Our identities – individual, communal, and national – are shaped by what we remember. What do we remember and what do we forget as we seek to communicate and interpret the past? How do we remember a collective story? How are those memories shaped by current social issues, and how do they connect with place, race, gender, sexuality, and other markers of belonging? Together we will investigate and evaluate the effects of memory on political culture, democracy, reconciliation, and belonging, and the efforts made by everyday people to elevate counternarratives. In addition, historical and political narratives show up in public spaces, as they are shaped to tell us what and how to remember our past. We will explore how public spaces are sites where identities, power, and memory are contested, and how they can become spaces for reconciliation.
This is a hybrid program with online (Zoom and Canvas) class meetings every Thursday evening from 5:30-7:20 for Weeks 1-10, with approximately 4 hours of learning each week conducted asynchronously -- i.e., scheduled on your own each week. This asynchronous learning consists of Canvas modules (including recorded lectures, film, individual research, workshops, and discussion board assignments) as well as an independent project that may involve additional field visits/observations of local spaces that hold/demonstrate public memory.
Four in-person field trips will take place on several Sundays throughout the term. If an issue arises with the partner organizations, these locations are subject to change.
Week 3: Sunday April 19th, Olympia Arts & Heritage Alliance Museum (Olympia AHA Museum)
Week 5: Sunday May 3rd, Bigelow House Museum
Week 7; Sunday May 17th, Tacoma Washington State History Museum ( Transportation from the Olympia campus will be provided)
Week 8: Sunday May 24th, Olympia Hidden History Walking/Listening Tour
Please plan to be on these field trips from 11am-5pm each of these Sundays, though these times may vary depending on the site visit. Additionally, if these dates do not work for your schedule or if you are not local to Olympia, we will have alternatives available for field trip make-ups.
Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:
4 - Community Psychology
4 - Ethnographic Research Methods
Registration
Academic Details
public leadership, community engagement, urban planning, community development, and arts management