HL90 Seminars

What are HL90 Seminars?

HIST-LIT 90 Seminars are discussion-based, writing-intensive, interdisciplinary courses usually capped at 15 students. They are taught by members of our Tutorial Board and Committee on Degrees. First-year students and sophomores interested in History & Literature are encouraged to take HL90 Seminars to get to know the concentration. These courses can be used to satisfy distribution requirements in History & Literature, and students have the option to count an HL90, 93, or 10 on any topic for concentration credit regardless of field.

Interested students should petition to enroll on my.harvard. In your petition, say a few words about your interest in the course (including concentrations you are considering if you are undeclared), any requirement the course may satisfy, and whether you have taken any other History & Literature seminars. Please contact the instructor if you have any questions.

Fall, 2026

HIST-LIT 90HN: Soccer, Globalization, and Urban Life
Semester: Fall
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Year offered: 2026
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Link: Course Website

Instructor: Bruno Carvalho
Meeting time: Tuesday, 12:45-2:45 pm

What can we learn about the modern world through the prism of soccer? The game evolved as globalization intensified and cities boomed. In this seminar, we will explore historical, cultural...

HIST-LIT 90HO: New York Modern

Semester: Fall
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Year offered: 2026
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Link: Course Website

Instructor: Chloe Hawkey
Meeting time: Wednesday, 9:45-11:45 am

In the twentieth century, New York City found itself doubly modern, at once a center of global capital and the epicenter of modernist artistic movements. This class explores the literary...

HIST-LIT 90HP: Manliness and Civilization
Semester: Fall
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Year offered: 2026
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Link: Course Website

Instructor: Nicholas Bloom
Meeting time: Thursday, 9:45-11:45 am

Countless podcast hours and think-pieces are currently being devoted to the crisis in American masculinity, from boys’ lagging test scores to the “male loneliness epidemic.” Rather than try to...

HIST-LIT 90HQ: Cultures of Capitalism in the United States
Semester: Fall
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Year offered: 2026
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Link: Course Website

Instructor: Emmet von Stackelberg
Meeting time: Wednesday, 3:00-5:00 pm

Capitalism is an inheritance of the United States. Its promises—resource abundance, private ownership, economic autonomy—are at the heart of what is now called the American Dream...

Spring, 2027

HIST-LIT 90DV: Red Scares

Semester: Spring
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Year offered: 2027
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Link: Course Website

Instructor: Steve Biel 
Meeting time: Wednesday, 12:45-2:45 pm

The specter that haunted Europe when the Communist Manifesto was published in 1848 continues to shape American political discourse to this day. “From the very get-go,” wrote a Mississippi...

HIST-LIT 90CM: Asian American Cultural Studies
Semester: Spring
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Year offered: 2027

Instructor: Andi Remoquillo
Meeting time: TBD

This course examines Asian American cultural production and the political histories of various Asian American communities. We will place a wide range of primary texts, including fiction, poetry, film, television...