CRE373H1

Archives and the Art of Memory

What is an Archive? What kind of history and culture does it Preserve? Or does it bury things forever? Who gets to be an archivist and who gets to tell the story? How can an archive preserve the stories of marginalized people? Can voices from the archive be brought back to life? In the context of a series of readings, presentations and projects the course focuses on case studies of government-housed and sponsored archives, family archives, archives of cultural institutions, grassroot archival initiatives, and of course digital archives. Each student will have an opportunity to produce an artistic project based on an archival research or create their own imaginary archive.