The Memory Mosaic Project and Presentation

This article describes a unit-length project involving students in the analysis of how public memory is shaped by multiple factors and functions persuasively to influence one's understanding of historical events. This project was designed for an upper-division undergraduate course in Rhetoric and Public Memory, but could be adapted for use in a Persuasion or Rhetorical Criticism course. In the Memory Mosaic project described here, student groups work together to assemble the key pieces of a public memory. They develop a critical framework for examining representations of public memory, engage in a collaborative rhetorical analysis of how that public memory operates persuasively to shape citizens, and synthesize the results of this analysis in a group presentation (alternatives include a group or individual papers, a collaborative video, or a blog with multiple contributors). This project focuses on public memory in the United States because American culture and history are familiar terrain for most students. Since collective memory depends significantly on shared experiences, the American context provides an important foundation for the course.