Selected Graduate Courses
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Although the concept of “memory” typically denotes individual recollection or ability to recall one’s experiences, the main presumption of this course is that most memories of the past take shape and persist through a variety of representational and performative mechanisms (discursive, visual, spatial, and bodily). In the past three decades years, collective memory has become a key topic across the humanities and qualitative social sciences in the wake of global political and technological transformations. The goal of this course is to explore the workings of collective memory from several disciplinary vantage points, including history, philosophy, rhetoric, anthropology, media studies and cultural studies. In addition to developing a comprehensive multi-disciplinary theoretical perspective on memory and its mediation, we will also practice interpreting specific cases of mediation by focusing on artifacts and sites of memory—photographs, films, museums, and monuments, both physical and virtual.
Selected Undergraduate Courses
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Syllabus (docx)
Designed as a small-size seminar, this upper-level undergraduate course will teach students how to critically examine a variety of artifacts and environments that function persuasively by appealing to audiences’ senses, memory, and imagination. Over the span of the semester, we will take a closer look at visual artifacts like photographs, posters, souvenirs, monuments, and museum exhibits as well as persuasive spaces like theme parks, urban environments, and botanical gardens. Weather permitting, we will venture outside to explore some of these artifacts and environments in State College. Along with the discussion of these artifacts and spaces, we will learn to apply several methods of critical analysis of non-verbal communication. Course assignments will include readings and discussion, homework assignments, two short papers, and a final essay project on a topic of students’ choice.
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From the silent films and classic sitcoms of the twentieth century to the rise of transmedia storytelling in our era, film and television have not only entertained audiences but also helped to shape public perceptions of diverse subjects, from criminality and war to romance and sexuality. As the production and consumption of popular culture has changed in the last decade and a half, new and important questions emerge about the role of film and television in establishing a public vocabulary for identity and politics.