All Courses

In this course, Professor Hugh Cunningham (University of Kent) explores the historical development of childhood from the early modern period to the present. In the first lecture, we consider Philippe Ariès’ hugely influential insights regarding...

In this course, Dr Marcel Thomas (University of Manchester) explores life in East Germany between 1945-89 via six key questions: (1) Why was housing seen as so important to the building of a socialist society?; (2) Were women more emancipated in...

In this course, Dr Francesca Menichelli (University of Surrey) explores the relationship between crime and the media. In the first lecture, we think about depictions of crime in news media and the factors that shape which incidents of crime are...

In this course, Professor Miri Rubin (Queen Mary University) examines the medicine of medieval Europe. We start by looking at what medical knowledge was available during the middle ages. We then look at where this knowledge came from and who had...

In this course, Professor Llewelyn Morgan (University of Oxford) explores Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid. It will be particularly useful for those reading Book 6 of the Aeneid as their verse set text for OCR Latin GCSE (J282). In the first lecture, we...

In this course, Professor Jeffrey Collins (Queen’s University) explores the political theory of Thomas Hobbes, primarily through his best-known work Leviathan. In the first module, we are introduced to Hobbes’s life and times, and briefly place...

In this course, Dr Sacha Golob (King’s College, London) explores the relationship between ethics and aesthetics. Must a work of art be morally good in order to qualify as ‘great’? Can morally bad works of art ever be considered great?...

In this course, Dr Regine May (University of Leeds) explores the story of Thelyphron in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass). It will be particularly useful for those reading the ‘Sagae Thessalae’ set text for OCR Latin GCSE (J282). In the...

In this course Dr Rupert Read (University of East Anglia) explores Wittgenstein’s language games, with special reference to religious language and belief. In the first module, we introduce language games in the context of Wittgenstein’s...

In this course, Professor Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) demonstrates the power of literary linguistics through of series of close readings of literary texts. In the first module, we provide an introduction to literary linguistics by...

In this course, Professor Simon Ditchfield (University of York) explores the Catholic Reformation. We begin by thinking about approaches to the period, focusing in particular on the various terms that historians have used to describe the reforms...

In this course, Dr Marjorie Dryburgh (University of Sheffield) explores the relationship between China and Japan between c.1840-1945, with a particular focus on the events that led to the outbreak of war between the two nations in July 1937. In...

In this course, Professor Eric Rauchway (UC, Davis) discusses the New Deal. We start by looking at the economic conditions of the election year of 1932. After this, we compare and contrast the beliefs and motivations of the two candidates of the...

In this course, Dr Nandini Chatterjee explores the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire, from the reign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707) to the disintegration of the Empire after his death. We begin by thinking about the reign of Aurangzeb, looking...