Memory and Memorials

As you probably already know, UA is in the process of renovating Foster Auditorium.  In the process, the question of how exactly to go about remembering and commemorating 1963's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door"--when then governor George Wallace attempted to keep two black students, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood, from entering the still segregated University of Alabama.

Last year, in UA's Documenting Justice series, a team of UA students made a ten-minute short documentary about the significance of Foster and the politics of memory.

There are a lot of issues imbedded in how collectively to mark a past event, especially in a place that attaches so much meaning to something called "the past" or "tradition"...and especially when the event is charged with social change, racism, and state/federal policy.

The new design is supposed to make practical use of the space while marking the events of June 11, 1963.  Do you think it does both effectively?  What does it even mean to remember something "effectively" and what kinds of assumptions/appeals are made in the process?  And do you think answers to such questions do/should change when the context is different...something like KA's controversial "Old South Parade"...?

Here's a picture of the new Foster design:

Click here to read about the renovation in the Crimson White
And here's the CW article after the board approved the design

David Bains!

This Monday, we're going to enjoy a visit from Samford Professor David Bains.  After our class lets out, Prof. Bains will be giving a talk for the Religious Studies Department's Religion in Culture Lecture Series at 7:30 in Gorgas 205.  That talk's title will be: "National Cathedral to National Gurdwara: Erecting American Religions in Washington, D.C.", and there will be a response given by Mark McCormick, professor of religion at Stillman.  Here's the link to the facebook event page:


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153915967979461&ref=ts


Description of the talk he'll give that night?  Well, sure, I've got that too: 


Many Americans have long regarded religion as essential to the character and welfare of the nation. Accordingly, they have desired landmark houses of worship to be part of their capital city's symbolic landscape. Yet because of the religious diversity among Americans, many "national" houses of worship have been required. The erection and success of such buildings has been complicated by the separation of church and state, the congregational character of most American religions, and the bold plan and slow development of Washington. With its hegemonic claims to be a "spiritual home of the nation," Washington National Cathedral has been the most successful. Yet its claims have been continually contested by other groups. In this lecture, David Bains, an Associate Professor at Samford University, examines how these "national" houses of worship seek to shape the religious life of the United States and its capital city.


As this talk will be different from the conversation topic he'll deal with in our class, I want you to attend his evening talk and make your next post be a response to that.  I'll remind you in class, send an email, etc.  But with this post, maybe write a comment involving which of the 3 readings he gave us you're enjoying most/least and why...  And/or, go ahead and throw out some questions you think you want to ask him or topics you want to make sure he deals with....

Peer Reviews

This week, you've been spending some quality time with the work of one of your classmates.  How's it going?