Film & Media Studies 384 - Making Memorials

(Offered as GERM 365, ARCH 365, EUST 365 and FAMS 384) This is a course about what happens to difficult memories: memories that are intensely personal, but made public, memories that belong to communities, but which become ideologically possessed by history, politics, or the media. How are memories processed into memorials? What constitutes a memorial? What gets included or excluded? How is memory performed in cultural objects, spaces, and institutions? What is the relationship between the politics of representation and memory? Who owns memory? Who is authorized to convey it? How does memory function? This course will explore the spaces in which memories are “preserved” and experienced. Our attention will focus on the transformation of private and public memories in works of architecture, performance, literature, film, and the visual arts, primarily in Germany, Europe, and the United States in the twentieth century, including also 9/11, the COVID-19 pandemic, and inter/national events of 2020+. Preference given to German majors and European Studies majors, as well as to students interested in architecture/design, film/video, performance, the visual arts, interactive installation and/or the environment. Conducted in English, with German majors required to do a substantial portion of the reading in German.

Spring semester: Professor Gilpin.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority to German, European Studies, Architectural Studies and FAMS majors.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: An emphasis on written work, readings, visual analysis, independent research, oral presentations, and group work, with possible field trips. Students with documented disabilities who will require accommodations in this course should be in consultation with Accessibility Services and reach out to the professor as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations can be made in a timely manner.