Teaching public memory through analysis of confederate monument controversies on college campuses

Abstract

Courses: Rhetorical criticism, public address, persuasion, public memory theory, argumentation.

Objectives: Through analysis of public controversies about Confederate monuments on college campuses, students will: (1) explore the concept of “public memory,” how groups of people form shared interpretations of the past; (2) examine how monuments act as rhetorical texts that embody disparate public memories for different groups of people; and (3) engage in rhetorical analysis to learn how public memories are often constructed to serve present interests rather than to preserve accurate accounts of the past.