KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY HIST 4435 The Problems and Politics of Historical Memory “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” —Milan Kundera If we change the way we think about the world, we automatically update memories to reflect our new understanding.” —Jean Piaget and B. Inhelder 1973 Instructor: Office: Office Hours: Phone: E-mail: Dr. Catherine M. Lewis 203 Pilcher Building T/Th 8:00-10:45 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment (678) 797-2058 clewis1@kennesaw.edu Course Description: This course will address the following questions: (1) What do we know about the past and how do we know it? (2) How does the interpretation of historical events change over time? (3) Is history a matter of fact of a matter of memory? (4) How do politics shape the presentation of the past? (5) How is the past presented to the public? As a class, we will investigate the ways in which perceptions of the past are formed and communicated from generation to generation, across cultures and centuries. This inquiry will address change over time and focus on public history, with particular emphasis on museums and historic sites (both private and those sanctioned by the state), film, and theme parks. Classroom Policies: o An atmosphere of mutual trust is essential to the success of this course. I strongly encourage lively debates and urge students to respect each other's opinions. Expressions of intolerance are discouraged. Disagreeing with others intelligently and politely is a skill, one that we will all strive for during the semester. o "Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University's policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentations/falsification of University records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an 'informal' resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct's minimum one semester suspension requirement" (KSU Senate 15 March 1999). o Students should seek the help of the instructor or the Writing Center (770-423-6380), located in Humanities Room 237, for all writing assignments. o Punctual, regular class attendance is required. Students are responsible for all assigned work. An absence does not absolve them from this responsibility. After three absences, your final grade will drop three points with each subsequent absence. Evaluation: I. Attendance, participation, and preparation of discussion questions II. Leading Class Discussion III. Book Review (5-7 pages) IV. Annotated Bibliography 20% 20% 30% 30% Grade Scale: A B C D F 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 59 and below Required Text (Available in the Campus Bookstore): Linenthal, Edward T. Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum. New York: Penguin, 1995. Nathan, Daniel. Saying It’s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. Reserve Readings (available at the Sturgis Library Circulation Desk): It is helpful to have your syllabus with you when you request materials on reserve. It would be wise to copy all of the reserve readings in the first week of the semester. Assignments: I. Participation and Preparation of Discussion Questions It is essential to the effective functioning of the class that everyone complete each reading assignment and spend a little time considering what they have read before coming to class each week. If this course is to be productive, it will be because we are all prepared and engaged. Class sessions will be an forum for ideas to be raised, debated, and analyzed for strengths and weaknesses. To that end, each student is responsible for preparing two discussion questions for each reading assignment. II. Leading Class Discussion Each student will lead a 30-minute class discussion once during the semester. The discussion leader is required to: (1) provide a brief assessment of the major issues raised by the reading(s), (2) analyze the merits and shortcomings of those readings, (3) make connections between previous class readings, and (4) suggest five secondary sources for further study. Each student should prepare a handout that includes these four items. This is an important task, as the shape of our discussion will be guided by the presenter's questions and analytical approaches. III. Book Review Each student will prepare a 5-7 page book review (12 point Times New Roman font, 1” margins) on one of the following monographs. A handout detailing the assignment will be posted at the beginning of the semester. Bal, Mieke, Johnathan Crewe, and Leo Spitzer. Acts of Memory: Cultural Recall in the Present. Hanover, MA: Dartmouth College, 1998. Blair, William A. Cities of the Dead: Contesting the Memory of the Civil War in the South, 18651914. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. Blight, David W. Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory, and the American Civil War. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002. Davis, Eric. Memories of State: Politics, History, and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Flores, Richard R. Remembering the Alamo: Memory, Modernity and the Master Symbol. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Fujitani, Takashi et.al., Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s). Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. Gross, David. Lost Time: On Remembering and Forgetting in Late Modern Culture.Amherst University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Huyssen, Andreas. Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2003. Igarashi, Yoshikuni. Bodies of Memory. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 Landy, Marcia. The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Lipsitz, George. Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990. Landsberg, Alison. Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004 Lowenthal, David. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Shackel, Paul A. Memory in Black and White: Race, Commemoration and the Post-Bellum Landscape. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press, 2003. -----. A. Myth, Memory, and the Making of the American Landscape. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2001. IV. Annotated Bibliography For this assignment, students will expand on the theme(s) related to their book review and prepare an annotated bibliography of 10 secondary sources. Each entry should provide a brief summary paragraph, explaining the major arguments and connecting the supplementary texts to the overall theme. Do not simply describe the essay or book, make sure you have read and examined how it connects to your main text. Reading Schedule: Week 1: T 8.23 Th 8.25 Week 2: T 8.30 Th 9.1 Introduction Introduction to the course. David Thelan, "Memory and American History," Journal of American History (March 1989): 1117-1129. The History of Memory Paul Thompson, “Believe it or Not: Rethinking the Historical Interpretation of Memory,” from Memory and History: Essays on Recalling and Interpreting Experience, ed. Jacklyn Jeffrey and Glenace Edwall (New York: Lanham, 1994): 1-16. Elizabeth Loftus, “Tricked By Memory,” from Memory and History: Essays on Recalling and Interpreting Experience, ed. Jacklyn Jeffrey and Glenace Edwall (New York: Lanham, 1994): 17-32. Week 3: Inventing Tradition T 9.6 Hugh Trevor-Roper, "The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland," in Hobsbawm and Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 1983): 15-41. Scottish Highland website project Th 9.8 Week 4: T 9.13 Th 9.15 Reserve Reserve Reserve Reserve Remembering History: The Civil War as a Case Study Michael Kammen, “Introduction” and “The Civil War Remembered-But Unreconciled” from Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (New York: Vintage, 1991), 2-14 and 101-131. William A. Blair, “Waging Politics Through Decoration Days, 1866-1869,” from Cities of the Dead: Contesting the Memory of the Civil War in the South, 1865-1914. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 49-76. Reserve Reserve Week 5: T 9.20 Th 9.22 Week 6: T 9.27 Th 9.29 Week 7: T 10.4 Th 10.6 Week 8: T 10.11 Th 10.13 Week 9: T 10.18 Th 10.20 Remembering History: Constructing an American Identity Michael Kammen, “Memory is What We Now Have in Place of Religion,” from Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (New York: Vintage, 1991), 194227. Workshop: Book reviews and annotated bibliographies Reserve The Problems of Oral History Michael Frisch, "The Memory of History," from A Shared Reserve Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany: SUNY Press, 1990): 15-28. Alice M. Hoffman and Howard S. Hoffman, “Reliability and Reserve Validity in Oral History: The Case Study for Memory,” in Memory and History: Essays on Recalling and Interpreting Experience, ed. Jacklyn Jeffrey and Glenace Edwall (New York: Lanham, 1994):105-132. History, Memory, and the State Film: The Fog of War Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach, "The Universal Survey Museum," Art History 3:4 (December 1980): 448-469. Reserve History, Memory, and the State Beatrice Heuser, "Museums, Identity, and Warring Historians: Observations on History and Germany," The Historical Journal 33:2 (1990): 417-440. Ariella Azoulay, "With Open Doors: Museums and Historical Narratives in Israel's Public Space," from Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994): 85-112. Reserve Reserve The Politics of Public Display: The Holocaust Museum as a Case Study Edward T. Linenthal, Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum (New York: Penguin, 1995): 1-56. Edward T. Linenthal, Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum (New York: Penguin, 1995): 57166. Week 10: The Politics of Public Display: The Holocaust Museum as a Case Study T 10.25 Edward T. Linenthal, Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create visit web Th 10.27 America's Holocaust Museum (New York: Penguin, 1995): 167272. Visit Anne Frank in the World, 1929-1945 in the KSU Center Week 11: The Politics of Public Display: History, Memory, and Museums T 11.1 Susan A. Crane, "Memory, Distortion, and History in the Museum," from Bettina Messias Carbonell, ed., Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 314-334. Th 11.3 Peer Review: In-class peer review. Week 12: T 11.8 Th 11.10 Daniel Nathan, Saying It’s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 1-91. Daniel Nathan, Saying It’s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003): 92-148. Baseball: History, Memory, and Popular Culture T 11.15 Th 11.17 Daniel Nathan, Saying It’s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003): 149221. Peer Review: Annotated Bibliography Week 14: History, Memory, and Film 11.24 Reserve Book Review Due (turn in two copies) Baseball: History, Memory, and Popular Culture Week 13: 11.22 site: www. ushmm.org Annotated Bibliography Due “How to Look at An Historical Film,” from Marcia Landy, ed. The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000): 25-49. Thanksgiving No class Week 15: T 11.29 Th 12.1 Film: Eight Men Out Film: Eight Men Out Week 16: T 12.6 Conclusion and course evaluations Submit completed and revised assignments