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Too Soon? Comedy in Europe’s Tragic Twentieth Century

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2022
In the first half the twentieth century, Europe was the site of two wars that depleted the world’s population, dislocated millions, and stripped once diverse regions of the continent of their minority populations. Later, even as Europe managed to rebuild, progress occurred under the shadow of two hegemonic superpowers in possession of weapons capable of incinerating both sides of the Iron Curtain. In a 1966 profile of Bertolt Brecht for The New Yorker, Hannah Arendt wrote of “the terrible freshness of the post-war world”—in which all that poets could do in the rubble was... Read more about Too Soon? Comedy in Europe’s Tragic Twentieth Century

"Who Will Write Our History? Truth, Justice, and Public Memorials"

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2022
When protesters in support of Black Lives Matter toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into Bristol Harbour in the summer of 2020, their actions represented the latest move in a remarkable shift in global memory culture: For nearly a century, victims and opponents of genocide, political persecution, and imperial exploitation have made increasingly successful demands for space in the public sphere to tell their stories. Our seminar will explore how various stakeholders have reshaped the ways that communities encounter histories of violence. We’ll track how the definition... Read more about "Who Will Write Our History? Truth, Justice, and Public Memorials"