Choose one memorial or artwork (poem, novel, play, musical or visual artwork, etc.) that addresses a
subject of historical violence and analyze its approach to historical memory using the lenses of the
course material. A list of suggested topics is provided below; you are also welcome to select a topic of
your own, in consultation with the instructor. Alternatively, you may create an artwork of your own that
addresses issues of historical memory, accompanied by an artist statement. Both options will require
you to explicitly discuss at least two texts from the course.
Guidelines
Papers should be approximately 2500 words. Be sure to cite any external resources used in
your research. The approach and organization of the paper is up to you, but you should include some
of the following:
description of the work (form, materials, location, etc.)
background of the work (artist(s), contemporaneous events to which it responds, controversy it
generated)
analysis of the work
explanation of the texts that you’re citing (author, genre, context, etc.) and concepts that you’re using
(e.g. postmemory) in your analysis
These elements should be integrated into a cohesive line of inquiry that centers your intellectual voice!
Possible topics
Memorials to Slavery, Colonialism, and Racism
National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, AL)
Sally Hemings exhibit at Monticello
National Slavery Monument (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
I Am Queen Mary (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Ansa Cafard Slave Memorial (Martinique)
Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project
Holocaust Memorials
Monument Against Fascism (Hamburg, Germany)
Yad Vashem
Jewish Memorial Berlin
[For an overview of Holocaust memorials, see this lecture
(https://britishassociationforholocauststudies.wordpress.com/an-evening-lecture-with-
professor-james-e-young/?fbclid=IwAR164iVIwpyf-eJi4ILOVPEtj-sPft7b0TEifLR_ZlvsonzZMizefWn_GGg) by
James E. Young, “The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorialization and Global Commemoration,”
hosted by The British Association for Holocaust Studies,
Literature/Poetry
Sebald, Austerlitz
Wiesel, Night
Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Morrison, Beloved
Charlotte Delbo
Leila Sebbar
Paul Celan
Irena Klepfisz
Film
Inglorious Basterds
The Nasty Girl (Das Schreckliche Mdchen)
Nowhere in Africa
Ida
Numbered
Cach
Waltz with Bashir
Music
Gorecki
Childish Gambino (“This is America”)
Hamilton
Visual Art/Artists
Kerry James Marshall
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/668330
(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/668330)
Marc Erwin Babej (on German colonialism/genocide in Namibia)
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/hamburg-addresses-german-genocide-in-namibia-with-
photography-exhibition (https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/hamburg-addresses-german-genocide
in-namibia-with-photography-exhibition)
Jeremy Deller (WWI)
Anselm Kiefer
Gerhard Richter (Uncle Rudi)
Jean Fautrier, Otages
Titus Kaphar
Christian Boltansky
Lee Miller
Kara Walker
Laurent Valere
