Skip to main navigation Skip to main content
The University of Southampton
×
Lifelong Learning

Arts and Humanities Courses

Rusting boat on a beach

We are offering a variety of weekly courses which will give you insights into some fascinating topics. Quench your thirst for knowledge in Art, History, Philosophy, Literature, Archaeology or Poetry.

Courses last for between 6 and 8 weeks and are suitable for beginners with no prior knowledge of the subject.

 

 

Exploring Regional Histories: Historical Narratives of Winchester

Statue of King Alfred in Winchester town centre

This course will explore eight centuries of Winchester’s history, from the unique perspective of local legends and writings about the region. From the life and legend of Alfred the Great, through Arthurian folklore, Winchester’s round table and on to the battle of Guy of Warwick and the giant Colbrand, the course will immerse you in the tales that have been told about this ancient city.

Each week, you will explore a different historical narrative, or legend, to uncover the common themes, and ask key questions about why these accounts were written, and how they influenced the city. We will look at the development of these stories over time and the reasons behind their growing prominence in creating a rich cultural sense of place and history in the ancestral capital of Wessex. Drawing on archaeology, historical sources, and folklore this wide ranging and exciting course offers you the chance to view Winchester in a whole new light.

Ethics in the World: Is the weight of being bearable? An introduction to Existentialism? (online)

Does existence precede essence? Is there such a thing as human nature? Are we condemned to freedom?

This course offers an overview of three 20th century philosophers in the European existentialist tradition. We will begin by exploring the cultural background through philosophers and writers including Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Husserl.

We will then explore the philosophy of Heidegger in his work ‘Being and Time’. Next we will explore Sartre’s existentialism including the ideas of ‘bad faith’, ‘anguish’ and ‘freedom'. Finally we will explore Albert Camus’ absurdism through the novella ‘The Stranger’ and the philosophical work ‘The myth of Sisyphus’.

Ethics in the world – What’s the point in it all? Schopenhauer and Nietzsche on the meaning of life (online)

Black and white image of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

What gives value to our lives? Should we be grateful for having been born or not? An exploration of questions of the meaning and value of life will focus on the issues, concerns and solutions of two prominent 19th century philosophers – Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. The course will introduce you to some of the key early existentialist questions which have contributed significantly to modern thought.

During the course we will consider questions such as – Is life worth the effort invested in it? Can art redeem life? Is God dead? Can a life of suffering be affirmed?

Fiction Essentials: Writing the city (online)

Black and white image looking down a street at night. There are pedestrians on either side of the street and a car headlights shiningr

This creative writing course invites you to engage with urban space in your writing: to register its rhythms, map its corners, and think deeply about how the landscape of the city shapes your feelings and experiences.

Each week, we’ll explore a set of texts that give voice to the city in different ways, from the flâneurs who strolled the streets of Paris to the Windrush-generation novelists documenting their experiences of London. These texts will act as prompts for your own writing, with exercises to help you experiment with form, voice, and subject.

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to draw on your own real or virtual experiences of straying through the city’s parks and streets, and recording the changing moods, atmospheres, sounds and scenery.

Histories and Contexts of Cinema: Spaghetti westerns - the good, the bad and the beautiful

Cowboy riding horse

Histories & Contexts of Cinema: Spaghetti westerns - the good, the bad and the beautiful This course is perfect for both the devoted fans of the genre and complete newcomers.

Initially criticized for being a cheap imitation of the American western, the 1960s Italian western subverted and revolutionized the genre. Introducing irony, cynicism, black humour, sadistic violence, cartoonish action, and leftist overtones, it became a world phenomenon. It kept on surprising the public with its gradually increasing eccentricity, while also mirroring its troubled historical times, defined by growing crime an unemployment rates, riots, police brutality and corruption scandals.

This course evaluates the spaghetti western in all its glory. It focuses on its unusual evolution and historical context, but also enormous flexibility which resulted in the production of truly peculiar hybrids, combining the western with the elements of gothic horror or the kung-fu film. We will discuss the most famous and the most obscure spaghetti westerns in equal matters, using numerous film extracts to illustrate the analysed content.

 

Histories & Contexts of Cinema: Titanic and other ships on film

Representation of the Titanic in neutral colours, on the sea with mountains behind

"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote, I love to sail forbidden seas…"

Are you a ship lover? Starting with the RMS Titanic which departed from the port of Southampton in her maiden voyage, this course takes you on a journey into films that feature a variety of ships in different historical periods across cultures. From Polynesian canoes, Greek triremes and Chinese treasure ships to the 19th century iron steamers and battleship Yamato, from Noah’s Ark to the Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean. We will also investigate the behind-the-scenes stories of how they are presented for the screen.

Reflective Art in Practice: Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media and Art History

Impressioist style picture of small boats in a harbour

These courses examine the theory and practice behind a range of art movements.

Each course explores a different theme or genre and combines lectures, a seminar component, such as discussions and analysis of artworks and a workshop element. The latter one and a half hour per two-hour session will explore various artistic styles and practical techniques in drawing, painting and mixed media.

This year we are running three different courses throughout the year, and these will take place on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9pm.

Our next course ‘Exploring Portraiture’ will start on Tuesday 14 January 2025 and finish on 04 March 2025.

Visit our Reflective Art in Practice page for a short summary of each course, including how to book.

The Art of Film: Learn how to make a film in six steps, from script to editing

Black and white picture of 2 people holding a clapper board and a film reel

This intensive course takes place over a weekend, during which you will learn how to create a short film or a short audio-visual project, from theory to practice.

The sessions will focus on different aspects of cinematography, namely six fundamentals of filmmaking: from step one, which is the script, to the last step, which is the editing and post-production.

The course begins with an introduction to the basics of scriptwriting. Then we focus on film direction and outstanding filmmakers, before moving on to learn about camera and photography operations and terminology.

Next, we examine artistic surroundings and aesthetics of cinema illustrated by examples from Art films and directors.

Finally, we cover the meticulous process of editing and post-production. This includes an opportunity for hands-on practise. By the end of the course, you should be able to create your own project, using the very basic of tools, either in class or at home.

 

The Art of Philosophical Thinking: Mind, Consciousness and Personal Identity

Who am I? What is my purpose in life?

Join us in search of answers to this and many other questions about what it is that make you, you.

This thematic course offers an exploration of the mind, what it is, and how it is structured. We will introduce you to key ideas on consciousness, subjective experience, and the 'mind-body problem'. You will engage with the work of philosophers such as Wittgenstein, to help you wrestle with some of the most critical questions in the philosophy of mind and key concepts that inform this field.

The Serious Pleasures of Literary Reading: Women’s Writing Through Time

A woman looking excited with her eyes closed holding a large pile of books

Time travel with us on a journey to discover how women’s writing has developed over the centuries. What were the social conditions in which women wrote? How did changes in laws and different movements lead to a rise in women’s writings?

The course will start by discussing the writings of Jane Austen and her continued influence today. It will then move on to the Victorian writers such as Mary Shelley and the Brontë sisters. In later weeks we will engage with an overview of the three waves of feminism, exploring what each of these feminist waves entailed and the writing that emerged as a result. A slight detour takes us into the world of women writing crime fiction, with a focus on Agatha Christie, to consider women writing in an often male-dominated genre. Wide ranging and varied, this course will open up new perspectives on some of literature’s greatest female writers.

Exploring Histories of Conflict: Capturing Conflict: Exploring the history of war photography

From Roger Fenton’s use of a horse-drawn ‘photography van’ to capture the Crimean War (1853-1856) through grainy black and white images to the moment-to-moment documentation afforded by smartphones today, photographs have fundamentally shaped our understanding of modern war. In this course, students will learn how photography and the role of photographers has evolved in the context of conflicts. This will include consideration of what has made certain photographs iconic and the impact of censorship, innovation, and changing norms on what captures the public’s imagination.

War photography is part of the broader story about how visual documentation informs and influences perceptions about political events, and this course will encourage you to think critically about what role the increasing democratisation of information and technology plays in this story. Using a broad selection of reading and photographs, each session will highlight the various perspectives that have historically determined what we see of war via editorial and curatorial selection, and you will have the opportunity to visually analyse images as well as engage in free-ranging discussions.

Weekly topics will include: the early days of photography; propaganda and censorship; photographing protest movements; humanitarian photography and the 24-hour news cycle; and photography in the Digital Age.

Find out more and book

Exploring Histories of Conflict: 'Sung up and down by minstrels’: The Soundscape of Discord in Seventeenth Century England (Online)

Perhaps you enjoy the chamber music of Henry Purcell, the intimate lute settings of John Dowland, or the grand masses of William Byrd – but have you ever heard the performance of a libellous ballad, the ear-splitting clamour of rough music, or considered the meaning of a Black Sanctus?

Welcome to the bizarre, noisy, and thought-provoking sound-world of seventeenth century English discord, in which music could be harnessed as a powerful weapon in the destruction of individual or collective authority.

Discover how new technologies facilitated the spread of libel and misinformation in musical form; how composers of libellous song earnt grizzly punishments, and how, unlike other tools of combat, music provided a potent means of perpetuating slander, calling on ridicule, gossip and rumour to publicly disgrace its victims.

Throughout this course, we bring the murky underbelly of seventeenth-century musical discord into the twenty-first, as we consider what the clamour of the past can reveal about how we regulate social behaviour, express dissent and engage in political debate today.

Weekly topics will include: Slander and Libel: Politics and War; Crime and Punishment; Rituals; and Hearth and Home.

Find out more and book

Histories and Contexts of Cinema: Introduction to Global Queer Cinema

Over this six-week course, you will gain a general understanding of global queer cinema and its impact on culture and society. It will take you on a journey through the contexts, representations, and progressions of global queer cinema. Along this journey, you will explore age, race, class, love and loss in queer cinema through a globalised perspective. The course will conclude with an examination of the current and future development of this exciting and varied film genre.

Find out more and book

Join our mailing list

If you have any queries about our courses, please contact [email protected]

 

 

 
Privacy Settings
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Powered by Fruition