Memory Studies

Catalog description

The study of memory, both individual and collective. Why and how are certain personal or public events and actions memorialized while others are forgotten or buried? Literature, chosen by the instructor, from a range of periods and genres– fiction, poetry, memoir, plays–will be placed in conversation with each other and with photography, painting, music, architecture, sculpture, and film, as well as with historical and theoretical texts, to offer students an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of memory studies. Possible topics: trauma; collective memory; monuments; memorials; genocide; nationalism; ethnic cleansing; war; slavery; vernacular memory; archives; the relationship between consciousness, self-identity, and memory; the relationship between metaphor, language, narrative structure, and memory. Fulfills Breadth and Depth Area Studies B requirement: Genre, Thematic Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies.