The Monument: Designing Memory

Monuments, from the Latin monere, are things that remind, warn, or teach; memorials, as their name implies, serve as tangible markers of memory. But who and what do they remember, and how did those memories acquire physical form? This seminar examines the commemorative impulse from Mediterranean antiquity to the present day, asking both what monuments do and how they should be studied. Focusing on selected examples and typologies from a range of Western cultures, it investigates the historical process of creating monuments in specific times and places, as well as the ways monument-makers have invoked inherited formal, visual, and material paradigms. We will investigate the intersections between “private” memorials such as family tombs, chapels, and cenotaphs, and “public” monuments addressed to larger audiences, often at an urban scale and invoking shared political or civic ideals. Our case studies will include memorials to individuals as well as to groups, regimes, events, and concepts; we will also study the emergence of counter- or protest monuments that challenge received monumental languages while expanding who and what is commemorated. In recent years, the debates and controversies surrounding monuments—both what to do with old ones, and how to create new ones—testify to their continuing symbolic power and demand thoughtful attention. All viewpoints are welcome in this seminar, as long as the issues are approached historically and analytically and divergent conclusions are respected. New York City’s rich memorial landscape offers a unique opportunity to scrutinize a range of monument types at first hand, while examining how their messages shift with societal values and surroundings. Seminar meetings will alternate between sessions held in the classroom and sessions at sites throughout the city, often starting and ending somewhere other than BGC; participants should be prepared for variable weather conditions and for extended periods of standing, walking, and traveling between sites. Participants will take the lead in shaping our investigation, by discussing selected readings and examples, organizing and leading our on-site studies, and presenting the results of a final research project of their choice. 3 credits. May satisfy the chronological requirement, depending on final project.