Thursdays, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Initial lectures and readings will cover a variety of commemorative structures and practices, from the permanent and the material to the ephemeral and the virtual. The instructor will provide international, national, and local context, including an overview of Philadelphia history. But the heart of the course will be group projects based on deep engagement with sources. Working in teams, students will analyze memorial landscapes, past and present, of Greater Philadelphia, of West Philly, and of Penn’s campus. Your final assignment will be a proposal—or an actual staging—of a “memory work” of your own design. The overall goal of the course is to join the academic and the civic, town and gown.
