Description
This module explores how past experiences of conflict and mass violence are remembered through different cultural forms and across distinct global contexts. We examine the various spaces and genres through which violent pasts become public history – from the museum and memorial, to the television documentary and Hollywood film, to the war tour, battle re-enactment and eyewitness testimony – allowing students to compare contemporary manifestations of cultural memory with those from previous eras. We focus on the tensions between myth and historical scholarship in popular understandings of war; the economic and political forces that shape how past violence is remembered or forgotten; and the increasing involvement of professional historians in truth, justice and reconciliation activities that respond to the legacies of violent pasts. Students will be challenged to engage with major debates that currently preoccupy the field, such as the problems of representing violence and atrocity, the didactic role of remembrance, and the case for forgetting. The workshop aspect of this module enables students to apply their theoretical understandings to specific remembrance contexts in various ways: by comparing, connecting and contrasting the insights they draw from specific case studies; by engaging with public history practitioners and critics as guest seminar presenters; and through on-site learning events held at key sites and institutions. Students will be given the opportunity to observe, participate in, and/or critique at least one major piece of public history relating to the remembrance of conflict and violence as part of their coursework assessment.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 8th April 2024.
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