Vol. 19, No. 32

May 25, 2000

Special course explores how cultures remember history

In the interdisciplinary Pathways course on "Technologies of Cultural Memory," freshmen prepared linocut prints representing different historical figures, wrote papers exploring the ways cultures remember important events and acted as curators for "virtual galleries" of their classmates' prints on the web. The class was team taught by Ann Ardis, English and University Honors Program; Vera Kaminski, art; and Devon Miller-Duggan, English. "The students were completely engaged, extremely excited and responsive,"Kaminski said. "This course is not about channeling students into one major or another," Ardis said. As students explored the ways different cultures remember their history and heroes, "many students found that they can do good work outside their 'comfort zones.'" Development of this course was supported in part with funding from the Pew Charitable Trust and the University Honors Program, with additional support for the exhibition of prints from the Office of Residence Life. — Richard Gordon