The Guantánamo Public Memory Project: Exploring the Pedagogy of the Curatorial Process

Abstract

In fall semester 2012, two graduate classes in IUPUI’s Museum Studies Program participated in the Guantánamo Public Memory Project (GPMP). Each produced digital products and a panel for the GPMP’s traveling exhibition about the history of the United States’ relationship with the Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba. This exhibition is the product of a collaboration among 11 universities. The class “Introduction to Museum Studies” is required for all incoming graduate students in the Museum Studies program, produced an exhibition panel on “The Arts of Detention” as a semester-long project within the introduction to museum history, theory, and ethics.. The “Guantánamo Project” class focused wholly on the GPMP and was comprised of students in the Museum Studies and Public History programs. In this poster, the class instructors will compare and contrast how students in the classes learned and applied the basic curatorial processes of creating an exhibition—research, interpretation, writing, image selection. The classroom products that will be considered include the exhibition panel, blog entries, digital projects, and student presentations at the December 2012 “Why Guantánamo” conference. The School of Liberal Arts student evaluations and the Museum Studies programs’ evaluations will be used to assess student perceptions and learning outcomes. Although many have advocated using exhibitions as a form of classroom practice, there is relatively little scholarship in this area. This poster will contribute to that scholarship.