Humanities Courses

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

An exploration of the dynamics of contemporary China using the tools of close reading, discussion, and analysis.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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