UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

Who controls history? Whose histories do we celebrate, and at whose expense? Whose historical voices are not represented in the public sphere, and ow does this impact those communities? What is public history? How are dominant historical narratives created and sustained through public institutions, popular culture, and the broader social landscape? In recent times, these questions and related issues have found a renewed urgency. This undergraduate course puts these issues into historical perspective by examining the ways museums, popular culture, historical sites, and other forums of public engagement in the United States have interpreted and represented Native American history. In doing so, we strive to understand how forms of erasure and cultural and historical misrepresentation are continuous with practices of dispossession and other forms of violence enacted on Native peoples in the past. While the questions we ask in this class are examined tin the context of Native American histories, they have a broader resonance concerning the politics of memory and conflicting interpretations of America's past. With its emphasis on site visits, topical and news-worthy themes, critical engagement with popular culture, and opportunities for intellectual inquiry based in Boston's urban setting, the class engages students in the history that surrounds them. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation.