American history


Collage of public memorial sites including George Floyd mural, "Say Their Names" graveyard event, and Martin Luther King memorial

Overview

American Identities in Public Memorials hosts memory studies projects for the introductory American Studies course at the University of Kansas, "American Identities." For these projects, students research public memorials in their communities, considering how these memorials work to serve or counter hegemonic identity formation. In the summer of 2019, students wrote blog posts based on in-person fieldwork. In the summer of 2020, students completed a mapping project and a similar blog project based on digital research.