlocking their secrets.

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your assumptions of what it means to be happy, live a meaningful life, and change the world.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Prepare your student for college-level writing now.

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.

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

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

Explore what makes cities energizing, amazing, challenging, and perhaps humanity’s greatest invention.

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature.

Develop skills in digital research and visualization techniques across subjects and fields within the humanities.

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

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 the ethical controversies of financial markets.