Photos by Julia Hopkins
The latest student-created exhibit in the 鈥淢aking History Public鈥� series focuses on a challenging subject: righting historical wrongs at the turn of the millennium.
The exhibit, now on view in Stokes Hall, features student-designed visualizations on historical justice issues from interdisciplinary, global, local, and comparative perspectives.
The exhibit is the seventh created through a course collaboration between the History Department and University Libraries, which聽 enables undergraduates to gain valuable experience in planning, researching, and organizing a research project, and in learning how to utilize archival material.
Past 鈥淢aking History Public鈥� subjects have included the history of the Boston Common, the history of the book, and the depiction of historical and social trends in popular comic books.
The current exhibit grew out of a class taught by Associate Professor of History Franziska Seraphim. Among its case studies are Japanese-American internment compensation, indigenous movements worldwide, and global human rights.
鈥淭his exhibit marks the first time students did not select from existing materials but rather made their own poster-size infographics, using digital mapping and graphic design to visually analyze a large, complex topic both conceptually and through case examples,鈥� said Seraphim, who credits O鈥橬eill Library staffers for their help.
Seraphim says the exhibit goes beyond specific, isolated cases to capture 鈥済lobal connections.鈥� The use of digital mapping, with help from the library, 鈥渟eemed like a promising thing to do," he said.
Shane Ewing 鈥�18, who worked on the exhibit, affirmed the global scope of the project. 聽
鈥淲e do not want people to focus exclusively on the injustices they care most about,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e encourage viewers to analyze injustices with which they are unfamiliar.
鈥淟ike the global networks of researchers, museums, and NGOs which learn how to better advance memory and justice from each other, I hope those who view this exhibit will see how interwoven justice movements are. We do not exist as communities in isolation and we have much to learn from those outside our immediate communities.鈥�
The exhibit is on display in the History Department, located on the third floor of Stokes Hall, for the rest of the semester.
鈥揝iobhan Sullivan / University Communications