All Courses

In this course, we explore The Revenger’s Tragedy, a play which was written in the early years of the seventeenth century, but whose author is unknown. In the first two modules, we think generally about the Early Modern stage, before...

In this course, Professor Andrew Hadfield (University of Sussex) explores the political concerns relevant to Shakespeare’s plays. In the first module, we explore the political landscape of Shakespeare’s day, especially the right of the people to...

In this course, Professor Helen Taylor (University of Exeter) explores Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. We start by thinking about tremendous impact of the novel, as well as the celebrated and critically acclaimed film adaptation starting...

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the reign of Napoleon III, focusing in particular on his domestic policies. We begin by thinking about Louis-Napoleon's background and his preparation for power from his birth in...

In this course, Professor Genia Schönbaumsfeld (University of Southampton) explores the philosophy of the 19th-century Danish philosophy, Søren Kierkegaard. In the first module, we provide a brief introduction to Kierkegaard himself, before...

In this course, Professor William Outhwaite (Newcastle University) explores the positivist and interpretivist approaches to social research. In the first lecture, we provide an introduction to positivism. In the second lecture, we turn to some of...

In this course, Dr Lars Laaman (SOAS, University of London) explores the history of China between the end of the First Opium War (1839-42) to the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911. In the first module, we think about the immediate aftermath of...

In this course Dr Johann Unger (Lancaster University) explores language in the media, focusing in particular on the realm of politics. In the first lecture, we think about what we mean by the term ‘media’ (and ‘the media’) and its relation to...

In this course, Professor Emily West (University of Reading) explores the experience of enslaved women in the United States during the Antebellum Period (1815-61). In the first module, we provide a broad introduction to the history of slavery in...

In this course, Professor John Arnold (University of Cambridge) explores the theology of John Wycliffe and the heretical movement which he inspired known as Lollardy. In the first module, we think about the life and times of John Wycliffe himself,...

In this course, the writer and critic Edmund Gordon (author of The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography) provides some tips and tricks for improving one's creative writing, both fiction and non-fiction. In the first module, we think about the...

In this course, Professor Matthew Steggle explores Ben Jonson's early 17th-century comedy Volpone. The course begins by thinking about the setting of the play in Venice, and what associations that city might have evoked for Jonson's original...

In this course, Professor Peter Hegarty (University of Surrey) explores the psychology of gender. In the first lecture, we think about different ways of measuring one’s psychological gender, focusing in particular on the most widely used system,...

In this course, Professor Susan Curtis (Purdue University) explains the causes and effects of international and internal migration patterns during the 1920s and what effects this had on popular culture in the United States. We start by examining...