Our six-week seminars are for anyone interested in building intellectual community and diving in deep to difficult concepts. If you’re not sure if a seminar is the right fit for you, come try it out and see what you think! Email info@publichumanitiesinstitute.com to set up your drop-in date.
Queer Lives, Queer Histories is a six-week introduction to queer and trans histories, cultures, and ways of thinking, designed especially for those who are newly out or who have had limited access to LGBTQIA knowledge and community. Many of us were educated in environments where queerness appeared only as an insult, a joke, or not at all, leaving us without a shared sense of history, language, or lineage. This course begins from that gap.
Together, we will read foundational texts from queer and trans writers, tracing how queer communities have formed and survived across time. We will pay particular attention to the issue of difference within queer communities, examining what forms of community, resistance, and expression emerge from those differences.
This course is not a comprehensive survey but an invitation: to situate yourself within longer histories of queerness, to encounter voices and frameworks that may resonate or challenge what you think queerness is, and to begin building a sense of connection to queer worlds past and present.
Selected readings include portions of the following works:
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde (1984)
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa (1987)
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski (2011) & more!
Virtual Seminars: Dates will be set collaboratively once the class enrollment fills according to everyone’s schedules.
Enrollment is limited to maintain the intimacy and rigor of discussion. When we are fully enrolled, we will work with participants to find the best available date.
Format: Meets once per week for 1.5 hours on Zoom for 6 weeks (live, discussion-based).
Capacity: 7–15 participants max to maintain an intimate learning environment.
Structure: Reading- and discussion-based; participants are expected to complete assigned readings between sessions.
Reflections: Participants are asked to email a brief reflection after each class to cultivate a closer, more engaged relationship with the instructor and enhance discussion in subsequent sessions.
Certificate of Completion: Participants who attend all sessions and submit their reflections will receive a Certificate of Completion acknowledging their engagement in the seminar. This is not academic credit, but a record of your participation and learning.
A $100 non-refundable deposit reserves your spot. This deposit is applied toward your chosen tier price, and the remaining balance is due two weeks before the first session in order to receive the Zoom link and syllabus.
Premium $550 ($450 after deposit) Participants who can comfortably pay more and are willing to subsidize the space for others.
Standard $450 ($350 after deposit) Typical rate for most participants who can pay but not at the top tier.
Accessible $350 ($250 after deposit) Participants with limited financial resources.
Scholarship: Email us if you are interested in a seminar but financially constrained, we will work with you to ensure you can participate.
Authoritarianism. Fascism. White supremacy. Anti-gender movements. Nativism. Or maybe more broadly: the far right. Whatever you’ve heard it called, right-wing political movements pose an urgent threat to democracy and civil rights. This course offers a clear, accessible introduction to the contemporary far right in the United States, helping participants understand the moment of growing authoritarianism we are currently living in.
This six-week course is organized around five contemporary case studies: Anti-Trans Movements, Anti-Immigrant Movements, “Culture Wars” Politics in Education, Disinformation and Media Ecosystems, and Abortion Access and Reproductive Politics.
Ever heard any of the following and just froze up?
“I’m not racist…BUT I don’t understand why everything is about race these days. I don’t see color.”
“I’m fine with gay people, honestly. But I don’t get why they have to shove it in everyone’s faces all the time. Why isn’t there a Straight Pride month?”
“My grandparents came here the right way. They followed the rules. Why do people who break the law get special treatment? What gives them the right to cut in line?”
“There are two genders. That’s basic biology. I’m not trying to be mean—I’m just saying, facts are facts.”
And you knew the other person was wrong, but you couldn’t figure out how to respond?
This course will change that. Taught by an educational influencer and a former debate and public speaking coach, this class will introduce you to the fundamentals of political communication. We’ll teach you how to clearly articulate what you believe and why you believe it—without spiraling or second guessing yourself. We’ll also demystify political debates by breaking down the most common right-wing talking points and showing how they’re deployed across different issue areas. And, most critically, we’ll show you how to respond with clear, evidence based information that cuts through misleading “common sense.”
We’ll teach this course according to two key premises.
First: There is a defined range of right-wing political arguments. Conservative talking points rely on a small set of logics that repeat across issues: personal responsibility, child protection, scarcity, moral deservingness, and distrust of institutions. Once you start to recognize these patterns, you no longer have to improvise under stress. And, critically, recognizing these logics makes it easier to respond with clear, evidence-based explanations that cut through violence that masquerades as “common sense.”
Second: this isn’t debate club. Rather than stay focused on winning arguments, we’ll also teach you when to protect your energy and how to deescalate charged conversations. Progressive organizing spaces often encourage conversations with your communities about contemporary issues. However, there is little guidance about how to have those conversations and—critically—who it is worth having those conversations with. Your drunk uncle who gets off on triggering the libs, for instance? We can deescalate that and save Thanksgiving. Your daughter’s kindergarten teacher who is wavering on including books about racial injustice in her classroom’s library because she’s worried about political pushback? That’s your time to shine.
During classes, we’ll simulate mock debates (if you want, you’ll have the chance to pretend to be someone’s drunk uncle), review common right-wing arguments, practice our responses, and discuss how one’s audience changes how persuasion operates. Each week, we’ll also provide you with a fact sheet with helpful arguments, statistics, and studies. You’ll leave with both communication skills and a political toolkit.
By the end of the class, you’ll create a small communication project—whether it be an op-ed for a local outlet, a script for a conversation, or an email to a school or local institution—that is ready to be used in the real world.
For example, homelessness is framed as inevitable—as individual failure or economic constraint. In reality, housing people costs far less than managing homelessness through policing and emergency care. What sounds like fiscal realism is often ideological opposition to housing at all. Learning to identity moves like that–and name them clearly and calmly when they show up–is a core part of this class.
Our one-on-one learning experiences are fully tailored to your intellectual curiosity and goals. In private sessions, you engage deeply with ideas, texts, and questions that matter most to you, guided by a mentor who helps you think critically, reflect ethically, and connect concepts across disciplines. These sessions are flexible, immersive, and designed to cultivate insight, clarity, and a meaningful, personal engagement with knowledge.
To begin, participants pay a small deposit, which covers a 30-minute consultation with a professor. During this call, we’ll discuss your interests, explore your learning goals, and design a personalized plan for your study sessions.
The Public Humanities Institute also offers custom-designed syllabi tailored to your interests, questions, and goals. If you’re curious about a topic or want a more personal learning experience, we’re happy to design something just for you.
After we receive your intake form, we will be in touch to discuss a plan designed around your goals. This ensures your place is held while we create a curated syllabus tailored just for you.
Please note, this offering does not include any further guidance beyond the design of your syllabus.
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