CAST 306 - National Parks & Public Memory

FC SSCI CD

4 credits
For many visitors, National Parks are places of recreation and relaxation. Simultaneously, America’s National Parks are sites of encounter with history and memory. What stories do they tell, and what do they obscure? In this public humanities course, we will focus on three National Historic Sites that, together, tell a complex story about the history of the US West, Indigenous sovereignty, and the forces of settler colonialism, capitalism, and American mythology. Drawing from interdisciplinary frameworks and methodologies, this course is a theoretical and practical study of the work of the National Park Service and the possibilities of public history. Field trip(s) required.

Community-Based Learning