COMM 20004 - Collective Memory & Public Forgetting

Course Credit: 1
(COMS)
COMMUNICATION, COLLECTIVE MEMORY, AND PUBLIC FORGETTING This course investigates the role that communication plays in creating 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. Case studies will include messages as divergent as Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, Slobodan Milosevic’s speech on 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, Tiananmen Square and post-genocide Rwanda. Prerequisite(s): COMM-11100, Minimum grade C- [W]