Public History

This course explores the practice of collecting and modes of displaying images and objects across time and world cultures. We will examine how the museum has served to shape racial and national narratives and identity through various case studies including ekphrastic writings from late antiquity, medieval hoarding, and 17th century Curiosity Cabinets and to the formulation of the idea of the encyclopedic museum, World’s Fairs, museums of ethnography and natural history, and art exhibitions. Students will discuss and debate a variety of primary and theoretical texts on the power of exhibition planning, as well as topics related to “othering,” subjugating and/or objectifying marginalized communities and cultures. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of repatriation of art that has been stolen from original cultures through role-playing scenarios.

In this course, students will explore several periods of the medieval past by playing and critiquing video games from various popular series. Students examine not only key historical events of the period—such as the Zanj Rebellion and the Third Crusade—but also its art and architecture, the organization of cities, cross-cultural trade, and religion. As a final project for the course, students will propose their own historical video game. Students will consider how the Middle Ages is portrayed—and often misrepresented—in mainstream culture and how the choices of the game makers impact how players view the past.

How do we remember significant events, people, and places? Who decides what should be remembered? This course will examine these ideas and explore various monuments across the United States. The course will require students to plan and design a way to remember a significant person or place as a final project.