Narrating Memory, History and Place
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
New York University
Professor: Marie Cruz Soto
Office: 1 Washington Place Room 615
Office Hours: T 2-4pm & TR 8:30-9:30am by appt.
Contact: m.cruz@nyu.edu & (212) 992-7761
Course: IDSEM-UG 1535
Semester: Spring 2013
Time: TR 11am-12:15pm
Location: LL151, Bobst Library
Photograph “Faces in a Housing Rally 1986” taken by Marlis Momber
(http://www.vivaloisaida.org)
Course Description:
The past is a contested terrain open to divergent interpretations in which the
relationship between socio-historical processes and human narrations of such processes
is not always clear or simple. The relationship, on the contrary, is mediated by
everyday experiences and, perhaps more importantly, by everyday struggles over which
narratives are deemed more accurate representations of the past. These struggles over
historical narrations are many times urgent for the people and communities involved
due to the power of such narratives in shaping and transforming common
understandings of places. The meanings endowed to places, after all, can dictate the
usage and the extent of control that people and communities exercise over these places.
This course examines how people imagine a place of their own through narrations of the
past. It explores the relationship between memory and history as two different forms of
historical narrations central to the process of transforming places. The exploration
specifically aims to better understand how the relationship between memory and history
can matter in the struggle of disempowered communities to claim a place of their own.
The course, however, builds on an expanded definition of narration that includes but is
not limited to writing and the written text. Narration, for this class, refers to human
activities that endow meaning, attempt to structure time and space and plot daily life.
The main goals of the course are for students: to familiarize with some influential
scholars in the study of memory, history and places, to explore multiple manifestations
of historical narrations, to delve into different communal struggles over places, and to
understand the relevance of historical narrations in claims to places.
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Course Requirements:
To successfully complete the course students are required to attend and participate
actively in class, to write ten reactions and two essays and to do a class presentation
based on the second essay. The final grade for the course is divided into four parts:
participation, first essay, second essay and class presentation. The final grade is divided
as follows: participation (30%), first essay (30%), second essay (30%) and class
presentation (10%).
The participation grade depends on the careful reading of course texts, attendance, and
the active involvement in class discussions. Students are expected to arrive on time to
class, and to contribute on a regular basis to discussions with respectful and informed
comments that engage the course texts. In terms of attendance, each student is entitled
to one non-justified absence. Each absence thereafter will result in a one-fifth deduction
of the participation grade.
The participation grade also depends on the writing of ten reactions. The reactions
should identify connections between the readings and topic for a particular week.
Reactions are not summaries, but rather critical and creative commentaries. The
reactions are to be posted online at http://www.manuelqui.com by the Saturday of the
week assigned.
The first essay is due on Tuesday March 12th. This essay will address how narrations
of the past intertwine with narrations of places. The second essay is due on Thursday
May 9th. This essay will focus on the experiences and struggles of a particular
community to imagine a place, especially a place of their own. Students will develop
their individual topic for the second essay in close dialogue with the professor. The two
essays are to be handed in at the beginning of class. In addition, digital copies must be
submitted through NYU Classes by their assigned deadline. Students should visit NYU
Classes for detailed instructions about the writing of these essays.
The class presentation (scheduled for Weeks XII and XIII) will be based on the
student’s topic for the final essay. The grade will depend on the rigorousness of the
research as well as on the creativity and effectiveness in engaging and communicating
the topic.
Deadlines:
Reactions and essays should be submitted within the established deadlines. Late papers
will not be accepted except with valid and preferably written medical excuses.
Incompletes are not an option. If a student has a compelling reason for wanting an
incomplete, the student should talk to the professor before the last day of class.
Accommodations:
Students who require accommodations because of a disability should visit the Henry and
Lucy Moses Center (726 Broadway, 2nd Floor) and talk to the professor during the first
week of class.
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Writing:
Writing is an essential part of the course and of academic life in general. Great ideas
can be lost if the writing is not clear, just like readers can be lost if the writing is not
evocative. Students are therefore encouraged to visit the professor during her office
hours and the Gallatin Writing Center (1 Washington Place, Room 423) in order to
discuss the writing process.
Gallatin Statement on Academic Integrity:
“As a Gallatin student you belong to an interdisciplinary community of artists and
scholars who value honest and open intellectual inquiry. This relationship depends on
mutual respect, responsibility, and integrity. Failure to uphold these values will be
subject to severe sanction, which may include dismissal from the University. Examples
of behaviors that compromise the academic integrity of the Gallatin School include
plagiarism, illicit collaboration, doubling or recycling coursework, and cheating. Please
consult
the
Gallatin
Bulletin
or
Gallatin
website
[www.gallatin.nyu.edu/academics/policies/policy/integrity.html] for a full description
of the academic integrity policy.”
Additional Information:
The use of laptops and/or other electronic devices is not permitted in class.
Appointments for office hours can be made through the following links:
http://goo.gl/u9WkY and http://goo.gl/K9GwY. Students should also note that
there will be film screenings and a trip to the Lower East Side outside of regular class
time.
Course Readings:
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism. Revised ed. London and New York: Verso, 1991.
de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1984.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988.
Martinez, Miranda. Power at the Roots: Gentrification, Community Gardens, and the
Puerto Ricans of the Lower East Side. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010.
Rodríguez Juliá, Edgardo. Cortijo’s Wake/El entierro de Cortijo. Trans. Juan Flores.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.
The rest of the readings can be accessed through NYU Classes. The books can be
purchased at the NYU Main Bookstore (726 Broadway).
Course Schedule:
WEEK I:
INTRODUCTION
 January 29th and 31st 
Readings for January 31st:
Massey, Doreen. “Places and Their Pasts.” History Workshop Journal 39 (Spring
1995): 182-192. -NYU Classes-
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Said, Edward W. “Invention, Memory, and Place.” Critical Inquiry 26 (Winter 2000):
175-192. –NYU ClassesWEEK II:
THE POLITICS OF MEMORY
 February 5th and 7th 
Reaction One
Screenings:
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige. Dir. Rea Tajiri. Electronic Arts
Intermix, 1991.
The Language You Cry In. Dir. Alvaro Toepke and Angel Serrano. California
Newsreel, 1998.
Reading for February 5th:
Hirsch, Marianne. “The Generation of Postmemory.” Poetics Today 29:1 (Spring
2008): 103-128. -NYU ClassesReading for February 7th:
Taylor, Diana. “Performance and/as History.” The Drama Review 50:1 (Spring 2006):
67-86. -NYU ClassesWEEK III:
THE POLITICS OF HISTORY
 February 12th and 14th 
Reaction Two
Reading for February 12th and 14th:
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1995. -BookWEEK IV:
NARRATING THE PAST IN PLACE
 February 19th and 21st 
Reaction Three
Readings for February 19th:
Cronon, William. “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative.” The Journal of
American History 78:4 (March 1992): 1347-1376. -NYU ClassesTurner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.”
Chicago, Illinois. July 12, 1893. -NYU ClassesReadings for February 21st:
Said, Edward. “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims.” Social Text 1 (Winter
1979): 7-58. –NYU Classes-
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Shohat, Ella. “Rupture and Return: Zionist Discourse and the Study of Arab Jews.”
Social Text 75:21:2 (Summer 2003): 49-74. –NYU ClassesWEEK V:
NARRATING A SMALL (POST)COLONIAL PLACE
 February 26th and 28th 
Reaction Four
Reading for February 26th and 28th:
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988. -BookWEEK VI:
IMAGINING COMMUNITIES
 March 5th and 7th 
Reaction Five
Reading for March 5th and 7th:
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism. Revised ed. London and New York: Verso, 1991. -BookWEEK VII:
IMAGINING RACIALIZED AND GENDERED COMMUNITIES
 March 12th and 14th 
First Essay Due on
Tuesday March 12th
Reading for March 12th:
Hoelscher, Steven. “Making Place, Making Race: Performances of Whiteness in the Jim
Crow South.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93:3 (2003):
657-686. –NYU ClassesReadings for March 14th:
Cruz Soto, Marie. “Inhabiting Isla Nena: Imperial Dramas, Gendered Geographical
Imaginings and Vieques, Puerto Rico.” Centro Journal 20:1 (Spring 2008): 164191. -NYU ClassesMcDowell, Sara. “Commemorating Dead ‘Men:’ Gendering the Past and Present in
Post-conflict Northern Ireland.” Gender, Place and Culture 15:4 (August 2008):
335-354. -NYU ClassesWEEK VIII:
EMPIRES AND THE MAKING OF PLACES AND COMMUNITIES
 March 26th and 28th 
Reaction Six
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Readings for March 26th:
Burnett, Christina Duffy. “The Edges of Empire and the Limits of Sovereignty:
American Guano Islands.” American Quarterly 57:3 (September 2005): 779-803.
–NYU ClassesThongchai Winichakul. “Siam Mapped: The Making of Thai Nationhood.” The
Ecologist 26:5 (September 1996): 215-221. -NYU ClassesReading for March 28th:
Kaplan, Amy. “Where is Guantánamo?” American Quarterly 57:3 (September 2005):
831-858. –NYU ClassesWEEK IX:
EVERYDAY PEOPLES, PRACTICES AND PLACES
 April 2nd and 4th 
Reaction Seven
Reading for April 2nd and 4th:
de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1984. –Book–
WEEK X:
NARRATING THE FORGOTTEN INTO CITY
 April 9th and 11th 
Reaction Eight
Reading for April 9th:
Hoelscher, Steven. “Angels of Memory: Photography and Haunting in Guatemala
City.” GeoJournal 73:3 (2008): 195-217. -NYU ClassesReadings for April 11th:
Dinzey-Flores, Zaire Z. “De la Disco al Caserío: Urban Spatial Aesthetics and Policy to
the Beat of Reggaetón.” Centro Journal 20:2 (Fall 2008): 34-69. -NYU ClassesRodríguez Juliá, Edgardo. Cortijo’s Wake/El entierro de Cortijo. Trans. Juan Flores.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. –BookWEEK XI:
IMAGINING THE ETHNIC CITY
 April 16th and 18th 
Reaction Nine
Field Trip to Lower East Side with Marlis Momber on
Sunday April 21st
Reading for April 16th and 18th:
Martinez, Miranda. Power at the Roots: Gentrification, Community Gardens, and the
Puerto Ricans of the Lower East Side. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010. –Book
& NYU Classes-
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WEEK XII:
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
 April 23rd and 25th 
WEEK XIII:
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
 April 30th and May 2nd 
WEEK XIV:
CONCLUSIONS
 May 7th and 9th 
Final Essay Due on
Thursday May 9th