COMM 20004 - Collective Memory & Public Forgetting

Course Credit: 1
(COMS)
This course investigates the role that communication plays in creating memories-particularly collective memories-of particular events, people, and eras, and how those collective memories may sustain us, lead us astray, and/or promote conflict. Moreover, the class will examine how communication can lead to “forgetting” that is not always negative, but can even be positive in nature. We will also look at how communication pertaining to public ceremony may use and/or influence public memories, public forgetting, and perceptions of reality in general. The class will relate course concepts to memories in our own lives, families, and larger collective groups. In addition, other specific case studies will include messages as divergent as Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and Slobodan Milosevic’s speech on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, as well as public messages related to the Holocaust, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, post-Apartheid South Africa, post-9/11 nationalism in the United States, and post-genocide Rwanda. Prerequisite: COMM 11100. Prerequisite(s): COMM 11100, or one completed course in COMD [W]