AMST 43146 - Memorial Mania: History, Memory, and Contemporary American Culture

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

American Studies

Description:

Focusing on the great variety - and great numbers - of memorials erected in recent decades, this seminar explores how cultural memory is created and what it has come to mean in terms of national identity in modern and contemporary America. The definition of "memorial" is purposely broad: from statues and monuments to parks, public squares, cemeteries, public ceremonies, and moments of silence. Memorials can be permanent or temporary - such as roadside shrines. Understandings of "memory" are also broad, ranging from subjects of local and civic memory to those of national and/or collective memory, and including popular interests in autobiography, memoirs, and family genealogy. Understandings of "America" are similarly wide-ranging, often conflicted, and always in flux. Recognizing the broad definitions of the key terms memorial, memory, and America, this seminar considers the following: What does memory mean in America today, and in American memorial culture? What is driving the urgency to "memorialize" and who and what, in fact, is being remembered? Who and what are memorable in American history, and in terms of American national identity? Potential subjects are vast and include war memorials, Holocaust memorials, presidential commemoration, memorials erected at sites of tragedy and trauma (Oklahoma City, World Trade Center, Columbine), ritualistic memorial practices (such as pilgrimage and gift-giving), issues of public response, different styles of memorials and monuments (figurative vs. abstract memorials), and the role of the National Park Service, the nation's primary "keeper" of historical and cultural memory. Course readings will include selections by contemporary historians, art historians, and theorists engaged in issues of memory, history, and material/visual culture, as well as films.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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