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Taking Certeau as a point of departure for thinking about walking as a form of everyday commemorative practice, this intensive seminar explores the way the past is constructed and reconstructed in urban space. We will use Essen and surrounds as the context for a practical engagement with the city, investigating public spaces, museums, memorials, cultural institutions and gardens to recuperate traces of the past. This practical engagement will involve short writing exercises based on micro-journeys and direct observations performed as a class.
This will be informed by a set of readings and discussions dealing with cultural memory, historical reenactment, industrial ruins, liminal spaces, decay and regeneration. Primary readings in English may include works (and excerpts) by Cole, Kazin, Sebald and others. The seminar also covers short theoretical texts by, for example, Agnew, Barndt, Benjamin, Certeau, Demnig, Edensor and Huyssen.
Primary readings will need to be completed prior to the start of each session and will be made available in electronic form. A few texts, available in cheap editions, will need to be purchased. Assessment will involve class discussion, participation, written work and oral presentations. |
