Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0261 - Commemorating Violence: Monuments, Museum Practice, and Public Art

In this course, we will explore contemporary approaches to commemorating historical violence through monuments, museum practice, and public art. Students will examine case studies from around the world, with a focus on sites of contestation and interventions in public and collective discourse from the last 50 years, including Holocaust memorials and museums; monuments to los Desaparecidos (the disappeared) in Chile and Argentina and victims of the genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia; #RhodesMustFall and other "fallist" movements to remove statues celebrating slavery, apartheid, and white supremacy; the public visual culture of #BLM; new monuments to the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade in the US, the Caribbean, and West Africa. We will read deeply in the relevant critical and theoretical literature across disciplines and look closely at decisions made by practitioners: artists, architects, curators, urban planners, and activists. Students of all backgrounds and experience levels are welcome. Keywords: Art history, museum studies, curatorial studies, genocide, slavery.

Time and Narrative Students in this course should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time. The content of this course deals with issues of Race and Power.