Troubling Pasts: Slavery, Genocide, and Terror
Examination of commemorative practices surrounding difficult pasts. Analyzes slavery, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and 9/11; considers the role of collective memories of trauma and injustice in the formation of racial, religious, and national identities. Readings address historic sites, monuments and other forms of commemorative art, museums, fiction, and film. Examines social, political, ethical, and economic considerations behind various forms of commemoration. Explores several debates over appropriate forms of commemorations and the consideration of politics of memory in the creation of ethical subjects. One course.