Community Acts of Memory, Justice and Redress

Catalog description

Public memory work can take many forms ranging from memorials honoring historic figures, oral history collections, or museums. But there is much more to the process that extends beyond these products of public remembrance. Today communities across the country are reclaiming histories that have long been erased and using public memory as a strategy for documenting and seeking redress for more recent collective harms perpetrated by the state. In this course, we will begin with an exploration of how the public memory process has been utilized strategically by communities in Canada, South Africa, and Rwanda before turning our attention to current public memory campaigns in America by studying the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, the Museum from Enslavement to Incarceration, and more nascent efforts to seek redress for communities harmed by the 'War on Drugs' and legacy of Rikers Island. Students will understand how practitioners of public memory facilitate community-engaged research and build inclusive trauma-informed community partnerships that center the voices of people most impacted by state violence. Students will be trained to facilitate oral history interviews and participate in a mass story collection day. The course will conclude with students designing creative ways to make those interviews a catalyst for dialogue and action. Throughout the semester, there will be guest lectures by experts from the Coalition of Sites of Conscience, Rikers Public Memory Project, Paramatta Female Factory Precinct, and Reparations Won.