Some of the most intense battles in American culture are fought over hallowed places and public memory. This class will examine various contested sites on the borders of pilgrimage, tourism, religious display, and civic commemoration. Among the topics to be considered are: Confederate monuments and plantation tours, Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy, the Museum of the Bible and evangelical visions for the nation’s capital, the public display of the Ten Commandments and the Satanic Temple’s monumental interventions, Holy Land pilgrimages, and such alternative religious landscapes as Sedona and Salvation Mountain. Students will also have the opportunity to identify and explore sites of their own choosing as places of religious and political drama within modern American culture. There are no prerequisites for this course, and it is open to both undergraduates and graduate students.
