Special Topics in Museum Studies: Memory and Power

This course, (MSL2307H – Special Topics in Museum Studies: Memory and Power), explores the ways in which societies conserve, commemorate, and contest the past, and the roles played by communities, institutions, political actors, and other stakeholders in the development of public memory. Across a wide array of case studies, we will explore questions including, but not limited to: what is the relationship between memory and power? How do practices of commemoration both shape and reflect local, national, and transnational identities? How do mnemonic institutions like museums and archives relate to their political, social, and cultural milieux? How are memories encoded in material culture, and in physical spaces and places?