LEC , 02:30 P.M. - 03:45 P.M. , Tu,Th (01/22/2008 - 05/09/2008)
3 credits
Meets with: GEOG 5900 section 001, GLOS 3900 section 006

Instructor: Till,Karen E

Grading basis/credits: 3 credit(s), max credits 9, 3 repeats allowed

Description: How do individuals and social groups actively shape understandings of the past and give form to their desires for the future through places, landscapes and environments? By looking at particular case studies in different parts of the world, this class considers how different societies at distinct moments in time spatially construct and negotiate national and local histories through geographies of memory. Cultural memory is an inherently spatial process whereby individuals and groups map stories and myths about themselves and the past onto and through places, natures and public spaces to establish a sense of identity. Museums and memorials have historically been built as official places of memory, but even in such traditional places, the pasts remembered at these locales are open to multiple interpretations. Beginning roughly in the late 1970s, many citizen groups began to challenge what they considered ?forgetful? national histories by creating alternative places of memory, such as the Topography of Terror Documentation Center in Berlin or the District Six Museum in Cape Town. Public artists also create site-specific and socially inclusive designs to encourage visitors to address their problematic pasts. Throughout the class, we will consider theories about place making, politics, public engagement, and memory by consider particular case studies. The case studies will also explore the tensions, contradictions, and moral dilemmas of the contemporary world ? a world now structured by economies of late capitalism, a geopolitical system of nation-states connected by transnational partnerships (such as the EU, NATO, UN peace keeping forces), and, a world, following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and in the wake of ongoing wars, is divided by real and imagined fears of terrorism. In particular, we will spend time discussing cities ?wounded? by particularly violent histories, including London, Hiroshima, Berlin, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Dublin, Mostar, New Orleans, New York, and Minneapolis. We will also discuss the politics of traditional and alternative cultural practices of memory in many countries and types of environments, including: commemorative ceremonies; memorials and monuments; exhibitions; popular and scholarly representations of the past (film, books); creative urban encounters (public art and architecture); everyday geographies; and tourism.

Class Time: 40% Lecture, 10% Film/Video, 15% Discussion, 10% Small Group Activities, 5% Student Presentation, 10% Guest Speakers, 10% Service Learning. Special class events will be coordinated with visiting artists and other classes.