Aspects of Public History in modern city

HAC109 Aspects of Public History in modern city

Professor: Elli LEMONIDOU | Course outline [pdf file]

The course examines, through specific axes and examples, the possibilities offered by the urban space for bringing into light, studying and understanding various aspects of Public History. In particular, the notion and the content of Public History are examined, as well as the relationship between History, Public History and memory, the concept of the controversial and/or traumatic issue and its importance for shaping narratives about the past, and the role of the urban landscape as a field of Public History, especially regarding its importance for the critical approach and comprehensive understanding of contested and conflictual issues. Τhe specific characteristics of the city as an analytical unit is highlighted, as a field of coexistence and convergence of multiple identities, and as a vector of memory in all its forms. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of the components of urban identity, the typology of memory, and the basic forms of imprinting memory in the urban landscape. The specific characteristics recorded in the study of the paths of memory, History and Public History in the Greek urban landscape, through the analysis of the cases of Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities are explored. Finally, modern trends in international historiography regarding the management of the memory of cities are studied, focusing on certain important examples (Berlin, Paris, etc.)