Designing Public Memory: Race, Gender & the Creation of the American Commemorative Landscape

Catalog description

How have monuments shaped our understanding of who and what deserves a place in American memory? How do memorials, museum exhibits, and other forms of commemoration get made? Who creates public memory in America? How have our approaches to these questions changed over time? This course examines the evolution of how we see public commemorative space in the United States, and the outsize role gender has played in shaping national memory. We’ll begin with the heavily masculine history of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and shift to examples of local memorials, walking tours, digital histories, and museums across the U.S. that seek to restore the voices of other Americans to our memorial landscapes. Students will work throughout the semester to design their own commemorative space grounded in historical research and shaped by the many questions we will explore together.