MST 645 - Contemporary Issues in Public History (3 Credits)

Prerequisite: None
This course will explore current questions and concerns in the field of public history from outside the area of established museum operations. A term that describes the diverse ways history is put to work in the world and outside traditional modes of scholarship, public history represents an interactive process between the historian, the public, and the historical object or subject. Students will investigate such contemporary topics and issues as public monuments and historical reinterpretation and censorship; the role of museums in urban change, revitalization, and gentrification; historiography, recent history, and museum spaces; the public historian’s role in the representation and inclusion of previously excluded or marginalized groups; the treatment of contemporary issues (eg., #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, Russian hacking of elections, etc.) in a historical framework; the intersection of current events and history with technology and the internet; and the role of popular nonfiction literature and film in promoting historical thought and conversation.