Spring 2010

Topics in European History: The Politics of Memory in Twentieth-Century Europe

Listed in: History, as HIST-76

Faculty

Catherine A. Epstein (Section 01)

Description

[EU] This course will explore the role of historical memory in the politics of twentieth-century Europe. It will examine how evolving memories of major historical events have been articulated and exploited in the political cultures of England, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union/Russia. Topics will include the politics of memory surrounding World Wars I and II, Vichy France, the Holocaust, Soviet Stalinism, and Eastern European communism. Seminar participants will also discuss general issues concerning collective memory: why societies remember and forget historical events, how collective memories resurface, the relationship between memory and authenticity, and the pitfalls of politicizing historical memory. Finally, seminar participants will analyze different sites of memory including film, ritual, monuments, legal proceedings, and state-sponsored cults. One class meeting per week.

Not open to first year students. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester.  Professor Epstein.

HIST 76 - L/D

Section 01
M 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM CHAP 203

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2014