Assignments

DISCUSSION FORUM

We’ll use the Moodle Discussion Forum as a place to share our ideas, think through the work we are doing in and out of class, and generate conversation.

You are responsible for writing at least one substantial post each week. I encourage you to write more if you like.

I will sometimes require that a certain group of students write comments to the Discussion Forum by a certain day and hour, in an effort to spread out comments and discussion across the week.

What can you include in your post? You can:

  • Respond to – or extend – a discussion from class
  • Introduce a reading – or a concept – or a figure – before we get to it in class
  • Discuss a question from current events that relates to the issues and the material from class
  • Or something else that contributes to our collective efforts

As for the form of your posts, these do not have to be long or formal. Indeed, they should be written in a way that will engage your classmates.

IN CLASS WRITING

I’ll ask you on occasion – perhaps once a week – to write short reflections on the reading. We’ll do this in class, typically with a question to prompt your writing, and often as a way to start conversation.

PARTICIPATION & PRESENTATIONS

As students in a small seminar, you carry a lot of the burden for building strong conversations. I give you a grade for your participation and frequent presentations.

What is strong participation?

  • Come to class prepared – having done the reading or the homework – with some notes on the work you’ve done and a few questions to share with the class
  • Participate frequently in the conversation – answering questions for discussion – posing new questions
  • Be a good listener – responding to each other’s observations

What kinds of presentations are required?

  • Frequent short presentations to the class
  • I’ll provide more guidance in class – but typically these involve five minute presentations with a short powerpoint to help generate discussion. You might:
    • Introduce the subject of the week. Share some background, introduce the author, introduce the reading, and pose discussion questions to your classmates
    • Introduce a primary source (a visual source, a literary source, a monument or memorial). Share some background, provide some explanations, share images or quotations so that we can get to know the source, and pose discussion questions to your classmates.

PAPER #1 – ON HISTORY AND MEMORY

3-6 pp., double spaced, submit as pdf on Moodle

The assignment: Present one important concept among the theories of history and memory that we have discussed and apply it to one example of historical memory. This assignment asks you to synthesize the work that we have been doing. I encourage you to draw your important concept and your example of historical memory from the concepts and examples that we are discussing. You may want to look to reference sources or primary sources to get your details straight, but don’t look on this as a research project.

Some tips:

  • Engage with the authors that we are reading. Name them, present their ideas, address them as scholars in a collective conversation. You are joining in that conversation
  • Limit your ambitions! You don’t have to say the last word about history and memory. Give us one concrete concept to think with (while acknowledging that there are many dimensions to history and memory)
  • Choose your example of historical memory from something we’ve read or discussed – or feel free to bring in another that interests you and relates to class. You can go outside the European context for this paper – as the theories we are discussed have been applied in a wide variety of contexts
  • Make sure that you have a clear connection between your concept and your example. You’d like your example to help your reader make sense of the concept that you think is so important
  • Write for an educated audience – your classmates, for example

Format guidelines:

  • Follow the example of my sample short history paper for format
  • Cite your sources and examples using Chicago-style footnote
  • No bibliography necessary

PAPER #2 – ON ONE OF THE EXAMPLES WE’VE STUDIED

3-6 pp., double spaced, submit as pdf on Moodle

The assignment: Write your analysis (in light of the work of memory studies) of any of the sources that we have discussed. You may choose to write on a secondary source – and present a critical perspective – or to write on a primary source – and deliver your interpretation. This is an opportunity to build upon our collective discussions and develop (and sharpen) your own analysis. You should present the source you are discussing and your perspective upon it. You may want to look to reference sources or primary sources to get your details straight, but don’t look on this as a research project.

For example

  • You might write about They Shall Not Grow Old, or the AHR Forum on They Shall Not Grow Old, or Eric Langenbacker on collective memory in contemporary Germany, or Susan Neiman and Holocaust memory in Germany, or the Holodomor memory and education project at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies

Some tips:

  • Write your paper for an educated audience – but take the time to introduce your subject
  • Make your larger point clear early on – in your introduction, for example – and write to demonstrate it
  • Manage your ambitions. Understand that you are not trying to say the last word on the subject, but to engage in deep ways with any one of the works we’ve encountered in the course

Format guidelines:

  • Follow the example of my sample short history paper for format
  • Cite your sources and examples using Chicago-style footnote
  • No bibliography necessary

PAPER #3 – LOOKING OUTSIDE THE EXAMPLES WE’VE STUDIED

3-6 pp., double spaced, submit as pdf on Moodle

Write your own analysis (in light of the work of memory studies) of a primary source, a work of historical memory that we have not discussed at length as a class. Your goal is to present the work and your own analysis in light of the work that we’ve been doing. You should present the source you are discussing and your perspective upon it. You may want to look to reference sources or primary sources to get your details straight, but don’t look on this as a research project.

Format guidelines:

  • Follow the example of my sample short history paper for format
  • Cite your sources and examples using Chicago-style footnote
  • No bibliography necessary

FINAL PROJECT

The final project can take many different forms. The key is that it should demonstrate research on historical memory and the application of one or more concepts of memory studies to a particular work (or a few works) of historical memory.

The final project could be:

  • Research Paper. 10-15 page research paper
  • Podcast. A 10 minute podcast (plus short paper that explains the research behind the project)
  • Documentary video. A 5 minute video (plus short paper that explains the research behind the project)
  • Zine. A 10 page zine in text and image (plus short paper that explains the research behind the project)
  • Or something else (plus short paper that explains the research behind the project)

You’ll turn it in in two stages:

  • A 3-5 page project proposal including
    • Working title
    • Introduction to topic, context, and research question. Draw us into your topic, introduce essential background, state the question that guides your research.
    • Discussion of relevant secondary literature. What scholars of memory studies will you draw upon to frame your project? What ideas will you draw upon?
    • Discussion of primary source. What “work of memory” will you treat? What do you want to say about it?
    • Plan for final project. What form will your final project take?
    • Statement of significance. Why does this matter?
    • Annotated bibliography
    • Format guidelines:
  • The final project – due at the time of our final exam slot

Note

  • The project proposal is a plan for the final project – but also a first draft of the research paper or the short paper.