ENG4544 – Remembering the Past: Memory and History in the United States

This course will examine the intersections between memory (individual and collective) and historical truth in the United States. Collective memory and public history negotiate competing ideas of national and group identity. Trauma is a part of this - for victims, perpetrators, and their descendants. We will examine how public history renegotiates these traumas to support cultural definitions of history with which contemporary citizens can find pride. We will look at memorializing memory by public history in the form of monuments, museums and physical memorials, as well as debates over how to teach history in the United States. Screen portrayals may also be used to understand this link between past, present, and future. Some examples of possible topics within the course can be: how the reparations movement competes with other historical portrayals that redefine the south and slavery, arguments about how to memorialize the wars of the 20th century, and how such events as the Trail of Tears are dealt with and reinterpreted in the creating of national mythology surrounding the westward movement, and debates over how to memorialize the events of 9-11. There may be an element of comparison with how women’s history has been memorialized in the United States and Norway. Primary sources to be used are movies, public history sites and museums as shown online, newspaper accounts and speeches.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand theoretical constructs that explain the differences between history and public memory.
• Understand how groups remember the past.
• Understand the role of trauma in public memory.
• Examine historical events as a scholar, while also examining how non-scholars may view the same event.
• Discuss the values behind both historical scholarship and the work of those working to curate views of the past, while taking into account expectations, demands and fears of the public.
• Use the library database, America: History & Life, to find appropriate scholarly sources to study a specific event or question.

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

This course is for students admitted to European Languages (master) and UVM5-LEP, masterspesialisering i engelsk. Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Obligatory activities:

• One short assessment of one week's syllabus (2-4 pages)
• Assist in leading one week's group discussion
• Group activity preparing readings for one week's discussion. Read more about rules concerning valid excuses and how to apply for approved postponements.
• It is obligatory to show up for a minimum of 60% of the teaching. In this course you have to attend 6 of 10 seminars. The requirement is absolute.

The allowed absence limit will cover all absences, including illness. You will not be granted valid absences with documentation, even when the absence is due to something beyond your control.

If the course has in-person teaching, and you are signed up for an in-person seminar group, you are to attend the teaching in the location found in the schedule.

If the course has digital teaching, and you are signed up for a digital seminar group, you must attend via Zoom with your camera on.

In certain circumstances, i.e. serious or chronic illness, you could apply for special needs accommodation.

All obligatory activities must be approved in the same semester for you to sit the exam. Fulfilled course requirements are only valid for the current semester.

The form of assessment is a term paper of 15 pages +/- 10% (a standard page consists of 2,300 characters). References and bibliography comes in addition.

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

A term paper or equivalent that is passed may not be resubmitted in revised form.

If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline, this will be counted as an examination attempt.